World’s best airport hotels 2008  

Sofitel isn’t the only hotel chain with airport outposts to recognize that, in order to attract new customers, appearances have to be spiffed up and guests showered with amenities once reserved for resort properties. That includes everything from top-notch penthouse suites with butler service and spa treatments to luxuries such as fully functional fitness centers with saunas and swimming pools—all of which are on offer at Kempinski's Munich Airport location. The five-star property, designed by the well-known Chicago-based architect, Helmut Jahn, is resplendent in futuristic steel-and-glass and conveniently located within a few steps of both terminals 1 and 2.

An arch-modernist airport design ethos continues in the Netherlands at Schiphol Airport, where the newly opened citizenM Airport Hotel Amsterdam Airport delivers affordable luxury in the form of free wireless Internet, LCD television with free movie channels, rainforest shower heads and oversized king beds in every room (all of which are the same)—all within a few minutes’ stroll of one of Europe’s busiest airports.

Since the hotel’s June 26, 2008, opening, Sudhir Sand, a Dutch businessman in the recycling industry, has stayed at citizenM three times enroute to Greece and other European destinations. “I’ve stayed at the Sheraton, a deluxe hotel at Schiphol, in the past, and spent between 160 and 240 euros per night,” says Sand, adding that he paid 79 euros for a room at citizenM and was far more impressed. “We’re given budgets in my company for a much larger amount than 79 euros, but any employee in my company would rather go to citizenM.”

“The rooms aren’t extra big, but the bed is one of the most comfortable I’ve slept in, the shower had a lot of pressure, and isn’t that really all you want—a nice shower and nice bed—when you travel for business?” Sand also praised the sleek, contemporary design of the hotel’s public spaces. “There’s a great bar where you can take a coffee, rooms with chaise lounges where you can sit and read these amazing art books and lifestyle books they have—it’s all just very minimally designed, and very beautiful.”

Wall-to-wall windows in each of the hotel’s guest rooms brings in plenty of natural light, and an electronic "mood pad" allows guests to customize the mood by adjusting the blinds and incorporating colored lighting effects, digital art (projected on the TV) and ambient music.

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Slightly less futuristic but impressive in its own right is the Grand Hyatt, integrated into Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's equally new $1.4 billion Terminal D: a sprawling two-million-square-foot structure that brings a touch of European élan to the world's third busiest gateway. The posh 298-room glass cube spreads over 12 floors with rooms done up in earth tones and rigged out with flat screens, pillow-top mattresses and separate shower and soaking tubs. Experts say it is these very luxuries and other well-appointed features that most frequent travelers now expect, be they wrapped up in a brand new or renovated hotel.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Take the elevator skyward from the International Departures terminal at Vancouver International Airport for a total escape from travel fatigue at the luxurious Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel.

According to Jan Freitag, vice president of Global Development at Smith Travel Research, a leading information and data provider for the hotel industry, there are currently "20 or so airport hotels in the planning stages, including upscale or up-market properties,” across America.

This trend is explained by "the high occupancy and also by the good rates that can be achieved" at airport hotels, says Freitag. "The occupancy rate for airport hotels [from the beginning of 2007 through October of 2007] was 71.4 percent," he explains. "That's a very healthy occupancy rate when you compare it to non-airport hotels," where it was 65.1 percent.

For frequent travelers, who vote with their overnight stays and make up a disproportionately higher share of customers at airport hotels (some 70 percent), seeking out those luxe amenities once they disembark from either a red-eye or a transcontinental voyage has become par for the course. Bookings resulting from flight delays and flight cancellations certainly figure into that statistic. But the convenience of upscale fly-in/fly-out facilities is the paramount motivator. After all, ensured luxury and comfort make it all the easier to wake up on the right side of the bed wherever you land.

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