Decisions, Decisions. Which hotel in Stockholm?

If you had to pick from a hotel in a beautiful park, a middle of the road hotel near the conference location, or a boutique hotel owned by Benny from ABBA, which would it be?

I’m taking the plunge and going to Stockholm for a week in July, for the TBEX travel blogging convention. It seems really decadent to go to Europe for only one week and I can give you the excuses but let’s not go there.

It’s my first trip to Stockholm.

Here are three hotels I am trying to choose from. I am not going to decide based on price. They’re listed in the order I found out about them.

1. Best Western Kom: Downtown, reported to be comfortable, and a prominent blogger is staying there so I suspect there will be others from the TBEX event, and a chance to mingle.
2. Hotel Rival: In a neighbourhood described as Bohemian, also close to the conference, but this is a boutique hotel. It’s owned by one of the ABBAs (as my Swiss friend used to say) and a lovely touch is the teddy bear in each room. They will have a bloggers’ lounge for us, again, a great chance to mingle. I love that they are making us feel welcome.
   I really don’t do big parties very well and noise is no fun. I like to meet people in places where you can at least hear each other speak. The bloggers’ lounge sounds attractive. However, experience has taught me that at TBEX I leave my hotel in the morning and I am g.o.n.e until bedtime!
3. Radisson Blu Royal Park Hotel: So far this one is winning. It’s about an hour to get there by transit or bike and I really hope to rent a bike. The first half of the ride is through a big park, Hagaparken, pictured above. I may not have a view room but if I step outside the hotel it is a short walk to the beach.

So, do I stay in town and hang out with the cool kids, or keep myself more to myself out in Hagaparken?

In the end I got a room in a private apartment through Air BnB. It worked out very well but since then I have had to reconsider my attitude to Air BnB in cities where reasonably priced living accommodation is being crowded out by private homes doubling as hotels. I haven’t resolved it fully but I have stayed in hotels more and Air BnBs much less.

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Disclosure

This is my standard form of disclosure that I am retroactively adding to all blog posts done before April 1, 2018, and will add to all new posts.

1. Is this experience open to the public?

Yes.

2. Who paid the cost of me doing this?

I did.

3. Did I get any compensation or special consideration for writing this blog post?

No.

4. Would I be as positive about this place if I had gone as a regular visitor?

Yes. I did go as a regular visitor.