Holiday Inn Express IHG One Rewards InterContinental Hotels Group

Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport has been a windfall for cheap IHG bonus points

a bed with a blue blanket and a couch in a room

This summer I have a flight out of Warsaw Airport and I could have booked Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport for $39 to pick up 40,000 points with IHG Rewards Club Accelerate 2019 summer promotion. I will be staying in the city center instead.

I stayed at Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport hotel in March 2019 on an expensive $93 bonus points rate to complete the IHG Rewards Club Free Nights Faster winter promotion and earned 25,308 points. The first time I stayed at this hotel was in July 2017 – Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport $58 night earned 34,828 points.

Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport has meant a windfall of IHG Rewards Club points. There also is a convenient free shuttle service to the off-airport hotel.

a building with a sign in front of it
HIX Express Warsaw Airport
a sign with a sign on it
HIX Warsaw Airport shuttle stop
a group of people standing in front of a building
Shuttle location stop outside Terminal A Arrivals 2 door.
a crosswalk in a parking garage
Warsaw Airport Arrivals level, departures upstairs.

I had forgotten to check where the shuttle stop for Holiday Inn Express is located prior to walking outside around 11am on a Wednsday morning in March. As I was looking up the hotel phone number the HIX hotel shuttle passed by and stopped for people crossing. I waved to the driver and he let me in for the ride to the hotel.

My room was not ready yet. I had an interesting chat with the receptionist from Ukraine about her experiences flying low cost airlines in Europe. I asked her for directions to Warsaw city center and she explained where to pick up the bus outside the hotel and where to change for the Metro.

a sign on a wall
HIX Warsaw Airport Room 416

Holiday Inn Warsaw Airport has four floors. Room 416 is on the top floor near the elevator.

 

a bed with a blue blanket and a blue couch
HIX Warsaw Airport 416 bed
a desk with a tv on the wall
HIX Warsaw Airport 416 desk
a tv on a wall
HIX Warsaw Airport Room 416 TV
a bed in a hotel room
HIX Warsaw Airport room 416
a couch with pillows in a room
HIX Warsaw Airport 416 couch

The view from room 416 was nothing to get excited about.

a view of a street and buildings from a high angle
HIX Warsaw Airport 416 view
a small black safe with a white kettle and two bottles of water on it
HIX Warsaw Airport 416 water and safe

The bathroom has a blue light, which happens to be a lighting color I find appealing.

a bathroom with a sink and toilet
HIX Warsaw Airport Room 416 bathroom blue light
a sink and mirror in a bathroom
HIX Warsaw Airport sink
a white soap dispenser on a tile wall
Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport 416 Dove cream wash dispenser

While the dispenser is labeled Dove Cream Wash, there would need to be a lab analysis report to convince Gary Leff.

a soap dispenser on a wall
Double the horror in bathroom 416
a shower with a black tile wall
HIX Warsaw Airport 416 shower

a paper with text on it

Complimentary breakfast was standard fare of breads, eggs, beans and sausages. Cold meats and cheese, yogurt and fresh fruit.

Two stays at this hotel and I never managed to snap a photo of the lobby dining room. There are two computers in the lobby for guest use.

Bus and Metro to Warsaw city center

I had most of the day to hang out and headed into Warsaw shortly after noon.

Out the hotel and to the street to bus stop for 148 bus. A ticket cost 4.40 PLN (about $1.15 USD).

a close up of a paper
Bus 148 from HIX Warsaw Airport 8 stops to Metro Imielin.
a train with red doors
Warsaw Metro A line – Imielin
a board with information on it
Warsaw Metro A Line

I rode the Metro 11 stops to Ratusz Arsenal where I exited and picked up a tram across the Vistula River to Praga, advertised to tourists in guide books as the up and coming urban renewal district of Warsaw.

Overall, I was underwhelmed by Praga. Ended up walking around a couple of hours, ate lunch and walked to Warsaw Zoo, before heading to Old Town, then back to the Metro for the ride back to Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport.

a white car on a street with buildings in the background
Praga Warsaw

I did see a sign for the new Moxy by Marriott hotel in a complex with a Google Campus for Startups and the Vodka Museum, however, I did not locate the entrance for Moxy and headed out to find something more authentic in Praga.

cars parked cars on a street
‘Zabkowska 9 – Take Off’ is an 1870 tenement building in North Praga covered in aluminum foil by artist Piotr Janowski.
a sign over a walkway
Warsaw Zoo

Scenes from the film, The Zookeeper’s Wife, played in my head.

a black and white photo of a girl holding a cat

While a hotel in the city is preferable if you plan to sightsee in Warsaw, the location of Holiday Inn Express is perfectly suitable for a daytrip into central Warsaw if you don’t mind traveling about 45 minutes each way.

a statue on a pillar in front of a building
Old Town Warsaw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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