Stays to Remember: Unveiling Our 5 Unforgettable Accommodations
From Cozy Cabins to Luxury Suites - Which Would You Pick?
Something that can really make or break your travel experience is accommodation. What would you prefer: a soul-less apartment with a crappy bed to sleep in? Or a quaint tiny house in the middle of nature, with a jacuzzi and pet pigs?
Exactly.
Over the past 8 years, we’ve been lucky to stay in several stylish Airbnbs and unforgettable hotel rooms. Some required a trip across the Atlantic, and some were only an hour away by car in our home country.
In this post, we’re sharing our top 5. Curious to find out the places that captured our hearts? Let's dive right in!
🇺🇸 New York Millennium Plaza Hilton
This is the story of us getting upgraded to a Junior Suite in downtown New York.
Sorry, what?
Yup, you read that right.
When we visited New York in the fall of 2018, Hannah was working for Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam, which is part of the Hilton Family. Because of this, we could book a double room at the Millennium Plaza Hilton for 45$ a night.
What a steal.
Unfortunately, however, it took us quite a while to reach the hotel because of our late flight and the crazy traffic getting into the city.
When we finally arrived late at night, we were told that our double room wasn’t available anymore and that we’d been moved to a twin room instead. Hannah wasn’t really satisfied with this option and explained that we’d really prefer a room with a double bed like we’d booked.
The receptionist wanted to make it up to us and asked if we’d be okay with getting an upgrade instead.
“Uhm, yeah?!”
When we got to our room and opened the door, we were greeted by a hotel room that consisted of two separate rooms.
Two rooms!!
One had a lovely double bed and the other was for lounging, morning stretches, or late-night calls potentially? Who cares. We had a separate living room in our hotel room in New York City. We really lucked out.
What made it even better was that it was a corner room. This meant we had two completely different views to admire.
On our left side, we had a view of the UN Headquarters, the East River, and Long Island. We were also pretty jet-lagged during our trip, but enjoying the sunrise over the Hudson every morning made early wake-ups something to look forward to and get excited about.
On the other side, from our bedroom window, we looked straight into Manhattan with a clear view of 1st Ave. The city lights were truly mesmerizing to look at at night and we spent quite some time just taking it all in.
Because of the fancy automatic blinds in the room, we could effortlessly wake up to these beautiful views every morning.
This is a hotel room we’ll both never forget. We feel very lucky to have stayed here and to get to visualize the views all over again. We highly recommend checking out the Millennium Plaza Hilton when you find yourself in New York. We can’t guarantee you’ll get an upgrade, but it’s definitely worth a try 🗽
🇳🇱 Tiny House in Overijssel
In the winter of 2020, there weren’t a lot of possibilities in terms of traveling abroad. Don’t worry, we won’t talk about the C-word on this blog 😉*.*
As a result, it was the year when staycations made a proper comeback. And even though we love traveling to faraway places for birthday celebrations, Mike got a cozy, domestic, night away as his birthday gift this year.
To get some well-deserved rest and relaxation, we went to a lovely Tiny House in the middle of the Dutch countryside with quite the entertainment options: a jacuzzi and pet pigs.
(The only logical combination of course).
Our itinerary was very straightforward: ordering pizza from the only restaurant that delivered to our location, watching our series, and enjoying the jacuzzi until an acceptable hour since we were staying on someone else’s property.
Very relaxing and low-key.
The next morning we woke up to a lovely breakfast delivered to our (tiny) doorstep, which was an additional service we opted for. Look how wholesome:
Overall, we had a great experience during our Tiny House Staycation. The ambiance was lovely, the facilities were all we needed and more, and, if you ask Hannah, the pet pigs were a local highlight.
🇭🇷 Modern Croatian Villa
Sometimes you get to stay in places that are beyond your wildest dreams. This is what Hannah experienced on a girls’ trip to the beautiful Tuscany-reminiscent region of Croatia: Istria.
The house villa was decked out with everything we could’ve wanted. We had a beautiful swimming pool with comfortable sunbeds, a pingpong table, and loads of other games and blow-up pool items for our entertainment.
The open kitchen was big enough to cook for 10-15 people even though there were only 7 of us.
When it wasn’t too hot, we’d have our breakfast and dinner on the outside veranda overlooking the fields and our gorgeous pool.
