Mrs. Bulldog and I got back a month ago from Stockholm. As cities go, it is by far the crunchiest I've ever seen, and where we stayed (Downtown Camper, part of the Skandia chain) really focuses on this kind of crunchy experience. The rooms are excellent, the location perfect (right in the middle near everything) and they offer many amenities which make it a great hotel experience, and then some. Rooms are well-appointed, they have a rooftop bar and spa (which we utilized and I was shocked to see Stockholm has very few rooftop bars of any kind), they offer bikes, skateboards, yoga, tours and a movie night. There is an excellent breakfast, which was a tad on the expensive side, but worth every penny. Staff, much like the Swedes themselves, was happy, helpful and willing to go out of their way to assist with our several issues (such as printing tickets to events or museums which we'd forgotten to print).
Stockholm is also a cashless society (Sweden as a whole is supposed to be, but Stockholm sticks to it with a passion) which is a good and bad thing. Good because it's easy to get around, pay and do what you want. No need to carry cash. One of the justifications for cashless societies is to reduce crime - yet pickpockets are still a huge problem in Stockholm, as they are in any other major tourist city. Crime, in general, is not really in decline but crimes related to cash have fallen.
A very obvious upside to the cashless society is very few beggars in the streets, and no buskers of any kind. I view this as a mixed blessing. For one, I enjoy seeing buskers and some street acts. It's part of the culture of a city. I even watch a few in NYC from time to time. I saw none. In other cities, even New York, I've seen some great street performances and never felt bad tossing a dollar or two their way. Can't do that in Sweden. I did see a Roma on the train with a can shaking for coins and handouts...but nobody has any. That, I believe, is a benefit. While handouts are a source of income for the very poor, it's also a source of forms of grift. In Stockholm, it seems pointless. If you don't register with the government and you're poor, you're pretty much out of luck.
Depending on your willingness to assume governmental intervention is a good or bad thing (I think it's bad), the cashless aspect of this society creates wards of the state. Some may think that's OK. But I know it also increases calls for a known failed concept - the Universal Basic Income. I say failed because while many economists feel welfare is best done as a simple cash payment, like a UBI, once it's in place the call becomes to make it a "living wage". And that is not only impossible to create (because "living wage" is different to everyone), but impossible to fund (as who will fund it? One person I know who calls for it regularly does all they can to hide their money and avoid taxation).
Identifying clear benefits of cashless society is difficult. I'm mixed on the results. I feel the US is cashless enough - I don't carry much, if any, with me and have rarely seen instances where I'd need to. Except perhaps Katz' Deli down on Houston St.
All in all, I'd say I didn't miss not carrying cash, so to that end it was not a problem or a concern. But the one tour guide I had did spend quite a bit of time discussing this (he is a naturalized Swede from Croatia), and his over-the-top love of the concept showed some cracks when it came time to pay him. He is part of a group which offers free tours, and the guides make a living from tips. Without cash, he said he was not prone to crime. On the other hand, he admitted he could lose up to 20% of his potential income - so he was willing to accept dollars or euros. He just said "I hate getting it." He carries a credit card swiper with him, which is how I paid. Of course, it failed the first two swipes, so nothing is perfect.
