Have you considered Priceline? You can save substantially. You can go to Biddingfortravel.com (http://p070.ezboard.com/fpricelinean...opicID=1.topic) and see the various hotels organized by star level and then see what winning bids have been for various properties (http://p070.ezboard.com/fpricelinean...abiddingfrm259).

Recently, for example, the 5* Vienna Intercontinental went for $153/nt including all taxes/fees.

Have you thought about renting an apartment? We rented the link below for 100 euro a night....with a full kitchen and half block from the opera house. you can walk absolutely everywhere. check out the link below.

http://www.apartment.at/index_eng.ph...chel/0/bilder/

Last year we stayed at the Das Tyrol Hotel. It is a small, stylish hotel on the edge of the Museumsquartier, within walking distance of all the major sights, as well as the Spittelberg area for good restaurants. It is part of the Small Luxury Hotels collection, so rooms are nicely furnished with good bathrooms. Breakfast in the small sunny dining room was excellent. We stayed in the corner suite on the top (5th?) floor, and had a balcony with a nice view up Mariahilferstrasse towards the museums. Very reasonably priced for that level of comfort too: we booked directly with the hotel a few nights before arriving (in May).

We stayed at Konig Von Ungarn. Excellent location- next door to the House in which Mozart composed. Short walk to the main plaza and the Cathedral. Comfortable rooms ( we had an apartment) and good buffet breakfast

My recommendation would be the Hotel Schloss Wilhelminenberg (part of the Austria Trend chain). It does not have a central location at all, but with the fantastic transportation system in Vienna, you do not really need it. The hotel is located on top of a hill overlooking the entire city, has its own park (120.000 square metres) and a red carpeted staircase and hallways. Regular room price is 170 euro at this time of year, but they often have packages which includes the Vienna card - free transportation for 3 days. I have some more info as well as pics on my own travel report webpage, but won't post a link here in case I might be suspected of posting commercially.

Anyway, hopefully it is safe to post a link to the hotel website:

http://www.austria-trend.at/en/?id=WIW