Review: Hilton Frankfurt Airport (FRA)

For my quick review trip to Germany, I had one night in Frankfurt. Since I’ve recently reviewed the Marriott Frankfurt Airport and Sheraton Frankfurt Airport, I figured that this time I’d review the Hilton Frankfurt Airport, to see how it compares.

All-in-all, I had a pleasant stay at the hotel. The Hilton Frankfurt Airport has a convenient location, a solid club lounge, a good breakfast, and a light-filled atrium.

The funny thing is that even after staying at the Marriott, Sheraton, and Hilton, I’m not sure I actually have a favorite between all of them? They’re all solid airport hotels, but none will blow you away. I have the fondest memories of the Sheraton, simply because I’ve been staying there regularly for 15 years, but that’s not necessarily an endorsement of the hotel being superior.

Anyway, let’s get into the review…

Booking the Hilton Frankfurt Airport

For the night I was staying, the Hilton Frankfurt Airport was running €190 all-in. As a point of comparison, an award redemption at the hotel would have cost 51,000 Honors points. Based on my valuation of 0.5 cents per Hilton Honors point, this was a situation where paying cash was the better value, so that’s what I did.

Hilton Frankfurt Airport location

There’s a huge convenience factor in booking an airport hotel that’s connected directly to the terminal and doesn’t require taking a shuttle, and that’s an area where the Hilton Frankfurt Airport excels. In fairness, the Marriott, Sheraton, and Hilton Garden Inn, all have the same situation.

It’s easy to access the Hilton from Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1 (if you’re in Terminal 2, you’ll first want to take the train between terminals, as it’s located in the Squaire).

To get to the hotel, start at the Terminal 1 check-in hall on the departures level (one level above arrivals). There’s the A & Z check-in hall, and then there’s the B & C check-in hall, and between the two you’ll see an escalator.

Take the escalator up a level, and then take the enclosed bridge that goes toward hotels, the Squaire, etc.

Then follow the signage toward the Hilton, which will take you through the long corridor leading to the Squaire.

At the very end, just near the escalators and elevators leading down to the train tracks, turn right, in the direction of the Squaire East.

Then just take the escalator up a level, and you’ll see the entrance to the Hilton Frankfurt Airport there.

As you can see in the above picture, the 334-room Hilton Garden Inn and 249-room Hilton are right next to one another, and they even share the same gym. So for all practical purposes, consider this to be a dual branded property.

I’d say that the Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn are maybe an additional five minute walk from the Terminal 1 check-in hall compared to the Marriott and Sheraton.

Hilton Frankfurt Airport lobby & check-in

The Hilton Frankfurt Airport has a large atrium, so the lobby has plenty of natural light. As you enter the hotel, there are a few seating options. Then reception is to the left, while the lobby bar is to the right.

I was immediately helped at check-in. I was thanked for being a Diamond elite member, and was told that I had been upgraded to a club room (unlike Marriott, Hilton doesn’t promise space available suite upgrades, but rather they’re offered at the hotel’s discretion).

As part of an upgrade to a club room, I’d receive access to the executive lounge, and would also receive breakfast in the restaurant (since the lounge isn’t open in the mornings). I appreciated that I was able to check-in early at no extra cost, even though it was before 9AM.

With keys in hand, I headed to the glass elevators, located at the end of the lobby.

Hilton Frankfurt Airport guest room

I was assigned room 10108, located on the 10th floor (guest rooms at the hotel are on levels six through 11).

I was assigned a queen executive room. While compact, I thought it was (mostly) well designed. The room featured an entryway with the bathroom to the right, and the rest of the room straight ahead.

The room had a bed with four pillows — I find Hilton’s beds to be reasonably comfortable, but not the best in the industry.

Across from the bed was a desk with a rolling chair, as well as a chair with a side table for lounging. There was also a wall-mounted TV.

I appreciated the variety of outlets available at the desk, so I didn’t even have to use my international adapter.

Along the interior wall of the room was the closet space, as well as the minibar.

There was a kettle, an espresso machine, and even food & drinks for purchase in the minibar. A stocked minibar is quite a rare treat nowadays at a non-luxury hotel.

