REVIEW: Hilton Reykjavík Nordica (How A Hotel and Elite Status Help Make Iceland a Lot More Affordable!)

Another spur of the moment trip made possible by points and miles AKA the story of my life. But that is the plain and simple truth of the matter – that I am able to travel so much because I use travel hacking to cut down on my travel costs! Remember how I have told you that travel hacking is a combo of strategies and/or techniques adopted to allow one to travel for cheaper, better and/or more often? It’s the only way that I have been able to go to Iceland (one of the most expensive places I have ever been) so many times!

I was able to cover the two typically largest expenses of a trip with miles (here’s the deep dive into how I used miles + knowledge of airlines alliances to get to Iceland for almost free) and in this post, I will cover how points and elite status with Hilton Hotel’s loyalty program helped with travel costs not only with accommodations but with food and activities!

HOTEL INFO

HOW I BOOKED 

Direct with Hotel via HOTEL LOYALTY PROGRAM: Hilton Honors (HH)

• LOYALTY PROGRAM HOTEL SPECS: Hilton uses dynamic award pricing with no published award chart with standard rooms starting at 65,000 HH points per night for this property
• COST/WHAT I SPENT:
  • 260,000 HH points: (5 nights) + $0.00 (Hilton does not charge resort fees nor taxes on Free Night stays)
• SAVINGS: $2,023.17 / 65,000 (What the cash price was at the time I made my reservation / HH Elite member perk)

I was planning on trying out one of the centrally located Hiltons on this trip rather than staying for the third time at this hotel, but only this hotel had rooms bookable for points for the entirety of my stay – ha! guess that means that I need to come back to check out and write up the other hotels 😉

HOW TO EARN THE POINTS (& FNRs) FOR REDEMPTION

HILTON TRANSFER PARTNERS:

• Bilt Rewards
• American Express Membership Rewards

CREDIT CARDS

• Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card – this Amex card comes with an annual free night reward including in the first year of holding the card!
• American Express will have limited time offers when FNR are part of the welcome bonus – note that this current deal is expired, but you can read more about this great deal here!

Hilton Honors offers the best Free Night Rewards in the hotel industry as they are easy to obtain, can be used at almost any Hilton if there is a standard room available to book on points and have resort fees and taxes waived – here’s more info on how to obtain them and also why I love them so much. NOTE: I did not use any of my free night rewards for this hotel as I want to save them for a higher points hotel stay in the upcoming year.

LOYALTY PROGRAM STATUS EXPERIENCE + PERKS 

LOYALTY PROGRAM/MY ELITE STATUS LEVEL: Hilton Honors / Diamond

PERKS: Upgraded room type + Daily continental breakfast outside of US + 1,000 HH points/stay + Welcome amenity + Lounge Access (and at this hotel, comp acccess to the Spa)

EXPERIENCE: I love when a hotel is proactive in informing you about what perks you will be getting based on your elite status and this letter is given to when you check-in at the hotel (note that online check-in is not available at this property)

ARRIVAL/CHECK-IN

On the previous occasions that I have needed to store my luggage until my room was ready, the hosts at the check-in desk have always been proactive in offering breakfast and executive lounge access during that wait (these were the couple of times during the summer when I stayed after cruises here)

I took an overnight flight from the United States and got to the hotel around 9 in the morning. I was planning on just dropping my bags off and heading into Reykjavík to grab breakfast but I was able to check in right away! I ended up having breakfast at the hotel as I was again given the diamond member breakfast card (I have stayed here multiple times now so not sure if this comp breakfast was due to that history or if this is common practice)

MY ROOM

ROOM TYPE: Originally booked Queen Guest Room / Upgraded to Queen with Scenic View Guest Room

ROOM # : 744 (but honestly I can’t remember the exact room number and I didn’t get a $0 Folio here)

ROOM SIZE/CONFIGURATION: The upgrades are straight by the book here with an upgraded room one category above what was booked. For me traveling solo, not really a big deal one way or the other but the room size for the upgrade may matter for others more. The standard queen room is 183 square feet (17 square meters) and the upgraded room is 269 square feet (25 square meters).

The king sized bed has the typically Scandi set up with two duvets with a comfortable medium firm mattress. There are outlets on both sides of the bed for charging as well as individual reading lights.

Around the room you will find: a lounge chair in the corner offers a comfy space to work or read. The desk offered more outlets and space to work and I appreciated the extra task lighting at both since as typical of hotel rooms, the overhead lighting is not sufficient to work under. Each room has a large LCD flat-screen TV for entertainment, small set up for coffee/tea and a refrigerator.

The large window offers picturesque views of Mount Esja, the city, and Faxaflói Bay which makes this as advertised a scenic view room (IYKYK – that is one thing that annoys me when hotels take liberty with scenic view rooms + charge more for very partial views!)

The upgraded room type has a bathroom with an included bathtub – which can be a welcome amenity if you do not have nor want to pay for access to the spa facilities

AROUND THE PROPERTY

There is plenty of seating around the hotel lobby which is needed with the number of pickups that are done daily for tours and activities. Photo on right is the staircase – looking down from the eighth floor (I love my staircase photos when I can capture a unique one)

HOTEL AMENITIES

One of the biggest reasons why I have come back to this hotel (besides availability of rooms bookable on points) are the amenities that are given to me based on my Hilton Honors Diamond status.

