June 10, 2004 -- Days never really end during the summer in Scandinavia; while you may not see real white nights, the feeling of sitting on a terrace sipping a (decaf) coffee in the 11 PM daylight is still surreal. Unfortunately, Scandinavia's always been an expensive region to travel in, and the weak dollar hasn't made it any cheaper.
Enter the Skanplus hotel pass (www.skanplus.com). Skanplus is a discount scheme covering more than 170 hotels in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Finland, and a few in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In most of the Skanplus countries, you can use the pass during the summer (through either August 15 or August 30, depending on the hotel) and on weekends and public holidays throughout the year. In Iceland, the pass works all year round.
Joining Skanplus is simple: mention it to your first hotel when you book, and they'll charge you an extra NOK 90 ($13.55) and give you the card when you check in. You'll then be eligible for highly discounted rates, with your sixth night at any combination of Skanplus hotels coming free.
For a full list of hotels, check out www.skanplus.com.
In Iceland, Skanplus is accepted by the Fosshotel chain (www.fosshotel.is), which has hotels all around the island (as well as the Hotel Baron in Reykjavik, which we recommend highly.) In Norway, the Rainbow (www.rainbow-hotels.no) and Norlandia (www.norlandia.no) chains take the pass. In Finland, Restel (www.restel.fi) hotels use the pass. In Sweden, the Elite hotels (www.elite.se) participate, as do many Ramada (www.ramadainternational.com) hotels across all the Scandinavian countries. (In Denmark, the Skanplus hotels are generally independent hotels.)
These chains have terrific coverage of Scandinavia, with hotels in major cities, small towns and the Arctic north, and using the Skanplus card makes a huge difference at all the Scandinavian hotels we checked.
For instance, the price of a double room at the Rainbow Hotell in Trondheim, Norway drops from NOK 1,145 ($172.44) to a startling NOK 630 ($94.88) with the pass.
The Ramada Victoria in Göteborg, Sweden, runs SEK 1,200/night ($162.16) on Ramada's Web site. The Skanplus card slashes that rate to SEK 750 ($101.35). That's a pretty big savings.
In Iceland, hotels simply slash their lowest prices from 10%-40%, depending on the hotel and the time of year, if you mention the card. That's marvelous.
But the pass isn't as good a deal for Germany and Switzerland. The pass offers room rates of €80/night at 15 Treff and Ramada-Treff hotels in those countries, but Ramada's own Web site sometimes has lower rates -- for example, a €74 rate for a July stay at the Ramada-Treff Hotel Globus Berlin.
If you're heading to any of the Scandinavian countries this summer, ask for a Skanplus pass and nab some truly sunny savings.