Strawberry (formerly known as Nordic Choice Hotels) has brought back its “hotel pass” concept for the summer of 2024. While this is definitely a niche offer, there’s significant value to be had for the right kind of traveler (thanks to YHBU for flagging this).
In this post:
Strawberry selling 5-10 night passes at a discount
Strawberry (which has around 240 properties in Scandinavia and the Baltics) is offering a promotion whereby you can book stay packages at a discount:
- You can buy five nights for €495, which comes out to €99 per night
- You can buy 10 nights for €890, which comes out to €89 per night
Here are the basic details and restrictions:
- This is valid for stays between June 20 and August 18, 2024
- Once you purchase this offer, you will receive an email with links to book your stays; the five night package can be redeemed through this link, while the 10 night package can be redeemed through this link
- At most two guests can stay in the room, and the primary guest has to be the person who bought the pass
- Breakfast is included with this pass, except at Comfort Hotel Xpress, where it has to be purchased
- You can stay in a particular hotel for as many nights as you want, so you could use the entire pass across one or multiple stays
- You can find the list of eligible hotels here
- You can be rewarded for these stays — you will earn one qualifying night for every night stayed, as well as one bonus point per krona (SEK/NOK/DKK) or 10 bonus points per euro; however, other member benefits aren’t included with this offer
Is this Strawberry hotel pass a good deal?
Admittedly this promotion has been devalued a bit over time. Back in the day, you could buy an unlimited hotel pass, where you could stay as many nights over summer as you wanted. Then last summer we saw an opportunity to buy nights for as little as €85 per night. Now we’re seeing free nights priced in the range of €89-99 per night.
Even as the value proposition has worsened, I do think for the right type of consumer there’s value to this deal:
- Northern Europe isn’t cheap, and there are plenty of Strawberry properties that retail for over $200 per night
- This gives you a lot of flexibility, since you can split up your stays however you’d like
- The catch is that the list of eligible properties is rather limited, so you’ll want to make sure the list of eligible properties matches up with your travel plans
Bottom line
Strawberry (formerly Nordic Choice Hotels) has brought back its promotion offering a certain number of nights in a hotel over summer for a reduced rate. You can purchase packages of five or 10 nights, and pay an average of anywhere from €89-99 per night
If you’re planning to head to Northern Europe this summer and could see yourself staying at one of these hotels, then this promotion could represent an excellent deal. This is definitely niche in terms of the portfolio of hotels and geography, but for the right person, this is an amazing opportunity.
Anyone plan to take advantage of this Strawberry promotion?
I seem to be missing a lot of information on dates here. By when does this have to be purchased? By when do reservations have to be made?
Available for stay:
20 Jun 2024 - 18 Aug 2024
Bookable:
8 Apr 2024 - 15 Aug 2024
Are all taxes included in the summer pass?
Yes. Nothing extra is due when you redeem or check-in at the property.
It's disingenuous for your lead photo to be the Amerikalinjen - which is not included in this promotion. Nor is the Clarion Collection Bryggeparken.
It's also worth mentioning that you can purchase this for 890 EUR ($950 USD) or for 8,900 SEK or NOK (less than $820 USD).
The list of hotels is pretty limited and doesn’t include much of the Clarion brand. Strawberry hotels aren’t anything to write home about. Even the higher-end Clarion hotels are very basic, and feels like you are staying in a cheap motel. They do have a pretty impressive breakfast spread though.
Because of what this Maryland company (Choice Hotels) did in El Paso I've blacklisted it. Is the Scandinavian franchisee doing things substantially differently? If not, why is this brand worth paying a franchise fee for, what kind of American customers are you paying for access to?
The Strawberry hotels are much better and more consistent than most all similarly named Choice brand hotels in the US. Strawberry’s predecessor Nordic Choice signed up with Choice for branding and distribution purposes rather than any big expectations to fill up Scandinavian/Nordic hotels with American customers. They mostly fill up with Scandinavian/Nordic customers.
Writing this as a Swede with Platinum status with Strawberry (and four stays coming up in the next two weeks) - I’ve yet to stay at a single Strawberry property that I would visit as a tourist. (With a handful of select suites as the exceptions.)
Curious about which Strawberry hotels you are frequenting. I find them relatively acceptable for my visits whether or not paid for with OPM. But unfortunately the summer pass isn’t applicable at some of the Strawberry hotels that would be more interesting to me.
