A beautiful place to live. Living with a view. A serviced apartment with all the luxury you desire. This is PhilsPlace. In this interview, general manager Kristin Oberweger lets us in on what makes her so enthusiastic about PhilsPlace and what she loves about her job.
What is the philosophy behind PhilsPlace?In a nutshell: luxury on demand. We focus on the accommodation and on a high standard of living. Beyond this, thanks to a range of partnerships, we also offer our guests – in-house and right around the corner from PhilsPlace – services just like in a 4-star hotel, which can be booked in addition to our own services.
This is made possible by Vertical Village: although our guests don’t live in the middle of the city, they can find everything they need for their stay in the immediate vicinity of PhilsPlace: daily supplies at Merkur and Hofer, an Erste Bank ATM lobby and a 2,000 m2 fitness studio. In addition, there are sports and leisure activities for the whole family right on the doorstep – on the Wienerberg.
What is a serviced apartment?
Living in an apartment with a service concept; that’s how you could sum it up. During the guest’s stay, the apartment is only cleaned when explicitly requested; not daily like in a hotel. But our service goes well beyond this. We offer our guests storage rooms and washing machines, their own postbox and various multimedia services.
What’s more, guests who stay with us for longer can also customize their apartment. They can choose from a selection of pictures, plants and decorations. In this way, the apartment is given a very personal touch.
In short: a diverse array of services that the guest can order in addition.
What makes PhilsPlace stand out?
Compared to other hotels in the same price range, we clearly offer more space. With us, the smallest apartments start at 31 m2 and go up to 47 m2. All with well thought-out storage and cupboard solutions so as to preserve the apartments’ feeling of open space. We also provide a kitchen with a dining table and a full-sized desk for business customers.
The interior climate is regulated by a sophisticated building control system with air conditioning and a blind control system that reacts to sunlight. We have our own parking level. And last but not least: a wonderful view of the city center and the surrounding countryside of the Vienna Woods.
What inspires you personally about PhilsPlace?
The design, the view and the investors’ sense of quality. A very conscious decision was made in favor of hand-crafted wooden furniture and high-quality interior design. And it shows. No reproductions from China, but furniture from &tradition, lamps from Fritz Hansen, tables from Saarinen, pieces from the 60s and 70s as well as Toto toilets.
And a lifestyle that is reflected in our motto: easy, cozy, cool. For our guests, everything should be easy. Coziness is ensured by the furnishings and the personal attention. And the feeling of coming home in the evening and allowing the day to wind down: while cooking in your own kitchen, with a jog in Wienerberg Park or burning off excess energy at the fitness studio. Simply cool.
What do you love about your job?
The versatility that comes with working as a generalist. Developing a product with great creativity, being involved in the construction process and establishing teams. And most important of all: seeing how the guests react to it all – their feedback, their satisfaction, their enthusiasm for PhilsPlace. When guests are happy, then I am too.