Hilton Garden Inn Hilton Honors loyalty program Hilton Hotels Worldwide Hotel Reviews hotel reward category Krakow Krakow KRK Krakow KRK Poland

Our hot night 10K deal at Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport

a plant in a pot on a wall
Welcome sign Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport

Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport is one of two hotels in Krakow with reward nights at 10,000 points per night. Hampton Inn Krakow is the other 10K hotel reward using Hilton Honors points.

We booked one night at Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport due to an insanely early 3:45am Iberia flight to Madrid. Kelley and I flew Krakow to San Francisco on Iberia via a one-stop itinerary through Madrid on American AAdvantage award tickets for 30,000 miles + $121.

a plant in a pot
Welcome sign Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport

Arrival

Hilton Garden Inn Krakow is located between the airport train to city and the airport terminal. You can get to the hotel by walking out the doors across from arrivals and crossing the street to Hilton Garden Inn Krakow.

The other way to the hotel without going outside is follow the signs for ‘Train to City’ and take moving walkway to upper level. Midway along the corridor to the train is a sign showing ‘Hotel’ with a door to the left (to the right if approaching from airport train station).

a glass door with a sign
Hotel entrance from upper level corridor to train does not specifically state Hilton Garden Inn.

An elevator takes you down to the Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport lobby.

a elevator door in a building
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport elevator sign only shows ‘Hotel’.
a black rectangular object with a square pattern on it
Krakow Airport hotel elevator still had no sign for Hilton Garden Inn.

Since I had never been to Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport and never really even noticed the hotel before during the several times I passed through KRK, it was not until the door opened and I found myself looking at the welcome sign on the wall with the Hilton Garden Inn logo that I knew for sure I had arrived in the place I wanted to be.

We lucked out at check-in with being able to walk right up to the desk and get our key card. As we were checking in, a group of about 15 backpackers arrived at the hotel to check-in.

a room with a couch and a table
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport lobby
a living room with a couch and chairs
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport lobby
a glass door in a building
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport restaurant

Since we had taken the train from Krakow City to the airport, I shopped in Carrefour supermarket on the top floor of Galeria Krakowska before boarding the airport train accessed through the lower level of the shopping mall. We wanted breakfast food from the store for 1:30am when we needed to wake up for our 3:45am flight.

I thought I had made a good call after seeing the prices at the HGI restaurant. They were about double the price of most restaurants in Krakow.

Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport Room 132

Our reservation was a ‘Standard Room’ reward night for 10,000 Hilton Honors points. The lowest rate at the time we booked was $100. The cost to buy 10,000 points was $50 during the Honors 100% bonus buy points promotion through June 7, 2018.

a hallway with black and white carpet
A carpet design to fuck with your head when jet lagged.
a bed with white sheets and pillows
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport #132 bed
a closet with a door open
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport #132 closet with ironing board.
a closet with a microwave and iron
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport #132 iron and safe in closet.
a television on a table
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport #132 TV and desk counter with chair.
a tray with a group of jars and cups on it
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport #132 coffee tray. Two coffee packets, but no decaf. (No problem. I wanted caffeine at 1:30am).
a small refrigerator on a table
Empty room refrigerator we filled with beer and yogurt.
a room with a yellow chair and a suitcase
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport #132 chair.
a building with grass and a building in the background
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport #132 is one floor above street. Green roof outside and KRK upper level departures terminal across street. HGI has four guest floors 1-4.
a building with a green roof
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport sunset view
a sink and mirror in a bathroom
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport sink
a bathroom with a painting on the wall
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport towel heater
a towel rack with white towels
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport thick bath towels
a shower with a shower head
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport shower stall.

Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport Room #132 too hot for a comfortable sleep

One of the problems in the room was the bathroom towel heater rack was on and hot. This hotel is the only one in Europe I ever recall having a towel heater rack that could even be turned on in summer. Every other hotel I have been in disables the heater racks in summer.

I turned the heater rack off immediately after entering the room.

a white device with a screen
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Room 132 temperature 23.3C/74F,

23.3C/74F degrees might be a comfortable room temperature for some guests. For us, coming from Monterey, California, one of the coldest places in the USA in summer, 74F is a hot daytime temperature. Our year round average temperature is 64F and we like a room to be at least 20C/68F to sleep comfortably.

Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport was our 8th consecutive night in our 4th Hilton brand hotel in Poland. This was the only hotel we could not get the room to a comfortable sleeping temperature of our 10 nights in Poland.

I called down to the front desk around 7:00pm to complain about the thermostat not cooling the room. A staff member came up promptly and adjusted the thermostat to 16C. Cool air blew through the room for about 20 minutes lowering the temperature to 22.5C/72.5F.

We tossed the comforter off the bed and went to sleep around 8pm. We sweated for the next 5.5 hours in the room. When I got up at 1:30am the thermostat read 24.0C/75.2F.

a close-up of a message
The Hilton Garden Inn Promise

“Our Promise

Our goal is to make your stay better and brighter. If something isn’t just the way you like it, simply let any hotel team member know, and we will make it right. Guaranteed.”

Our stay was certainly brighter with the glow of sweat dripping off our faces. Better? No way.

Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport Fitness Room and Laundry Room

Both the fitness room and laundry room are located side by side on Floor 1.

a door to a room
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport floor 1 fitness and laundry rooms.
a room with exercise bikes
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport fitness room
a room with a black ball and a shelf
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport fitness room
a mirror in a room with a rack of balls
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport fitness room
a washing machine next to a counter
Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport laundry room, but dryer out of order.
a kitchen with a sink and washer
Was an out of order clothes dryer in the laundry room the reason for room #132 towel heater turned on?

Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport is a convenient location if you need a hotel at the airport upon arrival or before departure. Personally, I would stay at Hampton Inn Krakow for 10,000 points rather than HGI Krakow Airport if looking for a cheap reward stay. The train to Krakow Glowny is an 18 minute ride, but then you need to go from the train station to Old Town or Kazimierz and that takes more time than getting to these places by tram from Hampton Inn Krakow.

Plus, airport trains to Krakow are not that frequent. Midday departures are about every 30 minutes, but there are times of the day with 45 minutes to more than an hour between trains. Train is 9pln/$2.38 one-way. Airport bus is same ticket price and typically scheduled between airport train departures, but can take 35 minutes or more on bus to bus station adjacent to train station.

I have stayed at all three Hilton brand hotels in Krakow. Here are my hotel reviews.

Hampton Inn Krakow – Hotel review Hampton Inn Krakow Hilton Honors category 1 reward nights (June 26, 2017).

DoubleTree Krakow - DoubleTree Krakow Poland or Hilton Garden Inn as best Hilton hotel choice? (Aug 10, 2018).

Hilton Garden Inn Krakow - Hilton Garden Inn Krakow is 20 minutes from anywhere in town (Aug 3, 2018).

 

 

 

 

2 Comments

  • Christian August 13, 2018

    So, did the hotel do anything to make it right, as promised?

  • bc August 15, 2018

    Thanks, this review was very helpful as I am planning a trip to Krakow soon. Maybe I’ll wait and see what the weather will be in September before I make any changes, because like you I enjoy those cool Monterey nights and can’t sleep when the temperature rises into the 70s.

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