Venue report
Imperial Riding School – the art of 3-day‘ eventing’
CMW’ S SIMON GEORGE ENROLS ON A 3-DAY‘ EVENTING’ COURSE AT THE IMPERIAL RIDING SCHOOL IN VIENNA, THE FIRST MARRIOTT AUTOGRAPH COLLECTION HOTEL IN AUSTRIA.
T he Hapsburg empire may
have fallen and the horses are no longer resident, but the grandeur and opulence of the Imperial Riding School in Vienna have not changed. Established as a military equestrian school by Emperor Franz Josef I in the mid-19th century, the 342-bed hotel, which now operates under the Marriott Autograph Collection brand, opened in April 2024, having undergone extensive renovation and rebranding under the new owners, US private equity company Northwood Investors. Situated in Landstraße, a short
tram ride from the city centre, it is well connected in terms of road, rail and air.
General manager Juergen Fleischhacker is quick to emphasise that while not exactly the new kid on the block, the Imperial Riding School is still ramping up.“ I’ m really happy to say that after one year we have seen steadily increasing demand in the MICE segment – both internationally and locally. We already have returning business which I think is a really big compliment to the team. We can be really proud of we have achieved and our event pipeline, and we see continued growth in the coming years,” he said.
In terms of revenue mix, MICE accounts for up to 60 % of the hotel’ s business, followed by corporate and leisure although much depends on the month of the year given Vienna’ s numerous cultural attractions – especially during the summer and at Christmas markets, according to Fleischhacker. Weekends are very much leisure driven and March, May, June, September, October and mid- November to early December are the busy MICE months.
Key markets for the hotel comprise the UK, US and the DACH region( Germany, Austria and Switzerland) while key sectors for meetings and events are medical, pharma, biotech, banking and finance( see opposite for World Bank event case study).
Recruitment is key As for key concerns and challenges( aside from geopolitics and global economic issues), Fleischhacker flagged recruitment, stating that attracting and retaining talent was becoming more and more difficult, especially initially for a new hotel. After one year things were improving, he added, and the hotel, which has its own training scheme, is focusing on apprenticeships and now has almost 30 apprentices.“ Getting good people on board, training them well and rewarding them well is key,” he stressed.
Private garden USP The Imperial Riding School offers 13 event rooms totalling 1,271sqm, all of which are situated on the first floor with natural daylight, so ideal for buyouts, the
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