Graetzlhotel Meidlinger Markt

The Urbanauts hospitality group is mounting something of an insurrection in Vienna — making an end-run around the traditional hoteliers, while at the same time delivering a professional product that amateur apartment-sharers can’t match. Graetzlhotel Meidlinger Markt joins the Belvedere and Karmelitermarkt installments as the third Urbanauts location in Vienna, this one in the Meidling district, about two miles to the southwest of the city center.

The concept is the same: a series of old storefronts retrofitted and rehabilitated as stylish hotel suites, where you’ll enjoy the privacy and independence of an apartment-share as well as the care and quality of professional hospitality. Here you’ll collect your key from a café right on the market, and show yourself to one of nine unique suites, each one retaining some of the character of its original use: a cobbler’s shop, a florist, a confectioner and a record shop among them.

They’re comfortable and well-designed, modern but not flashy, with plenty of cozy soft edges to balance their visual impact. Naturally this Graetzlhotel, like all of them, is light on traditional hotel amenities — there’s no restaurant, to say nothing of a pool, spa, or conference rooms. But that’s not why you’re here. You’ll live like a Viennese local for the duration of your stay, and you’ll do it in Meidling, one of the city’s most charming quarters. It’s a model we’d like to see catch on in more cities — but until then you’ll catch us in Vienna with the Urbanauts.