Kelley quipped that I have taken her to Stockholm Arlanda twice in the past six months for cheap flights home to the USA and she still has not seen the city of Stockholm. Kelley will see Stockholm when we are back in the city for five hotel nights in July.
We flew into Stockholm ARN from Vilnius, Lithuania on Norwegian Airlines and we were flying to Oakland on Norwegian Airlines the next day, so I opted for the Quality Airport Hotel Stockholm Arlanda for our overnight stay paying 10,000 points Choice Privileges points for the night.
Quality Inn Stockholm Arlanda Airport is 10-story hotel in background. The hotel entrance is inside an outlet shopping center in rural Arlandastad, about five miles from the Stockholm Arlanda ARN Airport. There is nothing else around here that I could see from our top floor room at the shopping center hotel. The higher rated and more convenient hotel is Clarion Hotel Arlanda Airport connected to the airport. Clarion ARN is a 20,000 points per night hotel reward.
Clarion Arlanda is large hotel seen by airport control tower at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
The gorgeous April weather around Stockholm made me wish I had booked a hotel in the city for our 20 hour layover in Stockholm, but we made the best of an airport hotel stay for 10,000 Choice Privileges points.
The main reason I did not want to travel from Stockholm ARN airport to city center is the round trip transportation cost is not cheap. The Arlanda Express train is the quickest way into central Stockholm. A round trip train ticket is 540 SEK = $66.58 for a 20-minute ride each way.
Flygbussarna is lower cost bus transportation from Arlanda airport to Stockholm at 198 SEK ($24.41 USD) round trip for online/app tickets.
Flygbussarna ticket price is 119 SEK ($14.68) each way purchased at airport or 99 SEK booked online or via app.
Quality Inn Arlanda Airport has a free shuttle bus with airport runs every 30 minutes. The hotel is about a ten minute drive to Quality Inn Arlanda Airport. Airport bus stop is #7 at Terminal 1.
Quality Inn Arlanda accommodates a lot of airline flight crews and hotel’s airport shuttle seemed punctual for our rides. Be sure to sign up at hotel in advance for a return ride to airport if leaving at busy morning time. There are limited seats.
Quality Inn Arlanda Airport is inside a shopping mall. From our 10th floor room there was nothing visible around the shopping center, except a freeway and forests.
Best part of being at Quality Inn Arlanda is Maxi grocery store, sort of like a super Target, open every day 8am to 10pm.
Quality Inn Arlanda Airport Suite 2001
The hotel upgraded my award room to a top floor suite. I am currently Choice Privileges Platinum elite, a status requiring 20 hotel nights in a calendar year. Choice Privileges counts reward nights for elite qualification and 18 of my 20 hotel nights in 2015 at Choice Hotels were reward nights, mostly in Denmark, Norway and Sweden at Nordic Choice Hotels using Choice Privileges points.
10th floor of Quality Inn Arlanda is all suites.
Propeller coat hanger is cute feature.
  
The room windows faced east with blindingly brilliant sunlight hitting the room around 5:30am. This photo was taken around 4:30pm and light still bright from east.
Kelley adores hardwood floors instead of carpeting in hotel rooms.
We were happy to see two duvets. The single duvet at the hotels in Vilnius were not quite big enough to cover us both in bed. Forced us to sleep close together in Lithuania.
There were two doors to the suite with a bedroom door and living room door to hallway.
Bathroom of suite 2001 was the major detractor of the room due to its small size. The toilet seat protruded into the door way. I walked into the toilet several times in the dark since I had the shades drawn to block out the morning sun.
  
The shower had a funky round window in the wall.
The view out Suite 2001 windows looked east out over the freeway, train line and airport landing approach for plane spotting. Traffic on the road to Stockholm is heading right and airport to the left.
Quality Inn room windows were double paned for a quiet room.
The near empty refrigerator in the room is a feature I like to see. I headed to the Maxi Stormarknad market in the shopping center to lay down supplies for our evening in-room dining. Ironically, I arrived back to the room to find the hotel staff loaded up the mini-bar with items. Good thing it was not an electronic mini-bar and I could replace their stuff with my newly purchased foods. I loved the supermarket being five minutes walk from the room. I shopped four times in 20 hours, finally breaking down to pay 31.90 SEK ($3.93 USD) for two 0.5 L bottles of Pilsner Urquell 3.5% ABV.
Sweden has strict alcohol laws and 2.8% and 3.5% beer is the strongest that is sold in markets. You have to go to a Systembolaget, state run liquor store to buy normal alcohol beer and other wine and liquor. Licensed restaurants and bars sell normal strength alcohol, but prices are unusually high for Americans.
Food can be very expensive in Sweden. We still had vegetables and fruit from Vilnius, so we needed some entrée items and I had a desire for a soda, something we rarely drink. After a week of inexpensive Lithuanian beer, I was ready to drink something else besides water.
A baguette ($2.50), smoked salmon ($12, about $15/lb.), whole chicken ($6.25) and three 0.5 L bottles of Coke Zero ($3.80) = 199 SEK = $24.55 USD. Exchange rate is 8.10 SEK = $1.00 USD.
A chicken or roast beef sandwich is about 40 SEK ($5) and broccoli and hummus were about $4.25. Whole hot chicken 50.5 SEK ($6.25) so some items were not that expensive. It saves to be selective. I will post an article describing comparative food prices for Amsterdam, Stockholm and Vilnius.
One great thing about Nordic Choice Hotels is breakfast is included in rate. I did not photograph breakfast. There were hot dishes with eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, breads, cheeses, meats, cereals, fruits and all the normal breakfast buffet items for a busy Nordic Choice Hotel.
I missed the hotel gym at the airport since it had relocated and the old hotel signage sent me to the wrong area.
Quality Inn Arlanda Airport Bar
The bar was only open in the evening. There are no ice machines and I had warm beer from the store. The bar gave me a pint glass filled with ice.
Overall I enjoyed our stay at Quality Inn Arlanda Airport and I would definitely consider staying here again when needing an airport hotel. Breakfast service began at some crazy early hour like 3:45am, which is fantastic for an airport hotel. The Maxi market open 8am to 10pm every day is a huge plus. McDonald’s is 200 meters across the parking lot. A variety of clothing shops are inside the outlet mall, along with another restaurant right outside the Quality Inn hotel entrance.
Quality Airport Hotel Stockholm Arlanda ARN
Quality Airport Hotel Stockholm Arlanda is a Nordic Choice Hotel that can be booked for 10,000 Choice Privileges points. I knew I needed a Stockholm hotel, so with 0 Choice Privileges points in the first week of March, I booked two weeknight stays at a Rodeway Inn and Econolodge in Monterey paying a total $85. Those two stays earned 9,000 Choice Privileges points.
My reward night at Quality Airport Hotel Stockholm Arlanda was booked as a Points + Cash stay for 6,000 points + $30 USD.
I reserved a Superior Double Bed room. Published rates at the time I booked were 1,360 SEK = $162.93. The one bedroom suite room category was 1,660 SEK = $204.61 USD.
Basically I paid $85 for two room nights in Monterey in March where I simply checked into the hotels and went back to my house. Those two stays earned 9,000 Choice Privileges points that I was able to convert into a $204 suite room night in Stockholm.
Choice Privileges points are like carrying around gold in your pockets when traveling around Norway and Sweden.
Loyalty Traveler – How two $36 EconoLodge nights get me to 20,000 Choice Privileges points (March 7, 2016).
Loyalty Traveler – Choice Privileges Stay Twice Earn 8,000 points Mar 3 to May 5, 2016 (March 3, 2016).
3 Comments
Comments are closed.