Taking on the Ritz

A new hotel chain where "everything can be done"

June 14, 2007—Austrians have long specialized in soothing the savage breast—see Mozart, Freud, et al—and the country's newest hotel, Schloss Velden, is no exception. A two-hour train ride from civilization and its discontents—a.k.a. Vienna—the 1603 château houses 105 plush rooms with views of the Alps and Europe's largest alpine lake, the Wörthersee. Offerings include a beach club, a 30,000-square-foot spa, and a private marina. (In case all that natural beauty isn't enough for you, rooms are equipped with plasma TVs, Pratesi sheets, and oversized shower heads.)

The hotel is the first of 11 planned offerings from Capella, the new company founded by Horst Schulze, who used to run a little chain called Ritz-Carlton. "We intend for our hotels to be far superior to anything else that exists right now," Schulze says. "If you want the restaurant opened at 2 a.m., we'll do it. Need last-minute business cards? You got it. Everything can be done, as long as it's not illegal." As the saying goes, what happens in Velden, stays in Velden.

Rooms range from $600–$5,300, depending on size and season, Schloss Velden, Schlosspark 1, Velden, Austria, 43-4274-520000, www.schlossveldencapella.com