I use them for business travel all over the Nordics and for when I need to travel within Sweden, e.g. to visit the in-laws (5 hours from our home in Stockholm). I also spent the summer of 2020 jumping from suite to suite in different Strawberry hotels :) My general comments about their properties regardless of brands are:
1. Very ”cheap” throughout. No nice toiletries, no plush towels, etc.
2. Poor beds and...
I use them for business travel all over the Nordics and for when I need to travel within Sweden, e.g. to visit the in-laws (5 hours from our home in Stockholm). I also spent the summer of 2020 jumping from suite to suite in different Strawberry hotels :) My general comments about their properties regardless of brands are:
1. Very ”cheap” throughout. No nice toiletries, no plush towels, etc.
2. Poor beds and bedding.
3. Useless HVAC. In 9 out of 10 times the rooms are freezing in the wintertime and sauna-like in the summer. (For both old and new properties.)
4. TVs that usually lack functioning streaming capabilities and have only a handful of channels.
5. Oftentimes lousy bathrooms with showers that lack a door and thus flood the entire room.
6. Cramped standard rooms (which is what this offer covers). In fact, I find them so cramped that I nowadays always book Superior or Deluxe rooms.
Both me and my wife travel very frequently (every week) and we’ve yet to visit a single Hampton Inn, Residence Inn, etc that doesn’t beat the best Strawberry has to offer.
You're forgetting two important details, however - they're usually acceptably clean and the breakfast is often decent. - Fellow Strawberry Platinum
Of course, the problem is the Clarion/Strawberry hotel is often the only full-service hotel in a Nordic city. I've had good experience at Scandic before. I haven't had good experiences at SAS Radisson/Radisson hotels.
Is it 100% confirmed that neither Choice status nor Choice points are awarded? I stayed at a Swedish hotel in August 2024 that was branded BOTH Nordic Choice and Strawberry.
Unfortunately given the almost nonexistent Hyatt and Marriott footprint in the Nordic countries, the only options are Nordic Choice/Strawberry, legacy SAS Radisson properties, or Scandic.
100% sure that Strawberry stays don’t give Choice points and that these Strawberry summer pass stays won’t give Choice points. They will give Strawberry points and Strawberry status nights. But my Strawberry Platinum benefits won’t apply to the stays — or at least that is what the Strawberry FAQ for this summer pass says.
There are lots of Marriott properties in Stockholm. And within 30 minutes of ARN and of CPH, Hyatt has at least one or more property.
In Stockholm, Marriott has one full-service hotel, the tired and very run-down Sheraton. Besides several Design hotels with limited amenities, services and Bonvoy benefits, the only other options are a Courtyard and AC. Both of those hotels are not in tourist areas. Hyatt has two JDV boutique hotels and one Unbound hotel, Hôtel Reisen. Between Hyatt and Marriott, Hôtel Reisen is without a doubt the best option. I've stayed there twice.
In Gothenburg, Sweden's second...
In Stockholm, Marriott has one full-service hotel, the tired and very run-down Sheraton. Besides several Design hotels with limited amenities, services and Bonvoy benefits, the only other options are a Courtyard and AC. Both of those hotels are not in tourist areas. Hyatt has two JDV boutique hotels and one Unbound hotel, Hôtel Reisen. Between Hyatt and Marriott, Hôtel Reisen is without a doubt the best option. I've stayed there twice.
In Gothenburg, Sweden's second city, there are no Hyatt and Marriott options.
In Oslo, Norway, Marriott has one property: a Moxy. Hyatt has nothing.
In Copenhagen, Marriott has one full-service property: a Marriott. The rest are Design or limited-service brands. Hyatt has nothing.
So, no, Marriott and Hyatt are not viable options in most Nordic markets.
Hyatt has the Story Malmo hotel that is less than 30 minutes away from CPH airport.
So nowadays Hyatt sort of covers two of the three biggest cities in Scandinavia and two of the biggest cities in Sweden.
The four big chains for me in Sweden are Strawberry/Nordic Choice, Scandic, Best Western and Radisson. I tend to avoid Radissons in Sweden if only because I get better value out other loyalty programs. I do...
Hyatt has the Story Malmo hotel that is less than 30 minutes away from CPH airport.
So nowadays Hyatt sort of covers two of the three biggest cities in Scandinavia and two of the biggest cities in Sweden.
The four big chains for me in Sweden are Strawberry/Nordic Choice, Scandic, Best Western and Radisson. I tend to avoid Radissons in Sweden if only because I get better value out other loyalty programs. I do end up with a lot of Hyatt stays in Sweden and also for CPH flights, but it’s between three properties in Stockholm and one in Malmo that is convenient for the trains to/from CPH around the clock. Where I can’t get a Strawberry or Scandic hotel, it usually then ends up being a Best Western because of no other choices. Elite and First brands seem to be facing serious challenges with growth prospects.