Elizabeth Gurtler CEO of the SACHER HOTEL in VIENNA has just won the Top Independent Hotelier in the World Award, an achievement well earned from my experience of visits to this great hotel.
The SACHER, privately owned for three generations, is a superb hotel in all respects, but I particularly remember my first visit there. Barbara and I decided to take a break in Vienna and experience the world famous opera. We booked our flights and a stay at the SACHER Hotel which is next to the Opera House, but then found the opera was fully booked that weekend and there was no possibility of any tickets (this was before online bookings) but we still decided to go as Vienna is a beautiful city.
On checking in at the SACHER the concierge in conversation asked what we had planned to do during our visit and I mentioned that we had intended to enjoy the opera but had not realised how difficult it was to reserve seats. His response was Would you like two seats in the front stalls or a Private Box? Fifteen minutes later tickets arrived in our room and two hours later we were enjoying a performance of The Marriage of Figaro from a private box. There was no surcharge for the tickets which came to us with a suggestion of a restaurant for dinner after the performance-which was an excellent choice and our note from the SACHER gave us an excellent table.
THe SACHER is also the home of the SACHER Torte, to be enjoyed in the ground floor Viennese Cafe which is part of Vienna's reputation for pastries and its cafe society.
For film buffs -THE ThIRD MAN - director Carol Reed's post war drama set in Vienna in 1946 starring Orson Welles and Alida Valli with screenplay by Graham Greene, is a film noir partly shot in the SACHER hotel while the streets around the hotel formed the background for this classic film. A film which ranks as one of the all time great movies.