Experience 073. Flew to a Room. A Deeper Look at Airport Hotels.

The Seat 1A Podcast

In this experience we take a deeper look at the world of airport hotels. Sometimes hotels can be the best thing but can also be the most horrible desolate places on the planet.

We’ve discussed many different types of hotels in previous experiences, from the incredible to the incredibly terrible.

Big airports have the big global hotel brands. But there is another tier of just a place to sleep.

There are some very neat hotels that are attached to airports – Geoff remembers his visit to the TWA hotel at JFK.

There are also some hotels with very cramped and tight rooms. Vinod remembers a hotel by Orly airport in Paris.

The best experience is a hotel attached to the terminal itself, and Vinod remembers a visit to Frankfurt.

If you’re planning to have an airport hotel, make sure you have planned out the logistics. Is it easy to get to the location. Will you have access to your bags. What about transit visas? Will the food service be open and available?

Geoff remembers an experience at London Heathrow where he was so disconnected from the rest of London. Vinod shares his experience with Toronto.

Airport hotels are convenient for families who have early flights. But they can be very noisy locations since they are twenty-four hour operations. Vinod shares a story of all night entertainment playing next door when he was in Montreal. There are a large number of people passing through airport hotels.

As an alternative, is there a city that is close to the airport which has good connections? If you’re not wanting to leave the airside terminal, does the airport offer pod hotel space?

When you’re forced into a layover, you may or may not get a comped room. Geoff shares an experience in Ottawa where he got a comped room, and a very sketchy room in New Jersey when he didn’t.

Vinod shares some insight from the airline perspective and highlights that vouchers can have some variance.

There may be options for you with services like Airbnb.

Vinod shares his first childhood memory of staying at a hotel in Mumbai.

Geoff shares an experience in North Dakota while travelling from Amsterdam to Saskatchewan.

Are there local events or weather that could affect the cost of your hotel? What is the value of putting your head down and having a shower?

If you're liking this episode experience, you may also enjoy Experience 044. "Sleeping Around. Maximizing Your Rest at Airports." It's available wherever you listen to your podcasts.

News Items:

• simpleflying.com article Asiana Airlines Passenger Arrested After Opening Airbus A321 Door Inflight
• simpleflying.com article Singapore Airlines Decides Against Paper Meal Containers For Longer Flights

If you have a story about airport hotels, comped rooms, upcoming trips, or other experiences that you would like to share, please email us at stories(at)seat1a.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you wish to support the show financially, we are on Patreon. Show notes are available online at http://podcast.seat1a.org/