I realize I’m way late to this party, but I just used an airport Minute Suites private room for the first time. I can’t decide whether I just found the whole thing pointless, whether I’d do it again, or both…
Continue reading: My First Minute Suites Airport “Lounge” Experience
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Since it’s included in my priority pass, I would use it for an online meeting so I don’t have the airport background noise and to ensure confidentiality.
Other than changing diapers or breastfeeding, I do not see the additional value with children: one hour is not enough for a nap.
It doesn’t look too romantic and also doesn’t look soundproof…
I used the one in CLT once. I checked in, dumped my bag in the room, plugged in my devices and went off to get some food. Came back gathered up my stuff and went to my flight with all devices charged. Also useful if you need to change clothes or need a quiet room to get some work done, but otherwise it is fairly limited. Cannot imagine paying for it, all their revenue must come from PP
The priority pass complimentary stay being only 1 hour is the biggest problem, IMHO.
1 hour is not enough to do anything...I was trying to get some shut eye last time, and I had to wake up right after I fell asleep, which was obviously quite painful.
They really need to make it at least 2 hours to make the visit worthwhile.
I once had a flight cancellation leading to a 10-hour layover in Philly. I purchased an Admirals lounge day pass and a shower from Minute Suites. The way I saw it, for 80 dollars total I got food, drinks and a shower all day.
What do people normally do in rooms that are sold by the hour?
Use your imagination.
We use them when available when we travel with our autistic son. Great to have a quiet private place for him to relax and get him prepared for a flight. Also minimizes the chance of someone filming him and posting it on Tiktok, and then bloggers posting about bad parenting because a teenager they know nothing about is acting "inappropriately" in an airport.
Caught 45 mins of sleep after a red eye to dfw, before a connection to HNL. Headed to the Amex lounge for a shower & breakfast after. Was it optimal? No. But was was nice to grab the bit of extra shut eye in a quiet place.
AMEX priority passes allow access. I've never tried to use one but there listed as possible lounges on the AMEX app when I'm logged in with my Platinum card.
These were clutch during the pandemic as a reprieve from the masses and masks. Other than that, it's just a private room to hang out or change.
Just used one last month in CLT. If you are traveling and have to get serious work done that requires concentration (like writing a legal brief) and you’re in an airport where the lounges are packed it’s a godsend. I booked it for four hours and didn’t see another soul or hear another sound the whole time. I used the bathroom twice and had it to myself and it was very clean. Just make sure you can expense it because it is pricey.
You mention that you used it in Houston IAH but on the list of locations available you don't list Houston.
I live in California and have family in New England. Visiting requires a layover in PHL, CLT, etc. If I've taken the red-eye and the connection is long enough, (2.5 h+), I will book at Minute Suites. In that case napping or trying to nap in a dark room beats walking around the terminal like a zombie or trying to get into a lounge. Utility over luxury, especially w Priority Pass!
The Newark location is "coming soon".
I used it once in Dallas and had a bad experience. At check in I asked if I had to check out and was told no, just leave after an hour. So I did.
I then saw a credit charge for 2 additional hours. I called and was told I stayed that long. The guy was not friendly. I told him that's impossible, my flight was well in the air at that point. They made me track down the flight info and send it to them to issue a refund.
Never again.
Did they ask you to check out lucky or did you just leave?
This! Was helpful during longer layover, esp with Wife and college aged Son. Nice to have a private room, with no masks on and not sitting in a crowded lounge or gate area for hours.
This was my experience, too. I had a flight cancellation from 11 PM to 6 AM the following morning on DL. The line to get a hotel was crazy and people reported not getting to the hotel until 2 AM to sleep for an hour then have to come back to the airport. I knew there was a Minute Suites a few gates away and at the time, knowing I had work to do the following morning, the ~$100 (pre-pandemic) was reasonable for some shuteye and a shower. Couch/bed wasn't super comfy because sleeping on vinyl rarely is, but it sure as hell beat standing in line for hours to only get an hour of sleep whereas I snagged about 4.5 hours.
Ben, I recently visited Minute Suites at JFK T4, so I could give my 3yo and 8 month infant a place to relax for an hour. It was useful to break up the 6-hour layover we had, especially considering how difficult it is to bring small children into other lounges anymore.
