Grand Austria Hotel rules: how to play and how to score

Grand Austria Hotel quick rules

The goal

You run a hotel in Vienna in the early twentieth century. You serve dishes and drinks to the guests in your café, move them into your rooms, hire staff and keep the Emperor’s favor. After seven rounds, the most points wins.

Dice and turn order

At the start of each round, the start player rolls all the dice and sorts them onto the six action spaces by value. Everyone takes two turns, one way then back, following their turn order tile. You can pass to play later, after the remaining dice are re-rolled.

A turn

You may first take a guest from the queue, paying the cost below it, and seat it at an empty table in your café (three tables). Then you take a die: the action’s strength is the number of dice on its space, plus one if you pay a krone.

The six actions

1: strudel and cake, with at least as much strudel. 2: wine and coffee, with at least as much wine. 3: prepare rooms, paying their floor. 4: advance on the Emperor track or gain krones. 5: play a staff card, cheaper by the strength. 6: imitate another action for a krone.

Serving and housing guests

What you receive goes onto your guests for free; from the kitchen, serving up to three items costs a krone. A served guest moves into a vacant room of their color (green tourists, into any): you score their points and reward. A filled group of rooms gives a bonus.

Staff and objectives

You start with six staff cards: immediate, per-round, permanent or endgame effects, with no automatic draw. Three objective cards give points to those who meet their requirement on their turn, more for the earliest.

The Emperor

At the end of rounds 3, 5 and 7, you score the points below your Emperor track space, then move back 3, 5 and 7 spaces. On space 3 or more, the Emperor tile’s reward; on 0, its penalty; on 1 or 2, nothing.

Beginner traps

A guest never leaves their table until their order is complete: don’t fill your café too fast, especially late in the game. Prepare rooms of the right color ahead of time, and never be on zero when the Emperor scores.

How to score Grand Austria Hotel

Score track points

Your space after the last Emperor scoring, plus 75 or 150 from your victory point tile.

Endgame staff cards

The points of your staff cards that score during final scoring.

Occupied rooms

1 point per occupied room on the first floor, 2 on the second, 3 on the third, 4 on the fourth. A vacant room scores nothing.

Leftover dishes, drinks and krones

1 point per dish or drink in your kitchen and per krone; not the items on guests. They break ties.

Guests left in your café

Minus 5 points per guest still seated, even if they only lack one item.

Worked example

Mia has her 75 tile and her marker on 23: 98 points. Her endgame staff cards are worth 9. She has 4 occupied rooms on the first floor, 3 on the second, 2 on the third and 1 on the fourth: 4 + 6 + 6 + 4 = 20. She has 5 krones and 2 drinks left in her kitchen (7), and one guest still seated (−5). Total: 98 + 9 + 20 + 7 − 5 = 129 points.

Common mistakes

• Counting items placed on a guest still seated: only kitchen items are worth a point.
• Forgetting the 75 or 150 tile when reading the score track.
• Counting prepared but vacant rooms: only occupied rooms score.
• Forgetting the 5 points lost per seated guest, even one almost served.

How to set up Grand Austria Hotel

Setup takes about 10 minutes. Only the number of dice depends on the player count.