Stockholm: Waterfront vs Royal Viking
 

Stockholm has two main (central) Radisson Blu's - Royal Viking and Waterfront.

Interested to hear experiences of both, and which one you prefer.

I'm finding myself in Stockholm quite a bit for work these days, and have stayed in both.

Personal experience says Royal Viking older, more tired, though as Gold I was upgraded to a decent Business Class room, and given complimentary welcome plate (fruit, nuts), wine, chocolate and water. Waterfront on the other hand has been either built or renovated recently and rooms are fresh, but their view of having 'upgraded' me was the same class of room, just a high up room with a nice view, and a welcome plate - restaurant also not as nice as RV.

Interested to hear views from fellow FTers - I'm back in the Viking next week so remains to be seen if it holds up to it's previous standard :)

I think your observations of the two are quite accurate. There is constant renovation going on in Viking - many rooms are already refurbished.

Personally I prefer the Waterfront because of nicer views, newer building and better breakfast. However, upgrades tend to be more consistent at Viking. I also prefer the casual atmosphere of the lobby bar at Viking where you can get decent food. Then again, Waterfront has a nice steak restaurant in the same building.

I'm more often at the Viking as it's usually cheaper, but if the price was the same I would probably choose the Waterfront. It is very much down to taste and preferences, you can probably find pros and cons in both.

Yes agree - I'm in the Viking again tomorrow, I do quite like it there though I haven't had a refurbished room yet.

The view was also very nice from the Waterfront.

We had a one night stay at the Waterfront and were well content. The Royal Viking was a bit closer on walking out from the Arlanda Express but the Waterfront was only a block or so ahead. If weather had been vile, this would have mattered.

We were upgraded to a better view room at the Waterfront which we greatly appreciated. The Stockholm Marathon was yesterday. We could see folks running on the road along the water front. (Grete Waitz still holds the women's record from 1988. Amazing.) It was a lovely view and made the room seem more expansive. We were given a tray of fresh fruits and two bags of nuts as my gold amenity. It was one of the nicer treats I've been given in a Radisson Blu. The ground floor lounge was pleasant for meeting local friends.

The room had a bathroom with shower inside tub, two twin beds pushed together, a desk facing the window with the ability to use the desk chair on either side, and a comfortable chair for reading.

The Waterfront is only a few years old, and so it's rooms are more contemporary and in better condition overall than the rooms at the Viking or Strand Radisson hotels here. I still tend to go for the Strand over the Waterfront; or I pick the Waterfront over the Viking if doing Radisson and not staying at the Strand property. If the weather was lousy, the Viking is indeed as convenient as it can get when using public transit of sorts.

More often than doing Radisson hotels in Stockholm, I now mostly use Choice hotels or SPG/Design Hotels in Stockholm when it comes to using points. That's even as there seems to be at least marginally better welcomes at Radisson hotels here than at Choice hotels. However the redemption values Choice has in Stockholm are very good, something that doesn't seem to be as generally true for the Radisson Blus in the city center area. But if using the employee friend and family rate, the Waterfront tends to have much better availability than the other Rads.