Hotel

Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel

Posted on June 11, 2026 by 2btravel

Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD

Our taxi dropped us off right in front of the Corinthia Budapest Hotel. As the hotel is on one of the major thoroughfares, there’s not much in the way of parking so we were glad we didn’t have to deal with a car. The bellmen took charge of our luggage right away, which was nice because just inside the double sets of front doors is a staircase that leads up to the main level. If you have mobility issues, don’t be concerned. There is an elevator to one side mostly used for luggage transport but it’s available for people too.

(photo courtesy panoramatours.com)

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

Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow

Posted on June 8, 2026 by 2btravel

Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD

After a long day of travel, it was already early evening by the time we arrived at the Krakow airport. While planning our trip we had considered public transportation from the airport to the hotel but had decided to just use an Uber (or Bolt) and that turned out to be a good decision. Though it wasn’t raining at the time we were waiting for our ride, it had been raining a good part of the day. Be aware that the ride share pickup area is not covered.

Location

The hotel is located on the eastern side of the city so it’s about a 40-60 minute drive from the airport during evening rush hour. It’s not particularly close to the Old Town (Rynek Główny) but it’s about a 10-minute walk to the tram that runs along Mogilska street. The sidewalk along this route is inconsistent and sometimes quite bumpy so I would not want to be dragging my suitcase this way. In addition, it’s not well lighted in the evenings so I would be wary of walking this way even though it’s not a particularly busy road but it still might be difficult for cars to see people walking.

Hampton by Hilton, Krakow

The hotel is just around the corner from the Dąbski KS Kraków, a local sporting club, and there are associated athletic fields across the road from the hotel. Even though our room faced these fields, we never experienced much in the way of noise (they seemed to be mostly practice fields) and even the lights did not bother us in the evening.

The Hampton is connected to the DoubleTree just next door and the hotels share some facilities as I’ll explain. In general that’s a good thing for those staying at the Hampton.

On the Sunday of our visit (the second Sunday in October), there was a running race that I believe began at the Decathlon (Sporting Goods) Plaza not far from the rear of our hotel. There were quite a few runners staying at both the Hampton and the DoubleTree. When we walked down to Mogilska on Sunday, we found we were trapped on our side of the street until enough runners passed that the police would allow us to cross the street. I’m going to guess, based on bib numbers, that there were about 16,000 runners. It was a good 30 minutes before we were able to cross and even then the tram was not running in our area so we had to walk a good portion of the way to the Old Town. Continue reading →

Categories: Europe, Hampton by Hilton, Hilton, Hotel, Lodging Review, Poland, Trip Report | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction

Posted on June 1, 2026 by 2btravel

Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD

I’m kicking off year 12 of this blog with my next trip report and this one includes some eastern European countries I’d never visited.

This year’s trip centered around a river cruise on the eastern part of the Danube. We’d previously cruised the western part of the river back in 2016. That trip left from Erlangen, Germany (just outside of Nuremburg) and ended in Budapest, Hungary. This trip departed from Budapest and ended in Bucharest, Romania.

As the cruise/tour was only 10 days, we decided to go to Krakow, Poland for a few days ahead of the cruise to visit yet another country we’d not been to.

Transportation

I flew from Memphis to Chicago to meet up with my friend who lives in the area. I used cash for a round-trip positioning flight on American Airlines. From there we flew LOT Polish Airlines to Warsaw and connected to Krakow. The government shutdown in October meant our flight out of Chicago was delayed causing us to miss our connection. Fortunately we were accommodated on the next flight to Krakow and even ended up in exit row seats. I used 70K Air Canada Aeroplan miles + $78.03 for my business class seat which would have sold for about $3064, giving me a fantastic value of about 4.38 cents per point. My friend used 40K Aeroplan miles + $78.03 for her seat in economy. While her ticket “only” worked out to about 1.4 cents per point, it still saved her over $500 out of pocket. Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cruises, Europe, Hampton by Hilton, Hilton, Hungary, JW Marriott, LOT Polish, Marriott, Other Hotels, Poland, River Cruise, Romania, Serbia, Star Alliance, SWISS, Trip Report, Viking | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Hyatt House Denver Airport

Posted on February 2, 2026 by 2btravel

(credit: hyatt.com)

I stayed at the Hyatt House Denver Airport for one night ahead of a ski trip. It happened to be the weekend the severe snow and ice hit much of the eastern US so there were a lot of canceled flights and the hotel was quite busy.

Arrival

The hotel shuttle leaves the airport every 30 minutes at :15 and :45 after the hour. It departs the hotel at the top and bottom of each hour. It’s not a 24-hour service but I think the first hotel departure is in the 3 AM hour. The instructions I’d received via email say to wait on Island 3 outside door 512 on the baggage claim level but at least for right now there is no door 512 as there’s construction in that area. So just leave via door 510 or 514 and you’ll be fine. These even-numbered doors are on the United side of baggage claim so if you flew in on another airline you’ll likely need to cross to the other side of the building. Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Hotel, Hyatt, Hyatt House, Lodging Review | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

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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

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