Overview

Grand Austria Hotel is a strategy game set in early 20th-century Vienna. Players manage hotels, preparing rooms, serving guests their desired dishes and drinks, hiring staff, and pleasing the emperor. The game is played over 7 rounds using a shared dice-action mechanism. At the end of rounds 3, 5, and 7, there is an Emperor Scoring. After round 7, a final scoring determines the winner.

Components

• 1 game board and 1 action board
• 4 hotel boards (two-sided: introductory/advanced)
• 56 guest cards, 48 staff cards, 12 politics cards
• 84 room tiles in 3 colors (blue, yellow, red)
• 120 dishes/drinks cubes (30 each: black=coffee, white=cake, red=wine, light brown=strudel)
• 12 Emperor tiles (A, B, C sets)
• 14 dice
• 9 turn order tiles
• 24 wooden disks (4 player colors)
• 1 round marker, 1 dustbin
• 4 VP markers, 4 overview cards

Setup

1. Place game board centrally with action board beside it.
2. Shuffle Guest cards; draw 5 face-up onto Guest spaces.
3. Shuffle Staff cards into a face-down pile; each player draws 6.
4. Choose 1 each of A, B, C Politics cards and Emperor tiles; place face-up on the board.
5. Sort Room tiles by color next to board.
6. Place dice on the first Action space (10/12/14 for 2/3/4 players).
7. Each player takes a Hotel board, Overview card, and 6 wooden disks.
8. Place 1 disk on Emperor track space 0, 1 on VP track space 0, 1 on Money track space 10 (start with 10 krones).
9. Each player takes 1 coffee, 1 wine, 1 cake, 1 strudel into their Kitchen.
10. Last player (highest turn order) chooses a guest first (reverse order), placing it in their Cafe for free; refill guest row after each pick.
11. Each player prepares up to 3 rooms (starting bottom-left, adjacent placement, pay costs shown on hotel board).

Turn Structure

Round Start

The start player rolls all dice, sorts by number, and places them on the corresponding Action spaces (1-6).

Player Turns

Starting with the first player (Turn Order tile 1), each player takes a turn OR passes:

On your turn: Choose one Action space and take ALL dice of one number. Perform that action once per die taken plus possible bonus actions.

The 6 Action spaces: | Die Value | Action | |———–|——–| | 1 | Take a Guest card from the board and place in your Cafe | | 2 | Take a Staff card from the draw pile | | 3 | Prepare rooms (take Room tiles, pay cost, place on Hotel board) | | 4 | Take cake (white) and strudel (brown) from supply to Kitchen | | 5 | Take wine (red) and coffee (black) from supply to Kitchen | | 6 | Gain krones (money) |

The number of dice determines the power of the action (more dice = more of that resource/action).

Additional Actions (available each turn)

• +1 die: Add a virtual extra die to your chosen action (once per turn)
• Serve: Move up to 3 dishes/drinks from Kitchen onto Guest cards
• Politics: Place a disk on a Politics card if you meet its condition
• Staff: Use a once-per-round Staff card ability
• Room service: Move 1 guest with completed order to a free matching room

Passing

Instead of taking an action, a player may pass, taking a Turn Order tile (lower numbers give first pick next round, but passing early means fewer actions this round).

Actions

Serving Guests

Move dishes/drinks from your Kitchen to matching spaces on Guest cards in your Cafe. A guest’s order is complete when all required items are placed.

Fulfilling Guest Orders

When a guest’s order is complete, move them to a matching colored room in your hotel:

• Blue guests (Nobles): Blue rooms only
• Yellow guests (Artists): Yellow rooms only
• Red guests (Citizens): Red rooms only
• Green guests (Tourists): Any color room

Fulfilling a guest scores the VP shown on the card and grants the guest’s reward action.

Preparing Rooms

Take Room tiles and place them on matching spaces of your Hotel board. Pay the krone cost shown. Rooms must be placed adjacent to existing rooms, starting from bottom-left. Completing a room group grants bonus effects.

Staff Cards

Staff provide various abilities: one-time hire bonuses, permanent effects, once-per-round abilities, or end-game VP.

Emperor Track

Various actions advance you on the Emperor Track. During Emperor Scoring (rounds 3, 5, 7), players who meet Emperor tile requirements gain VP. Players below certain thresholds lose VP.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Emperor Scoring (rounds 3, 5, 7): Check Emperor tile requirements. Players meeting requirements gain VP; those failing lose VP based on their Emperor track position.

Final Scoring (after round 7):

• VP from fulfilled guests
• VP from occupied rooms
• VP from Emperor scoring
• VP from staff cards with end-game bonuses
• VP from Politics cards

Winning: Player with the most VP wins. VP track goes to 75; use VP markers for scores above 75.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Emperor Scoring penalties: If your Emperor track position is too low during scoring at rounds 3, 5, and 7, you lose VP (the amount is shown below each space on the track).
• Emperor track cap: Cannot move past space 13. Each space beyond 13 grants 1 VP instead.
• VP track cap: When passing 75, take a VP marker showing 75. If you pass 75 again, flip to 150.
• Room groups: Using all rooms in a group provides valuable bonuses.
• Hotel boards: Introductory side is identical for all players. Advanced sides differ and are more challenging.
• Turn order: Lower-numbered Turn Order tiles go first. Players who pass earlier get better turn order for next round.
• Dice count: 10 dice (2 players), 12 (3 players), 14 (4 players).
• Guest refill: After a guest is taken, slide remaining guests right and draw a new one for the leftmost space.

Player Reference

Game length: 7 rounds with Emperor Scoring at rounds 3, 5, 7

Starting resources: 10 krones, 1 each of coffee/wine/cake/strudel, 6 staff cards, 1 free guest

Dice actions: 1=Guest, 2=Staff, 3=Rooms, 4=Cake+Strudel, 5=Wine+Coffee, 6=Money

Additional actions (once per turn): +1 die, Serve up to 3 items, Politics, Staff ability, Room service

Guest types: Nobles (blue), Artists (yellow), Citizens (red), Tourists (green=any room)