Otherwise I agree, I'm not sure it's worth the money given the low effort they put into the amenities.
If both you and a traveling companion have your own Priority Pass, you can stack them together and get a 2 hour block in the same room. Assuming you want to stay there that long of course.
@ Ben, I've been using them for awhile and have some notes:
1. It used to be much, much better. Each "suite" had fresh pillows and bedding, and it was obvious that the room was cleaned between each reservation. More recently, the rooms have been offered bare- as pictured, and usually not very clean. Also, the TVs were connected to local channels and services. During the last view visits, I only had the option to connect to my own streaming service (Netflix, Hulu, etc.). Quality has definitely deteriorated.
2. As for the question of usefulness-- it sometimes feels amazing to get in the suite, close the door and rest a bit. In my experience, the sound-proofing was actually quite decent and being in a quiet, private, dark room was a god-send during long days of travel & lay-overs. So I'd say it's certainly not a perfect experience and an hour is far too short, but I still go from time to time.
I can see myself using this for a conference call/video call when a lounge either isn't available or is too crowded. Otherwise I don't really get-it.
"I’m not sure what exactly to do in the Minute Suites room for an hour?"
I think we know, i think we all know....
He is not wrong, and if you go into one of these "suites" and think its not clean then imagine how dirty it really is. No thanks. I cant imagine most people actually use these for anything other than that.
I used the Minute Suites in Atlanta a couple of years ago when I had an incoming flight arrive late at about 2 a.m. and a connection out at 6 a.m. At the time, I had three PP cards and they let me stack them so I didn't pay anything for a 3 hour nap. It was not particularly comfortable but way better than sleeping on the airport floor (which I've done plenty of times). I got the last room and a young solider was behind me in line in uniform on the way home from a deployment. I let him crash on my floor and he agreed way it was way better than out in the terminal where you have to watch your stuff and hear constant announcements.
Used Minute Suites at PHL back in 2019. Flying PIT-PHL-MCO. Got to PHL around 7:30am and my flight to MCO wasn’t until 1245. Used Minute Suites via Priority Pass to take a nap until around 11:00am. It was great!!
I had the unpleasant experience of paying for an over night stay at JFK ! SInce I got in very late(after 11 pm and I had pre-paid for the room the day before) the only room left was very small with a blow-up mattress.. horrid and very uncomfortable. If you needed the rest room across at another gate you had to tell person at the desk as you were automatically locked out when u left the room...Never doing that again. The only saving grace was the Delta lounge opened at ?5 am so I went there and got a shower and breakfast.. It was empty and the staff were so very nice to me..
My GF and I love these options. We have only used them in DFW when we connect with either AA or NK. Since we both have PP, we always (knock on wood) get up to 2 hours, which is enough to get a nap in, and then head to the centurion lounge for breakfast.
I recently used Minute Suites for a fringe case with multiple layovers. Had to book last minute work travel and to accomodate the tricky timing, I had to take a red eye from the west coast to east. OAK to SLC - 3 hour layover at 9pm. SLC to JFK - 3 hour layover at 5am. Then connected to my final stop at 8am. I was able to use minute suites both layovers to get a few hours of sleep. I do have priority pass so I got the first hour free. The remaining cost was around $50 to get a full 2.5 hours in the room. (~$100 for both stops)
For me it was a great experience allowing me to sleep for a few hours. Transparently it was attached as a business expense, but I would certainly book this again on my own dime. That being said, if I wasn’t using it to sleep I’m not sure if it would be worth the cost. So there’s only a few cases where this makes sense for me, but when a few hours of sleep is what you need - great value for money.
Not impressed. Sterile, no sheets, used blanket.
Beds were vinyl. With a change in airline schedule to 5 hour layover, my husband and decided to try the Minute Suite after dinner in BWI.
Front staff very nice.
Decor was sterile. Temperature control was difficult. No bathroom. Had to go to main concourse. Priority Pass gave us one hour free,
and $40 an hour after that.
Surprised AMEX recommends it.
Imagine 5am flight out to escort an elderly needs traveler on a 5pm flight back. Minute suites was the only quiet place I could take a nap between flights and stay at the airport (during the shutdown, between cancellations and forced delays). Pricy, but a 2hr nap made a huge difference with far less hassle than leaving the gated area.