When you’re trying to stay at a hotel near an airport, there’s a huge convenience factor to selecting a property that’s connected directly to a terminal. That’s because shuttles otherwise tend to run pretty unreliably. Along those lines, there’s an exciting update for my home airport…
In this post:
Miami Airport’s new hotel with direct terminal access
The new Westin Miami Airport is expected to open in late 2026 (though given how construction projects usually play out, it could very well be 2027 or 2028). Usually I wouldn’t get too excited about a Westin at an airport, but what makes this property special is that it will be connected directly to the terminal. Specifically, it’ll be connected to the check-in area of Concourse D, which is American Airlines’ home. However, all the check-in areas are only a short walk apart, due to the layout of the airport.
The 451-key property is expected to feature direct access to the terminal, restaurants and bars, a pool, fitness center, and spa, and conference space. The hotel will be located just off the “U” shape roadway along the terminals. As you can see below, the Westin will have quite a modern design, unlike much of the rest of the airport.
Miami Airport actually already has a hotel connected directly to the terminal — the Miami International Airport Hotel — though I’m pretty sure that property was last updated in the 1990s, or something.
For those curious about the economics of this hotel being built on airport property, the owners of the hotel have a 50-year lease, and need to pay $2.58 million or 3.5% of gross revenue annually, whichever number is greater.
By the way, it looks like this project had actually been approved several months back, but I guess I haven’t been following along too closely. I just learned about this project when the airport shared the details on Twitter/X.
The thing about hotels at Miami Airport…
One of my favorite things about living in Miami is how close the airport is to the city. Obviously it depends on where you’re coming from, but a lot of Miami residents are 15 minutes from the airport, and it’s maybe 20 minutes from parts of Miami Beach (assuming it’s not rush hour).
There aren’t many major international airports in the United States with such close proximity to the most populated areas of cities. It’s a night-and-day difference between flying out of Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, etc. It’s also one of the reasons that Miami is such an awesome city for plane spotting, as planes either arrive or depart over Brickell, Miami Beach, etc., all day.
If I just had a quick overnight in New York and didn’t have big plans, it would be logical to stay near the airport, since you’re potentially looking at an hour or longer journey into Manhattan. Meanwhile in the case of Miami, I’ve always thought that there’s not much point in staying at one of the airport hotels that’s not on airport premises, since you can typically get to a nicer part of town in around the same amount of time, with a reasonably priced Uber (our public transportation isn’t good, except in specific areas).
Given how Miami hotel prices have increased in recent years, it seems like many airport hotels are now being used by people vacationing in Miami, when they’re looking for more affordable options. And it’s not a bad idea, necessarily, since you’re not actually that far from most places you’d want to visit.
Anyway, for those actually seeking convenience, this new property connected directly to the terminal will be awesome (though probably also not cheap).
Bottom line
The 451-room Westin Miami Airport is expected to open in late 2026, and will be connected directly to Concourse D. It’s fantastic that the airport will be getting a new modern and convenient hotel, since the current hotel at the airport leaves a lot to be desired.
Unfortunately for the next couple of years, expect that this new hotel will just lead to a major construction zone around the road at the airport, as this is a major project.
What do you make of the new Westin at Miami Airport?
Ben the MIA hotel hasn't been updated ever. A shame because its so damn convenient. The top floor restaurant was updated nicely however. The rooftop pool/ snack bar & gym were awesome in the 90's.... unfortunately had to be closed for lack of maintenance. Welcome to Dade County.
Im in love with MIA. Super easy to take metrorail from brickell ..... in winter the planes fly overhead and using FlightRadar I can spot the LAN, AA, etc flights.
We have that new mega Jorge Mas Stadium going up and now this? Wow, construction will be a nightmare for this ever growing City. There is a reason why we are growing so quickly.
MIA is a disgrace. Privatize the airport and get the corrupt politicans out.
