Hotel

Lodging Review: Atwell Suites, Denver Airport

Posted on March 13, 2025 by 2btravel

I once again had the opportunity to stay at a Denver airport-area hotel as I arrived a day before my ski club. This time I selected the Atwell Suites Denver Airport, as it was an IHG property and I could use the free night certificate I have with my IHG Select credit card.

I have to admit I’d never heard of the Atwell brand but, in general, I quite liked the hotel. It’s located just off Tower Road, a main thoroughfare that has many similar hotels lining each side. It has its own private shuttle. I had a friend pick me up at the airport but it was very nice not to have any other stops on the way back to the airport the next day.

The hotel has a very modern feel. As I understand it, this building is only a couple of years old so it’s still in quite good shape. The front desk was straight ahead upon entering. I arrived quite early, before noon, and asked if I could get a ground-floor room since I was wrangling both my skis bag and a larger wheeled duffel. None of those rooms were ready yet, but that was fine as my friend and I went off for lunch and a free tour through the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, which is now a wildlife preserve. While we were in the Arsenal I received a call that my room was ready. Continue reading →

Categories: Atwell Suites, Award Travel, Chase, Colorado, Hotel, IHG, IHG Rewards Card, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Huntley Lodge, Big Sky, Montana (2025)

Posted on January 30, 2025 by 2btravel

My last visit to Big Sky was in 2019, just a year before the world changed. While our most recent previous stays had been at The Summit condos, our 2019 stay and our stay this year was at the Huntley Lodge, a hotel. This building was the original lodging at the resort and is located right at the base. Our club has been trying to get back to Big Sky ever since our last visit, but employee housing has become such a difficult thing that one entire wing of the hotel has been given over to housing the workers. That’s made getting reservations quite difficult. However, this year our club attended as part of a larger group from our ski council and with roughly 175 guests we were finally able to secure rooms.

The lodge underwent renovations in 2021, so I was excited to see the upgrades since our last visit. The lobby is mostly the same and the common areas got some new carpet and wallpaper but I’ll concentrate this review on the hotel room itself.

Guest Room

The wing that is open for guests has a fairly long hallway with a dogleg about halfway down. Our room was right in the “outside” part of the dogleg. That meant the room’s layout was different from a standard rectangle hotel room and also gave us a bit more floor space, which was nice.

The bathroom was immediately on the left when entering the room. The bathroom in this configuration is not as large as the one we had in the more standard rooms but it was fine. The sink was on the right side and positioned slightly to the right, so you didn’t have to worry about squeezing between the counter and the toilet. There were two sets of ceiling lights: one over the mirror and one for the room in general, including over the shower stall. In addition, there was a button in the lower middle portion of the mirror that backlit it, though we didn’t use that at all. Though you can’t see it in the photo below, there was a make-up mirror on a wall-mounted arm that could swing out from the wall and tilt as needed. It had its own light, which was quite helpful.

Huntley Lodge Bathroom

Continue reading →

Categories: Hotel, Lodging Review, Montana, North America, Other Hotels, United States | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo

Posted on December 6, 2024 by 2btravel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Location

It’s hard to beat the location of this hotel. It’s literally connected to the train station, something we did not realize when we arrived on the train from the airport. So we walked outside and over the cobblestones when it would have been much easier to just wind our way through the terminal to reach our hotel!

Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo, Norway

How This Stay Was Booked

We booked two rooms, each with twin beds, for 16K points per night via the Choice Hotels website. That’s about a $96 value vs. paying $275 as a refundable rate or $247 with my corporate discount. Definitely a good deal!  One annoying thing about using Choice points is that you can only book 100 days in advance.  The good news is that in 2025 that will change and you’ll be able to book 50 weeks out when using points.

When we checked out (at 2 AM!) the desk clerk at first thought we owed money but I explained we paid on points. He assured me it would be all right and had me forward my confirmation email, which showed how many points I paid, to a Strawberry Hotels email address. I assume that’s the company that owns this particular hotel as it is a regional hotel brand. At any rate I never heard anything else so I assume they got paid by Choice.

Check-in

We arrived before noon, knowing that it was likely that our rooms would not be ready. We were welcomed by the young woman at the front desk who was super-friendly. Fortunately one of our rooms was ready so we were able to store all our luggage there while we went out for lunch. Continue reading →

Categories: Choice Hotels, Comfort Hotel, Europe, Hotel, Lodging Review, Norway, Trip Report | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm

Posted on December 3, 2024 by 2btravel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Location

The hotel is located just a couple of blocks northeast of the Älvsjö train (metro) station. It was an easy walk though once again our wheeled suitcases took a bit of battering as they bounced over the cobblestones. But it made it easy for us to get back on the train for our time touring the city. Our German friend was joining us for the rest of the trip and she was waiting for us at the train station and guided us to the correct metro line and let us know when we’d arrived.

Motel L Älvsjö (credit: byggfaktadocu.se)

How This Stay Was Booked

We booked this hotel directly on the Motel L website. We paid a slightly higher refundable rate of about $95/night so that we could pay separately as we checked in. Once again this allowed us each to earn credit card points and we didn’t have to worry about reimbursing each other later on. Continue reading →

Categories: Europe, Hotel, Lodging Review, Other Hotels, Sweden, Trip Report | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden

Posted on November 30, 2024 by 2btravel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Location

Älmhult is not a large town and the hotel is listed as a four-minute walk from the train station. It may be slightly more than that when wrangling luggage, but it’s a very easy walk and no cobblestones!

We arrived a couple of hours before the official check-in time but fortunately our room was ready. We seemed to be the only people around other than staff, at least for awhile.

