Crowne Plaza Copenhagen = Not Quite an Airport Hotel

I used to stay at Hilton CPH airport but since it was deflagged I have been looking for alternatives.  The AC Hotel is so-so and with the upcoming improvement to the IHG loyalty program I tried Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers for the first time.  My takeaway was that it’s not what Hilton used to be, but it beats AC in my opinion and I would return.  

Crowne Plaza can be considered an airport hotel, sort of.  It’s not that close to the airport, it used to have a shuttle bus (shared with AC Hotel) but it’s been suspended “due to covid” which is a poor excuse with all covid restrictions being lifted by now.  Anyway the manager at CP told me that the shuttle bus probably won’t return until 2023 unfortunately.  In the mean time the hotel is accessible via train; it’s only 2 stops away from the airport and is in a better location than AC Hotel because AC requires a train transfer for one more stop.  

Before arrival I noticed online that CP was sold out so I did not expect any upgrade as Diamond but nonetheless I was upgraded to a premium room which is 33 sqm (versus 28 sqm for the standard rooms), so that’s a hotel where an upgrade means something rather than simply “higher floor”.  Given the circumstances, I appreciated the gesture.  

The room itself was nice and recently redone and it felt a bit higher quality than the AC Hotel nearby.  The bathroom had a stand-alone shower plus a bathtub rather than only one of them which was a plus and the bathroom also had heated floors.  One negative about the room itself was that the toilet did not flush very well but otherwise I did not have any complaints and this was a solid room.  Also I noticed housekeeping missed one mug which was quite dirty.  Regarding the bathroom toiletries, I am resigned to the fact that large dispenser bottles are becoming widespread but at CP they cut it down from 3 bottles to 2 because conditioner was included with the shampoo which is not a positive in my opinion.

I was granted lounge access as Diamond where happy hour was available 6-9pm.  The lounge had a seating area immediately above the reception area, one closed room, and an outdoors terrace.  

In anticipation to the new IHG loyalty program benefits which will be live soon, the hotel also gave me free breakfast as a Diamond benefit.  The restaurant was very crowded and I found food to be as expected for a hotel of this caliber.  

Especially at peak times with people checking out in the morning plus people coming and going to breakfast, the hotel elevator system was unworkable with the hotel full and only 3 out of 4 elevators operating.  We were on a low floor and it was impossible to go down as the elevator was full every time.  Eventually we succeeded by going up first before coming back down but even going up took quite some time because many people were heading up to their room after breakfast.  

It’s been a while that I have seen a hotel which advertises giving points if we elect to skip housekeeping – many hotel chains simply do not provide housekeeping anymore and there is no compensation.  I elected to skip housekeeping, unsurprisingly my bonus points were not credited but thankfully it was quickly fixed after an e-mail to the hotel.

Wifi worked well with speed of 40-50 Mbps.

Overall Crowne Plaza was far from perfect but I found the value for the money reasonable.  I would argue that with the improvement to the IHG loyalty program, CP has leapfrogged AC Hotel (Marriott) for elites of both loyalty programs.  Personally upon returning to CPH I would probably pick CP before AC.