Pension or Hotel?
 

I'm looking at hotels in Vienna. Can someone tell me what the difference is between a "pension" and a "hotel"?

Pensions are smaller--usually less than eight rooms, I think almost always on one level (someone correct that if it's wrong)..more personal, generally owned by families, etc..

I'd much rather stay in a pension.

Thank you. I like the more personal feel too. It sounds like they are similar to the B&Bs that we stayed in a couple of years ago in Great Britain.

Agree that a pension is much better to stay at. Some places in Vienna such as the Fuerstenhof call themselves a hotel but are actually more of a pension.

no, they aren't always on one level, there is no rule about that. They just don't have the same services as a hotel and are graded differently by the government. They generally have private owners, rather than a business or corporation. They might be family owners mainly, but so are some hotels.

They just don't have the same type of services and may have some different entry arrangements than a hotel. For example, I stayed in one (that one on a couple floors), and you actually had your own key to enter one floor and then walked up to another and rang the bell or something like that. It was kind of weird, actually, but worked out okay as long as you didn't want to keep unusual hours (as they could close early). Don't expect all-hour desk clerks, for example, there may be no one there at night. Pensions are often some rooms within a larger building -- that isn't common for a hotel at all. For example, a family may own or rent two floors of rooms within a larger older building and that is the pension.

They aren't too different from smaller hotels that don't have room services, all-hour desk clerks, etc., except even most of those hotels will have a real entrance, not just be a floor or two in a building.

There is no limit on the number of rooms, either, although by definition they are often small, but many hotels can be small also. I think the one I stayed at in Vienna had about 15 rooms. There are a couple of pensions in Vienna that are basically hotels, even on that is a chain, more or less (they have at least a couple of them -- Pension Pernety).

They just don't have to meet the same standards as hotels. In terms of "comfort", I'd roughly rate a 4* pension about the same as a 3* hotel, etc. (one star difference).

Spelled that wrong, this is the one I was thinking of, they own four pensions and are considered pretty good:

http://www.pertschy.com/

One of them, at least, is on seven floors.