How This Stay Was Booked

This hotel does not participate in any points programs I’m aware of and they only accept pre-paid reservations, as far as we could tell. Also, room reservations are not available more than 6 months in advance so we had to wait a few months after the rest of the trip was locked in to make this reservation. We booked a family room which had two sets of bunk beds for $127/night. Continue reading →

Categories: Europe, Hotel, Lodging Review, Other Hotels, Sweden, Trip Report | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö

Posted on November 28, 2024 by 2btravel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Story Hotel Studio Malmö

Location

The hotel is super-convenient to the Malmö Train Station. If you come up through the main part of the train station and exit, keep the station behind you and you’ll be facing north. Turn left and walk across a bridge over a canal. Turn right and walk beside the canal (it’s a pedestrian area) and walk until you reach the next street. The Story Hotel is on your left! Once you’re familiar with the area, as you’re heading from the hotel back to the train station you can use the entrance that goes under the street that bridges the canal and enter that way.

How This Stay Was Booked

The Story Hotel is a category 1 Hyatt, which meant I was able to book one night using the free night certificate I get with the Chase World of Hyatt Visa. There were no rooms that allowed for three adults, but it was so cheap that I was fine spending 5000 points per night for two rooms. So total cost was 15K points + one free night certificate for two rooms where the refundable rate was $259/night though I could get a corporate discount for $233/night. If I value Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, it means we got each of the rooms for $75 per night which is quite a bargain! Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Europe, Hotel, Hyatt, Lodging Review, Sweden, Trip Report | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen

Posted on November 27, 2024 by 2btravel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Next House Copenhagen

As we were planning this trip we’d created a shareable spreadsheet where we plotted out our flights, lodging, ground transportation and things to do in each area. For some reason, when we booked our stay in Copenhagen we (that is, I) ended up booking two nights instead of three. And I only realized this during the flight on the way over, despite the fact that at least two of us had been staring at that spreadsheet for months on end! After arriving at the Fairfield I took the train over to the Best Western Hotel Hebron to try to add another night on to our reservation, but they were completely booked, although they did put us on the waiting list in case of a cancellation. But since we needed a room for 3 people I wasn’t counting on that. I then researched several other places in town but did not book anything until my friends arrived on Monday. Continue reading →

Categories: Denmark, Europe, Hotel, Lodging Review, Other Hotels, Trip Report | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen

Posted on November 26, 2024 by 2btravel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Best Western Hotel Hebron (credit: Agoda.com)

Location & Transportation

The Best Western Hotel Hebron is about a 6-minute walk from the main train station, Kobenhavn H, or about a 4-minute walk from the Kobenhavn H metro stop. Be aware that many of the sidewalks in this area are cobblestone so rolling a bag across them is always “fun”. My friends took the train from the airport directly to the main train station. As I was coming from the Fairfield, I took the M4/Blue metro train to the metro stop.

How This Stay Was Booked

We booked this stay directly through the Best Western website and chose to pay a slightly higher rate upon arrival so that we could each pay separately. This not only allowed us to each earn credit card points while paying, it was one less thing we’d have to worry about reimbursing someone for later on. Our rate was about $191/night for a room with two twin beds and a daybed.

Check-in

I had to check out of the Fairfield by 11 AM and my friends’ flight landed shortly thereafter. I arrived at the hotel between 10:30 and 11 AM. I didn’t expect the room to be ready and it was not but I was allowed to work in the courtyard and use the WiFi there while waiting for my friends to arrive. The room was finally ready about 1:30 PM, still well ahead of the published check-in time. We were able to split the payment for the two nights we had booked, which was nice. Trouble is, we’d miscalculated and really needed a third night! Unfortunately the hotel was booked and they didn’t have a room for us for our final night. While we put ourselves on the waiting list, later that night we booked another place, which I’ll review in the next installment. Continue reading →

Categories: Best Western, Denmark, Europe, Hotel, Lodging Review, Trip Report | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn

Posted on November 24, 2024 by 2btravel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Why This Stay Was Booked

I found business class award space on Finnair on a Saturday, but the best prices for my friends’ economy flights was on the Sunday. So I used the opportunity to review an extra hotel in Copenhagen.

Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn

Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Denmark, Europe, Fairfield Inn, Hotel, Marriott, Trip Report | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: avid Hotel – Denver Airport Area

Posted on March 25, 2024 by 2btravel

As I was shopping for airfare for my final ski trip of the season I found a really good fare arriving in Denver the Friday night before the trip was due to begin on Saturday. Since I had several free night certificates from my credit cards, I shopped around for a hotel with a free airport shuttle and free breakfast. I ended up selecting the avid Hotel Denver Airport, which is part of the Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG). I have an IHG credit card that is no longer available so essentially I paid the $49 annual fee for this room, which is a bargain.

avid Hotel – Denver Airport Area

Airport Shuttle

Once I got my bags I called the hotel for the shuttle before I even left the building. I was told it would arrive “shortly”. I dragged my two giant bags out to the proper island and waited. And waited. When the shuttle finally arrived the gentleman driving did a good job of getting my two bags loaded. It had taken so long for the shuttle to arrive that I thought he must have been picking up other folks but the shuttle was empty. Let’s just say he was a very cautious driver. We then had to go to the other side of the airport and pick up several other parties. This shuttle services several hotels that are adjacent to one another and, naturally, the other parties got dropped off first. This was probably easier since my bags would have been at the back/bottom of the pile of luggage. The hotel is 5.6 miles from the airport, per Google Maps, and the drive should take about 10 minutes. Continue reading →

Categories: avid, Colorado, Hotel, IHG, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

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