And we can keep listing more amazing features, but we also understand and appreciate the ancient wisdom of: “pics or it didn’t happen”.
So here you go.
To conclude this trip down memory lane, Hannah wants to take a moment to share her gratitude:
Thank you. Thank you for setting an impossibly high standard for every other Airbnb to live up to in the future.
All jokes aside, this Airbnb was summer-holiday-goals. If you’re on the hunt for a stunning villa in Istria, Croatia - you know where to start your search.
🇲🇦 Riad in Marrakech
Mike visited Marrakech in January 2019 with three of his best friends. The same squad who are assembling again next year to explore Oman together.
Although Mike didn’t really like the city of Marrakech, they stayed in a beautiful Riad with a great location (it was 10 minutes walking from the main square).
The Riad was suited for 4 people and consisted of an open-air courtyard in the middle of the house. Even though the rooftop pool wasn’t used during the mid-winter visit, it was still nice to have the option 😉.
One of the best parts of this Airbnb was the private dining option.
As an additional service, a private chef would come to the house to cook a 3-course meal in our own kitchen.
Very bougie indeed.
We treated ourselves to this for one evening and got to enjoy a fresh Moroccan meal in the open-air courtyard of the Riad.
What more could we want?
We spent a few days in Marrakech, and soon we realized that their tea was widely different from how we’d usually drink it at home. On our second day, we attempted to brew it ourselves in a similar way.
After buying mint leaves at the local market, we boiled the water and let the leaves sit for multiple minutes. Unfortunately, we never got the same results as when we ordered tea. So, on our last night, we asked our private chef if she could show us the ropes.
We almost had it right, but we just missed one crucial ingredient.
Sugar.
Lots and lots of sugar.
Before putting the leaves in the pot, she grabbed our missing ingredient and let it dissolve in the water. We looked at each other, utterly shocked. Surely, such a piece would be enough to energize a whole class of schoolchildren. But lucky for us we were sharing it amongst the four of us.
Needless to say, after this revelation, we didn't drink as much tea on our final day in Morocco. Have you ever figured out how your favorite food is made, and then lost your appetite for it?
Nonetheless, we did really enjoyed our culinary experiences at the Riad.
💡 Has this sparked your interest in staying in one of them yourself when you visit Marrakech? Explore some of the best Riads Marrakech has to offer, right here.
🇳🇱 Van Der Valk Groningen
Here we are. We’ve reached the final stop on our list of favorite stays.
In two very specific cases, you might be surprised to see a Van Der Valk Hotel in our top 5.
Option number one: you’re a Dutchie.
Option number two: you’re Mike & Hannah.
It’s safe to say we never thought we’d be this patriotic. But as it turns out, charming Van Der Valk Hotel rooms do apparently exist.
In 2021, we visited one of them in Groningen.
Enter The Sunrise Suite.
For Mike’s Christmas gift to Hannah, he made it fancy. (Can you also see our gift-giving pattern of relaxing nights away?).
Our suite was equipped with every possible feature for a romantic getaway. There was an electric fireplace, a standalone bathtub, and - here comes the crown jewel - a private sauna.
After enjoying a stroll through the city and eating some sushi, we spent the rest of the evening alternating between our ensuite spa activities.
It was very relaxing and definitely changed our perspective on this domestic hotel chain. Additional bonus points go to the staff since they made our arrival extra special:
We only stayed for one night, but we loved every second of it and we would love to go back if we ever get the chance. So, if you’re looking for a relaxing experience in the north of The Netherlands, you know which hotel room we’d recommend 🛁.
The power of exceptional stays
Exceptional accommodations can truly elevate your travel experience. We feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to stay in these wonderful hotels and Airbnbs. They left us with beautiful memories that we’ll cherish for a long time.
When reflecting on your own travels, which accommodations stand out in your mind? What made those stays truly special and unforgettable? Share your favorite experiences with us in the comments!
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Woah, who knew Van Der Valk could be so nice 😳 Totally guilty of having my Dutch prejudices there, whoops. When we went to Japan I also still worked at Hilton, so we managed to book a junior suite at the Conrad in Tokyo for $75 (including breakfast!). Definitely one to remember 😊