Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / Austria / Vienna / Hotel Imperial
Hotel Imperial
Vienna, Austria · The Luxury Collection · Apex Luxury
Hotel Imperial stands on Kärntner Ring 16, occupying the former Palais Württemberg. It carries MICHELIN Two Keys recognition. Positioned on Vienna's grandest imperial boulevard, the Vienna State Opera is five minutes' walk and the neo-Baroque Musikverein steps away, establishing this stretch of the Ringstrasse as the city's supreme cultural axis.
- 138 rooms
- Opened 1873
- Neighborhood: Innere Stadt
- Architect: Arnold Zenetti
History
Duke Philipp of Württemberg and Archduchess Marie Therese commissioned a city palace on the new Ringstrasse. Arnold Zenetti designed Palais Württemberg between 1863 and 1865; Heinrich Adam was master builder. Lothringerstrasse cut the garden from the house, and the couple barely lived there. Financier Horace Ritter von Landau bought it in 1872 and converted it for the Vienna World's Fair. Hotel Imperial opened on 28 April 1873. House tradition, labelled as such, says apprentice Xaver Loibner baked the first Imperial Torte for Franz Joseph that year.
Under Franz Joseph the Imperial served as an official guest house: Pedro II of Brazil, Christian IX of Denmark, Wilhelm I, and Bismarck stayed. Two storeys were added in 1928. Samuel Schallinger, a part-owner, was forced to surrender his shares after the Anschluss in 1938 and died at Theresienstadt in 1942. Hitler used the hotel on Vienna visits; a bunker was dug on Canovagasse. In the last days of the war Sepp Dietrich directed the German withdrawal from here. From 1945 to 1955 the Soviet High Commission occupied the building. After the State Treaty the Republic recovered it; hotel works ran from 1956 to 1958.
Later campaigns included 1988-94 and ground-floor changes in the 2010s. Starwood sold the hotel in 2016 to Al Habtoor Investment; it remains The Luxury Collection. Charlie Chaplin is said to have spoken his first words into a microphone here; Wes Anderson has named the Imperial among inspirations for The Grand Budapest Hotel. The Composers Entrance still opens toward the Musikverein.
The setting
Hotel Imperial stands on Kärntner Ring 16, occupying the former Palais Württemberg — built in 1863 for Duke Philipp of Württemberg and converted into a hotel for the 1873 Vienna World's Fair. Positioned on Vienna's grandest imperial boulevard, the Vienna State Opera is five minutes' walk and the neo-Baroque Musikverein steps away, establishing this stretch of the Ringstrasse as the city's supreme cultural axis. St. Charles's Church is five minutes on foot, the Albertina ten, and the Hofburg fifteen, placing guests amid a cluster of landmark luxury hotels on one of Europe's most storied ceremonial promenades.
Restaurants and bars
- Imperial Bar Wien — Bar · Bar
Amenities
- Sauna
- Fitness center
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Recommended (2026)
- MICHELIN Two Keys (2026)
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