Strawberry Hotels’ New Acquisition Of Clarion Hotels Is A Sweet Slice Of Travel Comfort In Norway

When you think about an airport hotel, what comes to mind? For me, it means bland and boring. Nothing to really write about.

But I just had a good experience in Norway at the very chic Clarion Hotel Bergen Airport, and this hotel group should definitely be on your radar screen. (I just discovered it as I needed a hotel in Bergen at the end of my European Viking cruise, never having been to Norway before.) The Clarion Hotel group was just acquired by Strawberry Hotel Group on June 20. The Strawberry Group was formerly known as Nordic Choice hotels. If you’re traveling to Scandinavia, you may want to check it out.

The Clarion Hotel Bergen Airport offers 200 double rooms that are very charming. Our room, a Junior Suite (Room 223), was as full of snazz and pizzazz as it was comfortable – the décor was beautiful. There’s a desk with coffeemaker (we got a converter and adapter from guest services, for our computer), a modern purple velvet couch, leather chair, a silver-trunk table, and silver accents. We especially liked the oh-so-comfy king-sized bed with mattress pad (made by Jensen of Norway) that was so feathery we wanted to buy it (as many guests do). The duvets, made by Hoeie, are also available for purchase. There’s also a very nice gym — two small rooms where you can get the job done. However, it was absolutely sweltering on the day I used it – someone had opened the doors overlooking the tarmac to cool it off, and they had turned on a small fan – but it was really too hot for a workout. (I did it anyway.)

Breakfast is included in your room rate, and the cold food is served as early as 4AM in case you have an early departure. A very nice extensive breakfast starts at 6AM. It features the oh-so-Nordik “Kaviar” fish-egg spread that comes in a tube, as well as all sorts of cheeses and meats, chia puddings, yogurt, gourmet breads, eggs, and much more.

There’s also a nice restaurant on site – Kitchen & Table by renowned Food Network chef Marcus Samuelsson, but as of August the venue will changed to a name and concept called “Social.”

Dinner was a mixed bag. The food was great – chili almonds, parmesan croquettes, veggie burger on a pretzel bun, and much more – but the service was very, very slow all evening long. The worst part was when one of the servers failed to clean the table before taking our dessert order. Our warm chocolate cake was already on the dirty table when the clueless server took out a spray bottle of cleanser and started spraying. Not good. We sent back the dessert. In fairness, we spoke to the restaurant manager who had an excellent attitude and apologized profusely, saying that the restaurant was short-staffed that night. We were satisfied with her appropriate response. I certainly understand that everyone – and everybody – can have an off day.

The hotel is a four-minute walk to the airport, and has rooms that are specially configured for wheelchair users and people with reduced mobility. There’s also a price guarantee – if you find a better price at a Strawberry hotel on another booking site, they will match the price and refund you the difference. The summer sale has rooms starting at 89 Euro.

Make sure to try the Kaviar spread!

For more about my Wanderlust and Wellness travels, please Follow me on Instagram at @DebbiKickham.