While the Hilton has some rooms facing outwards, I was assigned a room with a view of the atrium. It’s not exactly the most exciting view, but at least it’s quiet.

The bathroom area had a sink, a bathtub, a walk-in shower, and a toilet.

Toiletries were from Crabtree, and were in reusable wall-mounted containers.

I wasn’t a fan of how the shower didn’t have a full door, and for that matter water pretty freely spilled over from the shower into the rest of the bathroom.

I found the room at the Hilton to be perfectly nice. The Hilton opened in late 2011, so it has been open for well over a decade now. The hotel hasn’t undergone a full renovation, but at least the hotel is well maintained. I’d say that the design of the hotel feels a bit outdated at this point, but not terribly so. I got that feeling more in the club lounge than in the room, frankly.

Hilton Frankfurt Airport club lounge

The club lounge at the Hilton Frankfurt Airport is located on the 10th floor, and was just down the hall from my room. At the moment the lounge is open daily from 12PM until 9PM, with a nightly happy hour from 6PM until 8PM.

The executive lounge seems unnecessarily large to me, with endless seating. There are dining tables, lounge chairs for relaxing, couches, and more.

There’s also a business center area, with a couple of computers and printers.

Throughout the day there were self-serve non-alcoholic drinks available, including water, soda, coffee, and tea. There were also some basic snacks.

During the evening happy hour, more food and drinks were available. Complimentary beer, wine, and liquor, were available to drink.

There was also a pretty good food selection, significantly better than you’d find at virtually any Hilton club lounge in the United States. This included sandwiches, tuna poke bowls (as they were described), veggies, cheese, noodle salad, soup, bread, pretzels, and more.

I quite enjoyed the pretzels and the “poke.” I did find it a bit strange that there were no dessert options, though (in retrospect, I’m better off for it!).

Hilton Frankfurt Airport RISE Restaurant (breakfast)

RISE is the Hilton Frankfurt Airport’s all-day dining restaurant, and I had breakfast here, which is served between the hours of 6AM and 10AM. The restaurant is quite large, though I’m not sure what exactly to make of the design.

Breakfast consisted of a buffet, though there were servers to offer drinks. I just had some filtered coffee, though I’d note that they also have barista-made espresso drinks, which is a nice touch for an airport hotel.

The breakfast selection was excellent, with a variety of hot and cold options. Cold options included fresh fruit, yogurt, muesli, cereal and granola, veggies, cheese, cold cuts, all kinds of pastries and bread, etc.

There were also half a dozen hot options, ranging from scrambled eggs, to sausage, to hash browns, to pancakes, to Kaiserschmarrn (mmmm).

On top of that, cooked-to-order eggs were available. I’d say this is a pretty solid breakfast!

Hilton Frankfurt Airport The FIFTH Lounge & Bar

The FIFTH Lounge & Bar is the Hilton Frankfurt Airport’s lobby bar, serving drinks and a more limited food selection throughout the day. This fully opens up into the lobby, and it’s a pretty nice space.

I didn’t end up having anything here, but you can find the dinner menu below.

Hilton Frankfurt Airport gym

The Hilton Frankfurt Airport has a gym on the 11th floor, which can be accessed 24/7 by guests. The gym is shared with the adjacent Hilton Garden Inn, but despite that, doesn’t seem to get too busy.

The gym had a solid selection of both cardio and weight equipment, so for an airport hotel this is probably as good as it’s going to get.

In addition to the main gym area, there’s also a locker room, as well as a sauna and steam room (with a clear warning that nudity is permitted… hah).

Bottom line

The Hilton Frankfurt Airport is a solid airport hotel. You can easily walk here directly from Terminal 1, and the hotel has friendly service, well appointed rooms, a nice club lounge, a good breakfast, and a fairly large gym.

While there are a lot of things I’ll gladly criticize Frankfurt Airport for, a lack of decent airport hotels isn’t among them. The airport has four hotels that can be accessed directly from the terminal, and I’m not sure I have a strong preference between this property and the Marriott and the Sheraton.

I wouldn’t hesitate to return here, but would ultimately make my decision based on price and elite status.

If you’ve stayed at the Hilton Frankfurt Airport, what was your experience like?