One of the hotel stays I most looked forward to on this summer’s trip to Europe was Skt. Petri Hotel Copenhagen, an Ascend Collection member of Nordic Choice Hotels.
The abbreviation Skt. puzzled me, until I learned it stands for Sankt Petri Kirke, Saint Peter’s Church, the oldest church in Copenhagen, founded around 1200 and located across the street from the hotel.
The hotel is located on Krystalgade in a central downtown location in the historic part of Copenhagen. The location is great for being in the center of Copenhagen activity with the pedestrian mall shopping district, entertainment squares, historic churches, museums and royal palace all within a few minutes walk. The only aspect of our previous hotel stay that was better at the Radisson Blu Royal Copenhagen was that hotel’s proximity to the train station and Tivoli Gardens. For tourist activities, Skt. Petri is in the heart of Copenhagen for a location where stepping outside places you in the city center for tourism.
Skt. Petri Hotel Copenhagen is my third stay at a Nordic Choice Hotels Ascend Collection property. Forget your American view of midscale Quality Inn and Comfort Inn and Clarion Hotels. Even Ascend Collection hotels in the US tend to be second-tier boutique hotels. The Nordic Choice Hotels Ascend Collection properties I have stayed at in Norway and Denmark are upper upscale hotels.
Skt. Petri Hotel Copenhagen impressed me right away with a vibe that is more Kimpton-like than the standard sterile business hotel vibe I find in Radisson Blu properties in Scandinavia.
   
   
The hotel check-in desk is located on the first floor, which in Europe means the second floor for Americans. There are elevators for ground level access to guest rooms in the 8-floor hotel. The restaurant is located on the lobby level.
Please Miss, Can I have a Room with a Better View?
Copenhagen was blistering hot this week during the European heatwave of July 2015. Temperatures reached the low 90s in Copenhagen over the weekend. Frankfurt, Germany was over 100F. We arrived at the hotel around 1:00pm on a Sunday to be told we had to wait a couple of hours for our room. We checked our bags and took off for a hot afternoon tour of Copenhagen.
At check-in, we were given a 3rd floor room.
We were underwhelmed. The third floor room faced the interior of the hotel and our room window looked down to the restaurant. Kelley was overheated with sore feet from our blistering afternoon hot walk. I looked out the window to the restaurant and was disappointed with the view. Our room view at the Radisson Blu Royal Copenhagen was from the 17th floor of the 20-story hotel looking down on Tivoli Gardens and the coastline of Sweden visible from that height.
It really freaked my out thinking that I would have to stay away from the window in the evening or be visible to diners in the restaurant below. I truly like room privacy.
In general, when I travel I accept the room assigned for me at check-in. I hate to be a ‘dick-we-uh’ or DYKWIA.
Kelley played with the room air conditioning and was unable to get the AC going. There were no windows that opened in this room.
Fellow travel writers can probably relate to the ‘look’ that happens when your significant other gives you a look that says, ‘You think you are some kind of travel expert and this is the crappy shit of a room you get when I am traveling with you.â€
There was nothing wrong with the room, except for the fact that it was interior facing to the restaurant. This room would have been adequate for most nights, but not on a night when I am trying to impress Kelley with Nordic Choice Hotels.
   
   
The room view was my problem. The fact that Kelley could not get the room air conditioner to turn on was her real and more significant problem with the room, given the hot temperature in Copenhagen.
I went back down to the desk and explained to the receptionist that I felt uncomfortable in a room looking over the restaurant. I desired something more private, where I could stand at the window at night without people looking up at me from the restaurant. And that was all I said.
The receptionist was accommodating and punched in several keystrokes in her computer, spoke to another man behind the desk and in a couple of minutes gave me a new keycard for room 508.
I thanked her, got back in the elevator and hit the Floor 5 button. I wanted to see the room before Kelley.
My record for room changes is Amsterdam’s The Pulitzer Hotel, probably around 2002, when we arrived for a 5-night SPG award stay and walked into a room with a window view of a brick wall. I returned to the desk to say that I would go insane looking at a brick wall for the week. I don’t remember my issues with two other rooms, but finally we were given a top floor canal-view room and we were very happy for the stay.
I walked into Room 508 and smiled. The upgraded room was certainly more than I expected to get. All I can say is the better room made quite a difference in my impression of the hotel.
Skt. Petri Hotel room balcony view of the Round Tower observatory opened in 1647.
   
  
The room was small. There was space for Kelley’s suitcase and that was it. I placed my bags on the ledge next to the balcony. My suitcase was placed under the bathroom sinks.
The balcony was well appreciated and much more of an upgrade than I expected. The 5th floor balcony was narrow, but the main difference was a large patio door we could open. And the room had a working air conditioner.
Floor 4 rooms at Skt. Petri Hotel have major sized balconies.
The 90-degree afternoon heat meant we kept the patio door closed for the day. There was only one desk chair in the room. I brought the two patio chairs and table into the room so we had a place to sit and eat our market food for dinner.
Late in the evening, the rain started to fall and a major lightning storm accompanied some heavy downpours. Copenhagen’s hot days and nights we had experienced for three days were broken by the rain storm as we slept with the patio door open and the sound of raindrops hitting the balcony deck outside.
Breakfast is complimentary at Skt. Petri Hotel, as in all Nordic Choice Hotels.
Skt. Petri Hotel Copenhagen is a Nordic Choice Hotels Ascend Collection. The hotel was 20,000 Choice Privileges points for one free award night in July 2015.
The entry-level room rate for this hotel was 2,190 DKK or $328 USD at the time of booking.
