Review: Hilton Mexico City Airport (MEX)

For the second overnight of my two times to Latin America review trip, I spent a night at the 129-room Hilton Mexico City Airport. This is one of two hotels located within the airport’s terminals, so there’s a huge convenience factor to that — I was arriving in the afternoon and departing early in the morning, and didn’t want to trek into the city, so this was the right option for me.

So, how is the hotel beyond the location? Well, it’s newly renovated, so it’s much nicer than in the past. Beyond that, I’d say that it checks the boxes, but not much more than that. I usually find Mexico to be a place with great hospitality, so the hotel had some of the less friendly hotel staff I’ve encountered in the country. But still, I’d recommend this place, if it’s convenient for your travels.

Booking the Hilton Mexico City Airport

My one-night stay at the Hilton Mexico City Airport cost $191. While that’s by no means cheap by Mexico standards, you’re paying for the convenient location, and I didn’t think that cost was unreasonable.

As a point of comparison, if I had redeemed Hilton Honors points, the stay would have cost 50,000 points. Since I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each, paying cash was the better value in this case.

Hilton Mexico City Airport location

The Hilton is located in Terminal 1 of Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport. Aeromexico and most of its partners depart from Terminal 2, while most other airlines depart from Terminal 1. In my case, I was arriving and departing from Terminal 2, so this hotel wasn’t as convenient as it could have been (for what it’s worth, there’s an NH Collection property in Terminal 2).

How do you get between the terminals? When I arrived, I was able to take the Aerotren (Airtrain), which connects the two terminals. It operates every 15 minutes, and the journey takes around five minutes. The catch is that this only operates from 5AM until 11PM, so it won’t necessarily work for all arrivals and departures. The other catch is that you need a boarding pass to ride this train — my arriving boarding pass was accepted, though I’m not sure if that was supposed to be allowed.

Once in Terminal 1, it can still be a bit of a trek to get to the hotel, as the signage isn’t necessarily great. The hotel is located near Door 8, on the third floor.

You’ll find a landside area of the terminal that has a bunch of restaurants. Once you pass the McDonald’s, just turn right.

Then take the escalator up, and then you’ll see the Hilton signage.

At this point, there’s an elevator that can take you up to the hotel’s lobby. At least during my visit, there was still a lot of construction going on.

In addition to the Aerotren, the hotel also has a shuttle that operates to Terminal 2, every hour on the hour. It needs to be reserved, so I took that shuttle in the morning, since I was leaving before the Aerotren started running.

Hilton Mexico City Airport lobby & check-in

The Hilton Mexico City Airport feels modern and fresh, given that it was just fully renovated. The property also feels quite boutique — the entire hotel is on a single floor, and with fairly few rooms, the public areas don’t get crowded.

The lobby has a reception area, some couches in the middle of the space, and then a large seating area with some TVs, and some awesome views of the apron and runway.

My check-in process was fast, but not particularly friendly. It’s not like the front desk associate was actively rude, but she was definitely one of the less friendly hotel check-in agents I’ve had in quite some time.

I knew the hotel had some rooms with views of the runway, so as a Hilton Honors Diamond member, I asked if it would be possible to get an upgrade to a room with a view. Her response was simply “no.” Okay then…

Hilton Mexico City Airport king room

The Hilton Mexico City Airport has really long hallways, given that all 129 rooms are located on one floor. So make sure you follow the signage, and remember in which direction your room is, or you could be getting a lot of bonus steps. 😉

I was assigned room 419, a standard room with a king bed.

The room was fairly compact, but otherwise felt modern and new. The room had an entryway with the bathroom to the right, and the rest of the room straight ahead.

The main part of the room had a king size bed (with four large pillows), a chair in the corner, and then a desk with a chair underneath the TV.

On the desk was a Nespresso coffee machine, a kettle, and two bottles of water.

Back toward the entrance was an exposed closet area, right across from the bathroom.

The bathroom was split into two areas. The sink was actually in the main part of the room, so was separated from the rest of the bathroom.

Then the rest of the bathroom was behind a door, and included a walk-in shower with a glass door, and a toilet.

Toiletries were in reusable bottles, from Persea.

The room was quite nice, until I opened the curtains. I’m not even sure what I was looking at, but I’ve gotta say, this has to be the least-nice hotel room views I’ve ever had.

All-in-all, I thought the room was quite nice. Wi-Fi in the room was fast and free. There are only two other things I’d note.

First of all, the sound insulation was really bad, and you could hear any time that someone was going down the hallway, or opening or closing a door. Personally I use a white noise app when sleeping, so it doesn’t bother me much.

Second of all, the construction quality just felt kind of cheap. The room looks pretty nice, but I didn’t get the sense that this was some renovation where no expenses were spared (fair enough). My point is simply to say that I’m not sure the hotel will be looking quite as good in a few years, since many of the materials felt quite cheap.

Hilton Mexico City Airport gym

The Hilton Mexico City Airport has a pretty basic gym, located down one of the hallways leading to the guest rooms. It’s open 24/7, and has two treadmills, a bike, an elliptical, a strength training machine, and some free weights. So it should do the trick, but don’t expect some amazing facility.

The hotel doesn’t have a pool, spa, sauna, etc.

Hilton Mexico City Airport bar & restaurant

The Hilton Mexico City Airport has a single restaurant and bar, located off the lobby. This is the only food and beverage outlet at the property, as there’s no club lounge. The restaurant is open daily from 5AM until 11PM, while the bar area is open daily from 5AM until 12AM.

The restaurant is quite nice, with about a dozen tables, each seating two to six people.

Then there’s the bar and lounge area, with high-top seating, plus some additional tables that extend out into the lobby area.

As a Hilton Honors Diamond member, breakfast would’ve been included, but I left before that started. However, I did have a drink and dinner in the lounge area in the evening. You can find the menu below (as a reminder, one USD is around 20 MXN).

I first ordered a cappuccino, since I was falling asleep, and needed a caffeine boost. This was quite tasty, as there was a proper barista setup.

I also ordered the vegetarian tacos, with refried beans, oyster mushrooms, onions, tomato sauce, avocado, and grilled panela cheese. While not the biggest portion, they were tasty, and were served with some chips and salsa.

Bottom line

The Hilton Mexico City Airport could be worth considering for the simple reason that it’s located within Terminal 1. If you’re going to stay at an airport hotel, there’s huge convenience to staying at one within the terminal (though ideally you’d be departing Terminal 1, and not Terminal 2).

The Hilton Mexico City Airport checks all the boxes — it’s modern, has a gym, has a restaurant and bar, etc. Now, definitely manage your expectations at this property in terms of the service and the views (from most rooms), but other than that, I was happy with my stay.

I should also mention that in addition to being able to book overnight stays, you can also book day stays here, which could be nice if you find yourself with a long daytime layover, since it’s always nice to get some rest, privacy, and a shower.

What’s your take on the Hilton Mexico City Airport?