Good morning everyone, happy Thursday! I’m going to Iceland in September, I already booked my Icelandair flights (Booking my First 5x Membership Reward Points Flight on AMEXTravel.com Using American Express Business Platinum Charge Card), and 3 nights at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night). So what’s the problem? The problem is that I land in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Saturday night, but I don’t have a reservation for Saturday night. Uh oh…
I booked the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica several months ago before the new Hilton Honors program was announced and I was able to get pretty good prices on the rooms. For 2 nights, I used cash + points (16,000 Hilton Points + 7,407.67 Icelandic Krona = $70.73 USD) and the third night, I used 40,000 Hilton Points, since there was no cash + points option available.
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- Cash + Points Sunday Night
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- Cash + Points Monday Night
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- All Hilton Points Tuesday Night
I wanted to change my Tuesday night reservation to a Saturday night reservation. If Saturday night cost 40,000 Hilton Points, I would just cancel my Tuesday night reservation and use those 40,000 Hilton Points to book the Saturday night reservation. But unfortunately, the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica is now charging 60,000 Hilton Points per night.
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- Rates in Icelandic Krona
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- Rates in US Dollars
Just for curiosity, I wanted to see what the price would be if I used 16,000 Hilton Points and paid the rest in cash. As I mentioned before, I paid 16,000 Hilton Points + 7,407.67 Icelandic Krona = $70.73 USD, for 2 of my other nights. Now the cash price would be 16,000 Hilton Points + 32,395.00 Icelandic Krona = $309.48 USD, more than 4 times as much for the cash portion. No thank you!
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- Points + Cash Price
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- All Points Rate
Since I am a Hilton Diamond Elite Member, I called the Hilton Diamond Desk and spoke to a very helpful rep. I explained the problem to him and he told me the price for the hotel had really increased since I originally booked my hotel room. He asked me if I would mind holding as he called the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica to see if the hotel could change my Tuesday night reservation into a Saturday night reservation. After a 15 minute hold, the rep came back with good news. My Saturday night reservation was confirmed by the hotel general manager. A few minutes later, my Hilton Honors Reservation page was updated with the new dates.
Long story short, if you want to change your dates at the hotel, but the price has gone up, call the Hilton reservations department (or Hilton Diamond Desk if you are a Hilton Diamond Elite Member) or the hotel directly and ask if they can change the reservation without adjusting the price. This is not a 100% sure thing, but it does work from time to time. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
I stayed at the Hilton Nordica in April, also on points & cash rate. Also Diamond Elite for now….got an upgrade to an ocean/mountain view room. Slick. Free breakfast and lounge is nice. At first they put me in a room with a city view…I then went back down and asked if they had an ocean/mtn view room. Bingo!
Nice that they have free parking too. Enjoy
Awesome, that sounds like a great stay. Did you rent a car while you were in Iceland? Are there any restaurants or things to see within walking distance of the hotel that you would recommend?
Yes…Saga Car Rental….which is actually Thrifty….good rate for a 4WD – $380 total for 6 days/5 nights. Of course, in the summer you don’t need 4WD unless you go on certain rougher roads.
Ended up being a new Escape. Didn’t need the 4WD part until my last day when there was a flash snow storm upon returning from the Thingvellir/Laugarvatn area. Drove back the next morning before my flight – sunny weather and some snow. Even then it wasn’t totally necessary, but it was nice to have the 4WD for confidence and faster driving speed. Ecodiesel. Rented a 4WD as I headed north. Was planning to drive into the Westfjords, but food sickness made me turn around sooner. Got better within a day.
Within reasonable walking distance of Nordica hotel….nada me thinks…bus stops right in front though…so you could take that to “downtown” pretty easily. Not a foodie so I can’t comment on that…food is very pricey all over Iceland. To go cheap, go to the “supermarket with a pig as the logo” – called Bonus. Or you eat hot dogs.
Nordica was better than Radisson…the Radisson (the big one) does have a closer location to downtown though – walked on my first eve, also near Nat’l museum. Room was roomy, new and nice, didn’t get a very good view due to remodeling. The Radisson 1919, which I walked by, is smack dab in downtown core. Not worth extra Club Carlson points though to me.
The Nordica room they put me in really had an amazing view – on the 2nd day. First day was cloudy / rainy, didn’t see anything. Club lounge is spacious too…you’ll enjoy it.
I’ll check out Saga Car Rental, sounds like a much better rate than the Hertz price I looked into. Thanks for the recommendation :)
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