The Art of Hosting

It is not easy to meet Otto Ernst Wiesenthal at his Altstadt Vienna hotel. This is not just because, at 75, he no longer runs the business himself, leaving it to his daughters. It is mostly because Wiesenthal travels a lot, often for inspiration, and has always practiced what he calls "Management by Absence" – management through absence: “If you have good people who enjoy working here and let them do their job, then they’ll make sure the guests are well taken care of.” Wiesenthal says that he focuses on what he does best and leaves the rest to those who are much better at it. Also, he admits that he has a terrible memory for faces, which is rather counterproductive for a hotelier, and since his cataract surgery – “one in a thousand doesn’t go right, and that was mine” – he doesn’t see as well as before. So, he believes it’s probably better if he isn’t around too much.

"That" in this case refers to the Altstadt Vienna hotel on Vienna's Kirchengasse, where from the salon – the breakfast room – you can look directly out at St. Ulrich Church. Wiesenthal was captivated by this view from the beginning. In fact, in the early 1990s, just after he left his position as head of Eastern Europe for an American IT company, Wiesenthal was searching for a hotel investment in Vienna for a Russian company. The deal with the Russians fell through. What was wrong for them turned out to be the right time for Wiesenthal. The son of a lawyer and a doctor, who already loved to travel but had no hotel experience at the time, quickly made himself a hotelier and transformed the house into perhaps the most unusual hotel in the city.

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"The Altstadt" is unique even among boutique hotels. It is just as much an exhibition space for Otto Ernst Wiesenthal’s extensive art collection, which includes several hundred pieces, as it is a hotel. In the hallways, you will encounter not only original furniture by Gio Ponti or lamps by Frank O. Gehry, but also photographs by Helmut Newton and sculptures from the Guggenheim Museum in Venice. Large-format artworks are everywhere you look. And where else could you wake up next to a real Chagall or an original work by Niki de Saint Phalle? The now 60+ rooms each have their own personality, designed by personalities. Fashion designer Atil Kutoğlu, actor Tobias Moretti, MAK director Lilli Hollein, and the artist group ZUKCLUB have all contributed to the design. Italian architecture star Matteo Thun has designed several rooms, marking the leap from a good hotel to a well-known name.

The classic Viennese patrician house, with high ceilings, large windows, opulent doors, and stucco ceilings, provides the ideal backdrop for temporary Viennese living. The house’s eclectic style is, in the best sense, also due to its history as a residential building. "Every time an apartment became available in the building, and they offered it to me, we rented it." Over time, 62 rooms and suites have been added.

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TThe newest among them is the Freud Suite. It was designed by architect Elfrid Wimmer-Repp as a stylish mix of antiques, seamlessly integrated new pieces, clever references to Freud’s own living environment, and, of course, the appropriate art. “That wardrobe,” Wiesenthal points to a closet that suspiciously looks like it is from the turn of the century, “we had custom-made for this Freud Suite in that style by Josef Göbel.” Otto Ernst Wiesenthal has a sort of familial connection with Josef Göbel. They have worked together for over 20 years. “Back then, Helga Lindmoser, born Göbel, worked with us,” he recalls. “So, we decided to create a room with her father.” Almost everything went wrong in the process, but Wiesenthal was not deterred. On the contrary, the room is still called Helga’s Room today.