Crews operate differently from tourists. Different hours, different quantities, different priorities. What we've learnt from ten years of hosting film productions and how we're making the next ten better.
Our first film guest was in 2018. A production coordinator from Berlin who needed accommodation in Vienna for a lead actress for three weeks, the hotel budget was exhausted and the production was looking for something different. We had just finished renovating Augarten 7; she moved in. Three weeks became six. From that one enquiry, ten further productions have grown over the years, all of them returning regularly.
What we've learnt in that time. Film crews are not like other guests. They travel differently, they work differently, they plan differently. And apartments that are perfect for "regular" guests often fail crews on details that no one else would ever notice.
What a crew really needs
Late arrival. A crew never arrives at 2 pm. They arrive at 10:30 pm after a twelve-hour shoot in Berlin, with three equipment cases and a firm desire to go straight to bed. Anyone operating with a key box and "please arrive before 8 pm" rules is out of the running.
Equipment space. A standard crew travels with 6–15 kg per person on top of personal luggage. Lighting equipment, sound recording gear, costumes. An apartment with a lift is essential. A level entrance threshold is helpful. An empty wardrobe for the cases, worth its weight in gold.
Extensions. Shoots overrun. Always. A crew that arrived for three weeks stays for four in 60% of cases. Anyone who has no flexibility for a tenth booking per apartment will lose the crew to someone who does.
Laundry. Crews wash a great deal. Shooting clothes, bed linen, towels. A washing machine inside the apartment, not in the building, matters. A tumble dryer even more so. And enough sockets, since equipment charges simultaneously.
What a crew really wants is not spectacular. It's reliability. The apartment works, the host is reachable, the Wi-Fi is fast enough for file uploads. Everything else is nice, but secondary.
What crews have taught us and what we've changed
Three things we have concretely improved in our apartments because of crews.
1. Fast internet. A 250 Mbit/s connection is the minimum. Crews upload daily footage, sometimes 50–100 GB per day. Anyone who can't deliver this will find the crew sitting in the café across the street after two days.
2. Large dining table. Crews carry on working in the evenings. Script meetings, daily recaps, equipment checks. A dining table for six people, where everyone can sit at the same time, matters more than a third armchair in the living room.
3. Key handover after 10 pm too. We take that seriously. Sundays included, even if the ICE from Munich is two hours late. For the new Westbahnhof studios we're currently building, that's precisely the central argument.
How we work with productions
Productions need different contractual arrangements from private individuals. A consolidated invoice to the production company, VAT ID processing, sometimes an NDA. We handle all of that.
For larger crews we reserve several apartments in the same building, three bedrooms here, a studio next door, a one-bedroom upstairs. That way the camera operator has their peace and quiet, the make-up artist has their vanity space, and the whole crew meets in the largest flat in the evening for the brief.
The first time, plan conservatively. With every subsequent enquiry we know your needs better and can optimise more closely. Regular clients have their preferred apartment reserved before they've formally enquired.
Who has shot in Vienna and what we've learnt
We don't name names, discretion is part of the deal. But a few themes are consistent.
International productions underestimate distances in Vienna. A shoot location in Hietzing and another in Floridsdorf is an hour on the metro. Staying centrally saves crew time (and therefore crew costs). Augarten is practical here, U2 to the city centre, Tram 2 to Karmeliterplatz, Donaukanal cycle path in 5 minutes.
Vienna has very varied light. Summer shoots with sunset after 9 pm are a different proposition from winter shoots with daylight ending at 4 pm. Plan accordingly; we help with local knowledge.
Anyone who shoots in Vienna regularly knows two or three apartments and keeps them. That's efficient because there's less setup time. We note preferences (hard mattress topper, espresso machine yes/no, blackout curtains or light ones).
What we can't do (honestly)
We have no hotel infrastructure. If you need catering, a production office space, or a 24/7 reception, we're the wrong choice.
We have no direct shoot-location brokerage. We know Vienna but we don't know casting agencies or location scouts. We'd rather recommend partners for those.
And we can't take crews for fewer than 30 days. That's hard if you're only here for ten shooting days but our entire concept is designed around stays of a month or more.
If you're shooting in Vienna and staying longer than 30 days
Write to us. Even if the shoot isn't confirmed yet, an enquiry along the lines of "we'll probably be in Vienna in November for four weeks; what do you have available?" helps us reserve apartments before others get there. Response within 24 hours, weekends included.