Marking the launch of a new hotel brand in Austria, the Aiden by Best Western @ Stadtgut Hotel Steyr has been opened in mid-July. The new 90-room hotel is located in Stadtgut Steyr, the technology park just outside the old town of Steyr, near the Upper Austrian city of Linz. It embodies the lifestyle hotel trend with its special and unique style features. Fresh and youthful interiors dominate the rooms and public areas, displaying a symbiosis of nature, city and metal – the defining elements that have made Steyr the city it is today. Wood and glass stand for nature, concrete for the city and metal for the centuries-old tradition of metalworking.
Aiden by Best Western is a new boutique hotel brand in the lifestyle segment of the BWH Hotel Group, which was first introduced worldwide at the end of 2018. The new Aiden by Best Western @ Stadtgut Hotel Steyr is supported in marketing and sales by the BWH Hotel Group Central Europe and is thus part of the global hotel group with around 4,700 hotels and its brand families Best Western Hotels & Resorts, WorldHotels Collection and SureStay Hotel Group.
Lifestyle Concept with Local Flair in Upper Austria
The newly built lifestyle hotel provides 90 rooms and large, public areas in a regionally adapted, modern design concept. The developer of the project is ER SIE ES Bautraeger from Steyr and a local company, Schmidt+Leitner was assigned as the general contractor of the hotel. The owner of the Aiden by Best Western is Stadtgut Hotelerrichtungs GmbH in Steyr. The hotel operator is Accent Hotels GmbH from Budapest and Vienna, whose portfolio now includes 25 hotels with more than 1,700 rooms in Austria and Hungary.
“We are so delighted and very proud that we were able to realize and to open the first Aiden by Best Western in Austria at this attractive and important location. Our hotel reflects the themes of city, nature and innovation in a very modern way with a special design concept. In this respect, the new lifestyle brand fits perfectly with our individual, stylish hotel,” explains Imre Csordás, CEO of Accent Hotels, who also operates the Best Western Plus Lakeside Hotel in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. In March 2020, work began on the new hotel building, which is located on more than 5,000 square meters in the Stadtgut Steyr technology park with around 50 businesses and 1,300 employees, and it is just a few minutes drive from the historic old town of Steyr. The new Aiden by Best Western @ Stadtgut Hotel Steyr, managed by hotel director Christian Josef Schoepf, has already created more than 20 new jobs in the Upper Austrian city.
Edgy, cool and chic: “The place to be” in Steyr
Aiden is a trendy new collection of modern, suburban boutique hotels with a cool, laid-back personality. Down-to-earth with a quick wit and ready smile, Aiden embodies the eclectic spirit of the neighbourhood – a welcoming host of local flair and new adventures. A bar as the centre of a large lobby provides a pulsating meeting place for guests and local residents with regular events. Following these principles, the Aiden by Best Western @ Stadtgut Hotel Steyr is also equipped with a modern interior design, both in the rooms and in the public areas. The three themes of urban, nature and metal play a decisive role in the design concept and refer to the region as well as to the industrial location and history of Steyr with appropriate materials from wood to metal, colours, shapes and lighting. Colourful, popping accents were set by Lower Austrian spray artist Pascal Gruber aka RoxS. “Lifestyle loves Aiden” – in the hotel’s own Y-Bistro restaurant, guests are treated to modern interpretations of regional and international specialities and dishes.
In addition to 90 rooms on three floors, each with an open or closed bathroom, the three-star hotel also provides the Y bar, a meeting room, e-charging stations and 90 parking spaces. Incidentally, the letter Y, which recurs in various places, is symbolic of the union of the rivers Enns and Steyr, which come together on site. The heart of the hotel and thus also in line with the concept of Aiden by Best Western is the spacious lobby and lounge area with the bar, which invites and welcome both travellers and locals – as a “place to be” and social bar for all those who are looking for new adventures with the motto “come together and be inspired”.
Aiden – A New Hotel Concept at the Pulse of Time
The Aiden by Best Western @ Stadtgut Hotel Steyr is the very first hotel project of the brand in Austria. The boutique brand Aiden by Best Western is a hotel concept in the lifestyle segment in the upper-middle class, which was first presented at the end of 2018. Together with his team from the company’s headquarters in Eschborn, Germany, he is responsible for around 270 hotels with a total of 18 hotel brands in Central Europe.
“Today, modern hotel concepts are no longer geared to classic target groups, but – in keeping with the spirit of the times – to the traveller’s mindset, lifestyle and values. With Aiden by Best Western, but also with our second lifestyle brand Sadie by Best Western, we offer hotel developers and hoteliers the opportunity to position their hotels in the dynamic lifestyle segment with our sales and brand power. In doing so, we give hoteliers the freedom to play with styles, contrasts and emotions. We rely on courageous, exciting hotel concepts that attract people with curiosity, a spirit of discovery and a desire for the unusual,” adds Ivona Meissner, who is responsible for the hotel development and support of the hotels in Austria and the Central Eastern Europe region in the group’s Vienna regional office.
Steyr – The Heart of Upper Austria
Steyr, with a population of around 40,000, is the third-largest city in the province of Upper Austria and looks back on 1,000 years of history at the National Park, rich in culture, industry, nature and architecture. Situated about 30 kilometres south of the city of Linz, the rivers Enns and Steyr flow into each other there, while townhouses of different style epochs harmoniously line up on the historic town square. As an industrial location, Steyr is known for its long tradition in ironmongery and weapons processing, and today for its truck and engine plants. In addition to sights such as the pilgrimage church and Lamberg Castle above the Enns-Steyr confluence, the Kalkalpen National Park is ideal for hiking and cycling.