Executive Lounge

The Executive Lounge is open from 6 AM – 9 PM (6 – 21) with drinks and light snacks available all day.

Access to the Executive Lounge can be obtained in two ways: booking a room that includes lounge access (FYI I have never seen it available as a points only booking) or given as a Hilton Honors Diamond elite status benefit. I also do not know if the property offers paid upgrade opportunities to the lounge (does any one know?)

Located on the 8th floor, the Executive Lounge is an exclusive lounge offering panoramic views over Mount Esja, the city, and Faxaflói Bay whilst giving guests the opportunity to enjoy complimentary drinks and snacks + nightly happy hour service.

Happy Hour

The Executive Lounge hosts a nightly happy hour from 5 – 7 PM (17 – 19) with an assortment of sandwiches, hors d’oeuvres, sushi, bread and soup served.

The spread for the first hour normally looks something like this (and every shrimp dish has been soooo good!) along with bread and delicious soup.

Beautiful tip: From what I could tell on my visits here, that the sushi is brought out around 18:00 (6 PM) once the hors d’oeuvres are close to being finished off.

While I have always enjoyed these happy hours and have found most of the soups and all of the shrimp dishes to be really tasty!

Hilton Nordica Spa

Fitness Center

The gym is open 24 hours a day and accessible via hotel room key when spa is not open.

Note that the gym was always busy whenever I went to the spa and on the couple of occasions I have worked out here.

Spa

Guests can rejuvenate at the Nordica Spa, a full-service wellness center offering massages and facials. My favorite Diamond perk here is that you can use the spa amenities

Spa access is complimentary for Hilton Honors Diamond members and Executive Room guests — a welcome perk after a day of exploring Iceland’s landscapes

There are three different hot tubs with varying temperatures and a steam room located on the inside

Outside you will find a dry sauna, another hot tub and cold plunge pool. FYI for whatever reason, I find this to be one of the toughest cold pools to plunge in but also feel so great once I can talk myself into it!

Please respect the hygiene rules for Icelandic hot tubs, pools and lagoons – you do need to shower completely naked before entering. It seems to be an American hang up about this lol (idk – I played sports and have used gym locker rooms for a long time and maybe just don’t care) but seriously just do it – no one is looking or noticing (unless you are not doing this cuz really that’s just gross you won’t follow these rules).

There is complimentary shampoo, conditioner, shower gel to use in the showers along with body lotion in the locker room. The locker room has free lockers with electronic locks and was typically busy as the gym has many locals as members. There is a separate room that you can get ready in after – pictured above.

BAR/RESTAURANTS

VOX Bar

A nice place to get evening cocktails or a casual lunch, offering a chic, relaxed atmosphere with Icelandic design touches.

VOX Brasserie

The restaurant showcases the best of Nordic cuisine, featuring locally sourced ingredients like Icelandic lamb, Arctic char, and seasonal produce.

Buffet Breakfast

Cold items include meats and smoked salmon along with assorted cheeses (which are divine – Icelandic dairy is something else with water and soil quality!) and veggies. Delicious freshly baked breads are also part of the spread.

I am officially obsessed with Skyr which is Icelandic yogurt and there were multiple types to choose from along with Greek yogurt and a chia seed pudding with delicous accoutrement.

Various cold cereals along with nuts / oatmeal and toppings

If you didn’t know, Iceland has some really incredible bakeries and the baked goods here were also very good.

The buffet is extensive and both the cold and hot items are all included as part of the buffet breakfast. HOt times included pancakes, sunny side up eggs, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, an egg bake dish and baked beans.

Various spreads for the pancakes include Nutella, jams, peanut butter along with assorted fresh fruit and hard boiled eggs

Not pictured:there also a beverage station with cranberry, apple, pineapple and orange juice available alone with still and sparkling water. One of the nicer perks for this buffet is that the coffee station also includes an espresso machine as well as drip coffee.

HOTEL LOCATION

One of the drawbacks for this hotel is that the location is not central so if you are wanting to spend lots of time in Reykavik, you will need to account for some travel time.

You are able to get to Reykjavík easily via the very good and affordable public bus system or for those who prefer to use a Hop On Hop Off Bus. The stops are right outside of the hotel as pictured from my hotel room window. Electric scooters are also readily available and walking takes about 25 minutes.

One of the perks for staying in the Laugardalur area is that you are near the free Botanic gardens (and one of the cutest cafes) along with the largest public pool in Iceland.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

Why elite status mattered and how it saved money for me

I have the appetite of a teenage boy which can make it very pricey for me to travel with food costs but having breakfast taken care of.

Along with a hearty happy hour spread helped keep the food costs fairly reasonable – even for Iceland. I still had lunch and dinner daily but for others, I have heard that they were able to supplement with snacks or a small lunch in between (I cannot fathom that lol)

And I did the spa amenities almost every day which also helped with saving money

And this is how travel hacking works – travel for cheaper: hotel costs, half of my food costs were eliminated / for better: being able to take advantage of the spa amenities daily along with being able to do more activities (see some of what I did on this trip below!) / and more often – being able to come back to Iceland yet again!

Have you stayed at this property – what are your thoughts on it? Or is this now on your list of places to stay?