What Are The World’s Best Airport Hotels? Here Are My Picks…

I spend more nights in airport hotels than I’d care to admit. Over the years, I’ve developed some strong preferences, and I tend to have pretty polarizing takes on them. I love some airport hotels so much that I’d almost want to vacation at them (purely for aviation geek reasons), while there are plenty I just wouldn’t return to.

In this post, I’d like to talk about that in a bit more detail. What makes a great airport hotel, and what are my favorites? I’m not going to do a ranked list, but rather will just share some overall thoughts and highlights.

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What makes a great airport hotel?

In recent years, we’ve seen a lot of changes to the hotel industry, largely for the worse — rates are higher than ever, while many hotels are offering less than ever before. Arguably the situation is even worse at airport hotels, where hotel owners often feel justified with cutting costs to no end, because they’re not reliant on repeat business.

Broadly speaking, people stay at airport hotels because they absolutely have to, and not because they want to. While there are exceptions:

• There’s often not much repeat business, since people don’t plan their airport hotel stays in the same way they might plan their vacations
• Often airport hotels are booked at the very last minute based on irregular flight operations, and in some cases, airlines put people up in the hotels, so it’s not like consumers actually have control over their stays, or do much research

So that’s why I have a lot of respect for airport hotels that go above and beyond to offer a pleasant guest experience. What makes a great airport hotel? If you ask me:

• There’s huge convenience to a hotel being connected directly to the terminal, or being within walking distance; airport hotel shuttles are just so unreliable, and often I’ll just choose to stay in the city if I have to wait on a shuttle anyway
• As an aviation geek, I love airport hotels with views, as it’s a dream to be able to plane spot from your room
• I appreciate all the things that I like to experience at other hotels, from friendly service, to proper staffing levels, to great restaurants and bars, to an awesome gym

My favorite airport hotels around the globe

Of the airport hotels that I’ve stayed at, which are my favorites? I’d say that I probably have four favorites (one of which I’m not allowed to visit):

• The Fairmont Vancouver Airport (YVR) is incredible, and the hotel clearly doesn’t take its guests for granted; it has awesome apron and runway views, is connected directly to the terminal, and has a phenomenal restaurant and bar, with live music most nights
• The Grand Hyatt San Francisco Airport (SFO) is probably my favorite airport hotel in the United States, also with incredible views, a direct connection to the terminal, and beautiful rooms
• The Hyatt Regency Zurich Airport (ZRH) is my favorite airport hotel in Europe; it’s walking distance from the airport terminal, and is modern, has a solid restaurant and bar, and the hotel is also good with elite recognition
• The Le Meridien Cairo Airport (CAI) is a surprisingly solid hotel, and it’s such a nice contrast to the chaos that is Cairo Airport; it’s connected to the terminal, it has friendly enough staff and service, and it has an impressive selection of dining outlets, including a 24/7 cafe with barista coffee, and a breakfast buffet that starts at 4AM (unfortunately I won’t be visiting this hotel again)

Beyond that, there are several others that come to mind as well:

• The Grand Hyatt Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW) and Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport (MCO) have unbeatable convenience, being connected directly to the terminal, and they also offer great views; however, they’re not really cutting edge otherwise, though the DFW property did recently undergo a refresh, so I’d like to return
• The InterContinental Minneapolis St. Paul Airport (MSP) is also among the better airport hotels in the United States, as it’s connected to the terminal with a private TSA checkpoint open over certain hours; it’s a solid hotel with airport views, though as an avgeek, I wish it would lean a bit more into being an airport hotel in terms of design
• The Hilton Munich Airport (MUC) is nice as well; it’s walking distance from the terminal, the rooms have been recently renovated, I like the club lounge (including the outdoor terrace), and it even has a Michelin starred restaurant
• The Sheraton Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) is another good airport hotel in Europe; the design is quite outdated, but you can’t beat the convenience of being directly in the terminal, and I love the views from the property
• The Crowne Plaza Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) is a popular one as well; I’m not quite as blown away by this property as others, but it’s still very nice, with varied dining, a nice pool, and potentially great views
• The Grand Hyatt Incheon Airport (ICN) has modern rooms, is good with elite recognition, and has an incredible club lounge; while it’s not connected directly to the airport, at least shuttles run reliably in South Korea (though it is a long way)

Beyond the above airport hotels, I’m also a huge fan of any sort of transit hotel concept, where you can get some proper rest in a terminal, without even having to leave the secure area. These can come in all kinds of forms, from full-size hotel rooms, to mini sleeping cabins.

The world’s best, worst airport hotel

The TWA Hotel New York (JFK) should be the world’s best airport hotel. Physically, it’s an incredible property with endless history, and it’s almost like a TWA museum. Add in the direct connection to the terminal, plus the airplane views, and you’d think this would be at the top of my list. Unfortunately it isn’t, though.

I have too much self respect to stay here (and to be honest, I don’t have that much self respect). The problem is that the owners of this hotel charge sky high rates in the first place, and then on top of that, nickel and dime as if they’re a subsidiary of Ryanair.

While I loved my stay here when it first opened, everything about the way this hotel has evolved rubs me the wrong way. For more on that, see my post about my second and last stay at the TWA Hotel JFK. I can’t think of another hotel I’ve stayed at that’s as “ungenerous” as this property.

If you’re connecting at JFK, you absolutely should pop in here to walk through the lobby, and maybe even have a drink onboard the Connie. But do yourself a favor, and don’t actually stay here.

Bottom line

I’m a huge fan of memorable airport hotels, since there’s such variance in terms of the quality of these properties. For me, the two most important things are convenience (being connected directly to a terminal) and views (since I’m an aviation geek). If you can add in friendly service, quality restaurants and bars, and good elite recognition and club lounges, then it’s a winning combination, in my opinion.

What’s your favorite airport hotel you’ve stayed at?