My Favourite Staff at The Grand Austria Hotel

I love The Grand Austria Hotel. I saw a you-tube video that hailed it as fitting very convincingly with the theme and when I bought it, I wasn’t disappointed. I have very little interest in running hotels and restaurants so I may not have given it a second glance otherwise. It’s the first time I’ve tried dice drafting because I’ve tended to shy away from games with a high degree of chance, but I know better now! Rolling 10 or more dice is the start of each round but all it does is help push you towards certain choices. However, I’m not here to waffle on for ages about why Grand Austria Hotel has to be one of my all-time favourites. Let’s look at some of the myriad of staff available for hire and see what we make of them.

I went through the stack of cards and divided them into ‘highly desirable’, ‘ok but nothing too exciting’ (I believe ‘meh’ is the word used nowadays and it does actually work and is more concise), and ‘why would I bother?’ As always, I am no expert, have not achieved record-breaking scores as far as I’m aware and you may well disagree with my classifications. I’d be interested to hear other players thoughts. In this article I will explain why 15 staff made into the top list.

Highly Desirable

The Barista: For three krone you will receive four coffees. This is a one-time only benefit but think about it- because coffee is harder to get than wine, you’d have to roll eight 2’s to get four coffees in the conventional way. For me, the Barista is definitely worth hiring.

The Bootblack: every time you take a 4 from the rolled dice, you get emperor points and krone. Ironically, this will mean you need to take 4’s less frequently, but that means you can spend your turns preparing rooms, getting food and drink or hiring other staff without worrying about staying in the emperor’s favour quite so much. Not worth hiring towards the end of the game unless you are particularly flush with money by then.

The Chambermaid: She is worth hiring towards the end of the game, if you can afford it, because she gives you an extra point for every occupied room. Do bear in mind that you will lose 4 points for the 4 krone you are spending though.

The Chief Waiter: This man is well-worth spending a measly one krone on! He allows you to serve from the kitchen for free so you only need to do so once to get your money back. Perhaps more importantly, you won’t feel you need to wait until you have three items to serve so that you’re making the most of your money, and that helps prevent the tables staying filled when you really want to get guests to their rooms.

The Confectioner: This member of staff works much the same as the Barista, but gives you cake rather than coffee.

The Decorator: Every time you select a 1 or 2, you can also prepare a room, so the decorator effectively gives you two goes in one!

The Detective: Not sure why a detective would be on the hotel’s staff list, but he’s cheap, and every time you take on another member of staff by selecting a 5, he gives you two emperor points, so he’s worth taking on near the start of the game.

The Interior Architect: awards you five points every time you select a 3, so again, near the start of the game especially, he’s worth getting.

The Pool Attendant: It’s always worth spending a krone to move three spaces along the emperor track unless it’s near the end of the game and you’re not even close to falling out of favour.

The Receptionist: At five krone, the receptionist is a member of staff you need to think twice about but if you have plenty of money left at the end of the game, he is going to give you a point for every occupied room, so will quite likely be worth 10 or more points after the initial outlay has been subtracted.

The Restaurant Manager: Every time you take a 1 or a 2 for food or drink, you add one, so at two krone I’d say the restaurant manager easily earns his keep.

Stableman: He gives you an emperor point every time you fulfil a blue order. It’s not a lot but he only costs a krone to hire, so even when there are only a few rounds left he’s worth it.

The Staff Manager: Every time you take a 3 to prepare rooms, you can also get a staff member. You have to pay the usual amount but it effectively gives you an extra go. So it’s well worth the cost of three krones if you are not near the end of the game.