While chatting with a couple of Norwegian football fans during a Liverpool match at The Highbury Pub in the Frogner district of Oslo, we were asked which hotel we were staying at. When I replied, “The Thief”, one of the guys rubbed his fingers in a motion signifying money, and said, “Oh, you must be rich Americans.”
I chuckled at their association of a stay at The Thief with a rich travel budget given that the 20,000 Choice Privileges points per night rate I paid ($104 to buy 20K points) was only two beers more money than the two Norwegians spent drinking 95 NOK ($8.90 USD) pints of beer during the 2-hour football match.
Kelley did not tell the Norwegians that I rolled both pieces of our luggage 20 minutes from the Oslo Theatre train station through the crowded Aker Brygge Marina waterfront walkway on a sunny and warm late-April Friday afternoon to avoid a $12 Uber ride to the hotel.
The Thief was the flagship property of Petter Stordalen’s Nordic Choice Hotels chain when it opened in January 2013. Nordic Choice Hotels name changed to Strawberry Hotels in 2023. Hotel rates at The Thief typically exceed $350 per night. Rates were actually higher ten years ago when the U.S. Dollar to Norwegian Krone exchange rate (< 6 NOK to 1 USD) was about half of what it is now (>10 NOK to 1 USD). The good news is the Choice Privileges points rate for a night at The Thief Oslo has remained unchanged over the past decade at 20,000 points per night.
The Thief Lobby
There is also a rooftop bar and restaurant at The Thief. I have not yet managed to make it to the rooftop when the bar is open.
Superior Double Guest Room
One complaint about the room is the motion-sensor bathroom lights turned on when Kelley rolled over in bed. She realized she needed to keep the bathroom door closed at night to prevent the lights from automatically turning on.
Room Details
Ice Machine by elevator
Breakfast at The Thief
One of the amusing aspects of the breakfast room is a large hanging sheet of metal with printed words. I snapped a photo in February 2023 and when looking at the photo to read the words I realized it was a pornographic story. Of course, when it is a wordscape created by Fiona Banner and is hanging on the wall of The Thief, then it is ‘art’.
Breakfast is the highlight of our stays at The Thief. There is a wide variety of locally sourced and organic food.
The Thief Spa and Gym
Kelley had a spa treatment at The Thief Spa. located in a separate building. There is an elevator from guest room floors to a tunnel leading to the spa and gym. She had a late appointment just before closing and she did not have time to use the pool. Her one-hour body massage cost about $140.
The Thief has been the primary hotel I stay at when in Oslo. Booking an Uber to Oslo Nationaltheatret Train Station (about $10 to $12) and riding the slow train ($13 per person for 28 minutes ride) to Oslo Airport takes about 45 minutes altogether. In February 2023 we had an early 6:45am flight to Zurich and stayed at Clarion Oslo Airport for 16,000 points. The round trip bus fare to the airport hotel cost $16 each. That one-night hotel stay in an isolated setting convinced me to just stay in Oslo city from now on when we transit through Oslo Airport on our cheap transatlantic flights between San Francisco and Oslo, Norway.
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