I recently posted a stay at a hotel property located near the airport in Madrid; and although it was neither a positive stay nor a favorable review, there are 6 reasons why I usually prefer to stay at hotels near airports.
1. No Travel Upon Arrival
Sometimes the last thing I want to do is first travel to a hotel room after a long flight. While there is something to be said for getting that travel out of the way so that I am near where I want to be the next morning, there is also something to be said about the convenience of relaxing in a hotel room — and perhaps enjoying a meal while a restaurant or room service is still in operation — shortly after the conclusion of a flight.
2. Fewer Obstacles to Arriving On Time for a Flight
As happened to me when I was in Seoul, I dread having to wake up at approximately 4:00 in the morning — or earlier — before the sun rises to first travel to the airport while it is still nighttime so that I may catch a flight; and in that case, I finally arrived at Incheon International Airport an hour later — only to find out that my flight to Manila was canceled.
Ugh. I could have stayed at the hotel and slept longer.
Conversely, it is nice to wake up later in the morning and have breakfast like a human being at an airport hotel before going to the gate and catching my flight. I do not have to worry about impediments which could potentially derail my plans in getting from the hotel to the airplane — such as traffic, train and bus schedules, and inclement weather.
Better yet, there are even some hotel properties which are located within or physically connected to the airport where you do not have to walk outside or take a shuttle vehicle to the terminal.
3. Complimentary Shuttle Service
Many hotel properties located near an airport will offer complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport. To save money on a rental car, I may stay the first and last nights of a trip at a hotel near an airport, which can shave off two days of renting a car — depending on the times my originating flight arrives at the airport and my departing flight leaves the airport.
At the conclusion of the first hotel stay, I simply use the hotel shuttle to take me back to the airport, where I can catch the rental car shuttle to pick up my rental car. When the duration of the rental of the car concludes, I drop it off at the airport facility, catch a shuttle to the hotel where I have a reservation for my second stay, and spend the night there before I depart the next day.
Do not automatically assume that a hotel property located near an airport has complimentary shuttle service. Check the description of the hotel property at its official Internet web site; or contact an employee at the hotel to confirm what shuttle services are available. Some hotel properties which offer complimentary shuttle services are stringent pertaining to their schedules; while others will be flexible in terms of schedule as well as having the shuttle transport passengers anywhere within a certain area — such as a radius of five miles from the hotel property, for example.
4. Considerably Less Expensive
More often than not, the room rates at hotel properties located near an airport can be considerably cheaper than at a comparable hotel closer to the central area of a city — and can potentially be substantially less expensive than a comparable hotel located in the center of a city.
Before your book your reservation, ensure that the lower room rate at the airport hotel does not equate to reduced amenities which matter to you — such as no swimming pool or access to a health club, for example.
5. Not as Inconvenient as You Might Think
If the hotel is located near a major airport, chances are that there is public transportation available nearby or taxis waiting outside of the hotel; and if one option of public transportation is by rail, the train will typically whisk me to the central part of the city within 30 minutes — depending on the city, of course. Copenhagen, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. come to mind as examples.
For cities such as New York, bank on approximately an hour depending on the airport — and despite that, I stayed at a hotel property across the Grand Central Parkway from LaGuardia Airport earlier this month and used public transportation.
6. Soundproofing
Attempts to minimize the noise created by airplanes as they take off and land at the airport near the hotel property also usually help to minimize the noise within the hotel property as well — including in the rooms immediately adjacent, above and below the room in which you are staying. Let that couple in the next room do their thing.
Summary
There are certainly times where I would rather not — or cannot altogether — stay at a hotel property located near an airport. There are also disadvantages to doing so: distance from the center of town; location in an industrial area; nothing located nearby; and noise not minimized enough are four possible reasons which come to mind.
Do you prefer to stay at hotel properties near airports and have reasons which I have not imparted here? Do you avoid hotel properties near airports at any cost? Please express your thoughts and experiences — as well as your reasons — in the Comments section below.
Thank you.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
