Altitude: Intercontinental Davos AKA the Golden Egg Review

As my boyfriend and I both work full time, we only have 4 weeks of annual leave. That makes the 4 weeks of holiday incredibly important to us. Thanks to airline miles, hotel points and elite status, we were able to create trips of a lifetime. This time around, we decided to go ski in Davos, and chasing aurora lights in Norway.
In December 2014, we took Qantas A380 first class from Melbourne to London, staying at Waldorf Hilton. Then spend 8 days in Davos skiing and snowboarding, staying at the Intercontinental Davos and Sheraton Davos. On our way from Davos to Trosmo, we spent the night at Zurich, staying at Sheraton Zurich Neues Schloss. We then flew to Tromso to chase the aurora lights, huski and snowmobile. Before we returned to Melbourne on Qantas A380 First class, we spent one night at Park Tower Knightsbridge Penthouse Suite.

We first read about Intercontinental Davos when Drew from Travel is Free posted his experience at IC Davos . The heated outdoor swimming pool, the spacious room and the perfect location for snowboarders and skiers. Bloomberg described this hotel as

'The Golden Egg, Davos’s newest luxurious hotel, was the place to be for the global elite at last year’s World Economic Forum, selling out all of its 216 rooms. On one evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife dined at its restaurant, while Tony Blair was having a grappa in the bar with a colleague, according to General Manager Peter Pedersen.'

During winter season, the hotel rates goes for a minimum 650CHF per night ( ~$870 AUD) for its standard room. Since this is an Intercontinental hotel, you can redeem 50,000 IHG points for it, which is a much better deal. On top of that, the hotel recognizes Intercontinental Ambassador Status even on award stays, and updated us to 'Club Room'. This provides a huge saving over 6 nights since breakfast and pre-dinner drinks and canapes will be included.

InterContinental Davos provides free pickup service from Davos Dorf station. We called the hotel once we got on the train from Zurich airport. When we arrived in Davos, the shuffle bus was waiting for us at the station. It was a 10 minutes ride from the train station to the hotel. Given it was snowing, we couldn't have walked. We were dropped off right in front of the hotel, and concierge took our bags to our room.

We are finally here!!

InterContinental Davos Exterior

The check in was smooth, however, the check in agents needed to confirm the club access with their manager. In the meantime, my boyfriend purchased two 8 days lift passes. We were explained that we needed to return the ski pass at check out to get 2 X 20CHF deposit back. Since we are spending the last 2 nights in the Sheraton Davos, the concierge mentioned we could just mail the pass back to them.

The InterContinental Davos lobby looks stunning. It is huge and yet, it uses its space very well.

Intercontinental Davos - Lobby

InterContinental Davos - Lobby

Our room is located on the 3rd floor. The Club room itself is the same as a Deluxe room. One of the reasons I love the ambassador program is that you always get Welcome Amenities. At InterContinental Davos, they provided us fruit plate, a bottle of wine and SWISS CHOCOLATE. We also got some more chocolates on New Years' Eve... unfortunately that was gone before I had the chance to take a picture.

Swap your room key at the lift

InterContinental Davos - Hallway

InterContinental Davos - Club Room

The bathroom is huge - it has a shower as well as a bathtub.

InterContinental Davos - Club Room

One of the most existing parts of staying at hotel is visiting the club lounge. The Club lounge at InterContinental Davos is located on ground floor, right next to the elevator. The breakfast is served from 7am to 10am at the club, and the pre-dinner canape starts at 6pm. The offering for pre-dinner canape is very good and delicious. They had grilled beef, salmon sashimi etc along with daily soup.

InterContinental Davos - Club Lounge

While the breakfast at the club lounge is good enough, we decided to go to Capricorn to have buffet breakfast one day.

InterContinental Davos - Breakfast @ Capricorn

The restaurant has seats outside, presumably it is for summer... as who is their right mind would like to eat breakfast @ minus 18 degrees??? We also sat away from the automatic door since whenever someone walks pass by, the door opens... and need I tell you, it is very cold....

InterContinental Davos - Breakfast @ Capricorn

The breakfast spread is extensive, huge and nicely presented. Everything looks fresh. For me, some breakfast at other hotels look like they have been sitting there for days (I once asked at another hotel 'is this left over from last night's dinner buffet?', that is not the case for InterContinental Davos. The pastry have the newly baked smells, and salmon and prawns smell fresh too.

InterContinental Davos - Breakfast @ Capricorn

And did I mention they serve champagne during breakfast?!?! Since we have a full day activities ahead of us, sadly didn't drink any.

InterContinental Davos - Breakfast @ Capricorn

Overall, we loved our stay at the InterContinental Davos. And it is truly one of the most luxurious InterContinental. For us, being able to experience Davos during peak season, while staying at the best hotel in Davos for 50,000 IHG points, this is what miles, points and elite status all about :)

Altitude

Friday, 27 February 2015

Intercontinental Davos AKA the Golden Egg Review

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