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One of great features of Delta Skymiles tickets is the ability to have stop overs along the way. You can stop for a few days to many months. We chose just two days in Amsterdam on our way to Sweden this summer as we had been to Amsterdam dozens of times but only to visit the airport 🙂
We chose The Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam Schipol Airport (a short shuttle ride from the airport) and a standard double room and it was fine. Clean, nice temp, reasonably soft bed and small but efficient work area. Wifi was free and worked well.
The bathroom was very nice size for a European bathroom and the shower was big as well. There were a few unique features like a blue “night light” in the bathroom and the bathroom door was frosted glass so you got a strange blue light in the room overnight if you left it on. It worked well as I do not need a dark room to sleep at night. Also, to save on energy, you had to put your key in the slot inside the door for any lights to work in the room.
[youtube width=”300″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBJ9yOoeqW0
Like most Holiday Inn Express hotels world wide this one had free breakfast. As you can see from the video clip the eating area was huge and the selection of food was continental but of good quality.
There were also items available for purchase like soft drinks etc. and a bar area with draft beer as well (I will have a tour of the Heineken brewery in my post later this week)!
So how did we pay for this hotel. I used two reservations back to back. One was from my free night cert from my Chase PC Visa card I get each year when I pay the $49 annual fee. The next night was 18,000 PC points (after my 10% point rebate for holding the PC Visa card). To me, this is one of the reasons I pay for some card fees each year as I get real value since this two night stay could have cost me $265.00!
I very much liked this hotel and would go back but there are a few things they could really change. They offer a free shuttle FROM the airport to the hotel but CHARGE 7.50 Euro to get back to the airport. There is a train station about a 10-ish minute walk away but a quick shuttle ride to the airport and the trains are right there. Lastly there was NO recognition for my PC Platinum status or any kind of perk for holding the status! This is a sore point for most IHG guests and my suggestion is if you want a higher end hotel without the shuttle issues I would look at the AMS SPG Sheraton right at the airport (who does treat their SPG GOLD & Platinums very well)! – René
▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
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Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
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Rene’, In Sept. we are using our Chase PC Visa free night at the Intercontinental in Rome the night before a cruise – normally $400 a night, but free is better!
@Mark – that IS great value. Well done!
Rene, off the subject…I have a delta amex platinum business card and i have my wife listed as an additional card holder. Can she apply for this same card and get the current offer (55K skymiles/20 mqm’s) even though she alrady has the card (in my name/account.) I have asked this to amex and they seem to tell me that she wouldn’t be eligible (even though the account is in my name?)
Thanks alot and I love your blog
To Mark R the Intercontinental Rome is great, we stayed there in January and enjoyed it. Great location also.
Rene, did they have cinnamon rolls at this HIX? 🙂
@DaninSTL – they did not. Sounds nummy! But there was all the food I needed and then some. It was nice.
@Sam – that is OK, she should have no issue getting the card and points. The don’t have the card for 365+ days is for the PRIMARY card holder not secondary holders!
The Intercontinental Amstel Amsterdam s absolutely gorgeous and they have always recognized status even on award nights. I recommend it.
@MaryE – I went for near airport but yes if I had it to do over would have gone with that. – Rene
I can’t believe that you used your PC Visa annual free night, which can be used at any IHG hotel in the world, for a Holiday Inn Express.
@richard – if not I would not have used it at all! I will have 25 SPG stays this year. Not much time for PC. Plus I saved cash. That works for me!