Having stayed at 4 of the 5 central Lisbon IHG hotels during our summer trip, I have opinions about the positive and negative aspects of each property. For those unfamiliar with Lisbon and interested about location, Holiday Inn Express Lisbon Av. Liberdade is the best location of the IHG hotels due to its walking proximity to Bairro Alto, the major tourist area of Lisbon. And the walk is downhill along Av. de Liberdade to reach Bairro Alto.
HIX Av. Liberdade is located about 7 minutes walk from Marquês de Pombal Metro Station, two blocks off Av. Liberdade. Since this was our first hotel in Lisbon we arrived by Metro from Lisbon Airport (€1.50 per metro ride, plus €1.00 to buy reloadable metro card. Self service kiosks at Lisbon Airport Metro station).
Metro and bus transportation is easily accessible within 7 minutes walk, regardless of where you stay in Lisbon with IHG. InterContinental Lisbon is the one central Lisbon hotel I did not stay, however I spotted it next to Edward VII Park about 10 minutes walk uphill along Av. Liberdade.
Our room was 410 with a small balcony in the six-floor hotel. The window only opened in the top lean-in mode with no access to balcony.
While the location for HIX Av. Liberdade is the best of the IHG hotels, this room was the smallest room of the four IHG hotels in Lisbon we stayed during our trip. We basically had to lay one of our two pieces of rollerbag luggage on the floor next to the door and avoid walking into it when we used the bathroom.
Air conditioner seemed adequate to cool room, however, the temperature remained 60-75 F during this stay. Ten days later the temperature in Lisbon hit 100 F for several days and Holiday Inn Express Plaza Saldanha was our IHG hotel winner for maintaining a really cool room climate in that heatwave.
We generally choose two twins when traveling in Europe, unless the website specifically states a King Size bed room. And in UK, even a King bed can be the size of a Queen bed in USA measurement terms.
The bathroom offered a sink, toilet and shower stall. Water pressure and temperature were good for our stay.
Interior Courtyard Architectural design
The hallways in Holiday Inn Express Av. Liberdade wrapped around an open interior courtyard filled with emergency use only metal walkways and a spiral staircase.
Lobby and Breakfast Room
We came down with Covid-19 during our first week in Lisbon and I think the -1 floor breakfast room at Holiday Inn Express Liberdade was the most likely place we encountered the virus. There were usually 15 to 20 people in the room. Nobody wore masks except hotel employees. Eating utensils were in trays with people touching many of them to pick out forks, knives and spoons. Lisbon had one of the highest rates in the world for Covid-19 cases during the two weeks before our stay.
Breakfast spread offered juices, sparkling and still water, fruit, eggs, beans and bacon, yogurt, cheese, sliced meats, breads and cereal. Two coffee machines for self-selected coffee drinks. There was a nice wall mural that I did not photograph. Guests bussed their own tables with racks for trays of dishes.
My take on Holiday Inn Express Av. Liberdade
- Excellent location, best of IHG hotels in central Lisbon.
- 410 was a small room.
- Nice lobby.
- Two small elevators meant there could be a wait during peak breakfast time.
- HIX Lisbon Av. Liberdade is most popular of IHG hotels in central Lisbon based on my hotel booking observations for several months. This hotel was generally unavailable for dates from mid-June.
- Minipreco market two blocks to the right of the hotel offered cold drinks, fresh bread and hot roasted chicken.
- Restaurants all around the neighborhood.
My cost was $60 per night for HIX Lisbon Av. Liberdade
I booked HIX Lisbon Av. Liberdade for a 4-night stay at 48,000 IHG points in November 2021, nearly 7.5 months before our stay using the Chase IHG Premier MasterCard benefit of 4th night free on reward stays. The room rate at that time was €115 per night or about $125 USD.
Given the ability to buy IHG points at $5 per 1,000 points at various times of the year, I equate this to paying $60 per night.
This hotel was unavailable for points bookings on May 9, 2022 when I did a rate check and the lowest available room rate was $147 USD. This hotel was unavailable using points for most dates during our June and July time in Lisbon with paid rates around €155/$160 USD per night when any rooms were available.
Related article:
Outsized Value of IHG points on my 24 nights trip to Europe – July 14, 2022.
This article is an overview of IHG hotels we stayed at in Lisbon, Thessaloniki, Greece and Madrid for 20 nights using only IHG points for our stays. 243,000 IHG points cut the $2,400 in hotel room rates by 50%.
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