As for broken escalators and elevators - well they put in a call to Tio Tomas in Hialeah who installed these (relative of a county commissioner) but Tomas is nowhere to be found.
Because MIA!
"There aren’t many major international airports in the United States with such close proximity to the most populated areas of cities"
Lol, Dallas Love Field is 3 miles from the heart of the downtown. Love Field is also less than 1 mile away from the best restaurants in the city as well as HP Village which is probably the nicest shopping area in the US and yes its nicer than anything in miami, la or nyc.
@ Steve -- When did Dallas Love Field become a major international airport?
Never
Zero chance it’s done in 2026
And so many comments stating what needs to be said over and over: the airport is an embarrassment as is. A hotel won’t help when nothing else works such as the train and escalators
It’s time to vote out our corrupt politicians, ones who have literally been found guilty of crimes yet remain in office. Carollo, De La Portilla, Suarez, and Saudi Levine Cava all must go!
An airport that is a disgrace to this country, is literally a hole, lacks any efficiency, is riddled with crime, attracts scum to work there at all levels, allows taxis that look like they were second hand cars from Cuba, and that is mired in corruption. But, of course, they want to build a hotel,
Wow for Miami. Orlando and Tampa have had hotels in the Airport for years.
With respect to SFO: It's 20 mins with no traffic from the terminal to Union Square via car and 35 mins on BART. The train station is the same level as international check in, no people mover, no escalators, no elevators or moving walkways to get to BART from Terminal 1 or the International terminal.
Miami has such potential since they have good bones with their Metro system they just need to build more around it and extend it to South Beach.
Will also be near the Miami soccer stadium, whenever that gets built
The access to the only transit in/out of the terminal, Metromover, is only accessible from the Concourse F area. Absolutely no walkways from North and south concourses where most of the flights operate. It's an insane long walk around.
What airport are you talking about? MM, TriRail, busses are available at the interamodel center. You take a tram from the center of the airport. There are moving sidewalks from D to J concourses (when they're working ) on the third floor.
Although getting to the rental car center or the connection to Miami Rail/Bus or Tri Rail is a pain. A long hike, a moving walkway that hasn't moved in over a year, and a short train ride. Although JFK is worse and LAX resembles no human intelligence.
I saw their post on Facebook about this, and it was littered with comments about the state of the actual airport today - falling apart and in disrepair:
1) the train in AA's concourse D is down for maintenance, with no end date in sight.
2) the moving sidewalks in the international arrivals portion of American's Concourse D are also down, meaning potentially very long walks to customs.
3) Immigration can have...
I saw their post on Facebook about this, and it was littered with comments about the state of the actual airport today - falling apart and in disrepair:
1) the train in AA's concourse D is down for maintenance, with no end date in sight.
2) the moving sidewalks in the international arrivals portion of American's Concourse D are also down, meaning potentially very long walks to customs.
3) Immigration can have heinous waits, even for global entry customers, given the new set up of the kiosks and the way it works there. I had a 30 minute global entry wait a few weeks ago.
4) In the international arrival hall at MIA concourse D, two baggage carousels were under repair, and it took bags nearly an hour to come out.
5) The two escalators going from immigration to baggage claim were out of service on my last arrival.
The airport is falling apart NOW, and here they are talking about a new hotel opening in several years? Fix the airport NOW!
Fixing the airport doesn't benefit the airport executives and city council. A real estate developer making billions means kickbacks to the airport advisory board and elected officials, so it's more important. That's how democracy works.
What is it about Westin and airports? Detroit, Denver, etc.
So that is 2 ! What is it with Sheraton Paris CDG, Schiphol, Hilton O'Hare, Yotel CDG IST .. I could go on
In a little surprised the pool isn’t on the roof to get a better view of the runway (it looks like simply switching sides from that floor would have it just stare at d7-d11)
But the rooftop lounge looks like it’ll be nice!
* I’m
I assume they will probably get some decent business from folks on cruises that are arriving a day early.