Hotel recommendations for Vienna first-time visitors

Can you provide your dates and your nightly budget? I can do a search to see what’s available and make recommendations.

Don't rely on walking, even the major sights are further away as you might think. Public transport (tram, subway, bus) is available everywhere and easy to use, safe even in the night. Buy a 72-hours transit pass (€17.10) which will allow you unlimited use of all means of public transport, i.e., it will save you a lot of time during your very short stay.

If you're wealthy, the Hotel Imperial is your only choice IMO. Lesser hotels I have no idea, though the Hotel Altstadt has many charms.

Apparently I used to be wealthy, as I stayed in the Imperial in the 1980s. Couldn't do it today.

Dates would be May 7th-9th, nightly budget of $250 USD or less if that's sufficient.

Relations of mine stayed there, a modern hotel, about $180 per night, with an enormous buffet breakfast included:
https://wimberger.arcotel.com/en/reservations/?date_in=2024-05-07&date_out=2024-05-09&ms_in=1715032800000&ms_out=1715205600000

The hotel is about 15 minutes from the very center (by public transport). It is close to two public transport hubs, to wit, Urban-Loritz-Platz (trams 6, 9, 18, 49, subway U6) and Westbahnhof (trams 5, 6, 9, 18, 52, 60, subways U3 and U6).

The main shopping street, Mariahilfer Strasse, is in the vicinity.

I looked at your dates on booking.com. I can highly recommend Austria Trend Savoyen Hotel high is $279 for two nights. My parents have stayed there on numerous occasions, so I have personal experience. The Belvedere Palace is next to the hotel. The Ring is a 10 minute walk or a 5 minute tram ride. The Rennweg station is one block away, which is key as the train to the airport stops there.

Hello! We will be arriving by train from Prague and departing via train to Budapest, so I don’t know if that will matter with a preferred hotel location?

Vienna's main train station (Wien Hauptbahnhof [Hbf]) is a major hub for public transport. Depending on whereto you want to go you have the choice of trams, subway, buses, S-trains.

E.g. to get to the hotel I mentioned before (Arcotel Wimberger) you have a direct tram connection (line 18).
To go to the hotel Emily referred to you have a direct S-train.

Hilton on the Schottenring, check my travel report

My husband and I had a fight about this because he wanted to stay at a Hilton using points. They are not centrally located, although you could use public transportation. I don't remember the name of the Rick guidebook-recommended place we stayed, but when we got there, my husband said I was right about staying there instead of a Hilton.

I have twice stayed at the Adina Hotel near the Hauptbanhof.

It's a five minute walk to the station and a couple more to the S and U Bahn. The D tram is across from the hotel.

The neighborhood is fine with mostly modern office buildings and hotels. It's a 10 minute ride to the center of town.

The hotel is modern and unique. Each room has a full kitchen (small) and a compact washer and dryer. Very clean. Very quiet.

There are two good size supermarkets in the train station on the lower level and two smaller version with plenty of prepared foods on the main level. Lots of restaurants as well.

Besides the hotel, they also have serviced apartments at a location a couple of minutes walk away.

The east entrance to the tracks is literally a three minute walk from the hotel.