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Comments (7)
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Save/ShareBudget Travel has always tried to celebrate the companies that make travelers' lives easier, more enjoyable, and just plain better. Travel isn't exactly easy these days, and when a company dares to pull off a wonderful innovation, it deserves a hand.
On May 27th, the Novotel Auckland Airport opened in New Zealand with some qualities we wish airport hotels around the world would emulate. Rates start at $149, which isn't cheap, but sometimes it takes a higher-end brand to have the guts to try new things.
Here's are the five perks that most caught our attention:
Bathrooms are built to make the whole room feel larger. Every bathroom has a clear partition, but it becomes opaque at the touch of a button.
You can read comfortably in bed. Each headboard is contoured in a way for you to rest your back against it while sitting up in bed. In a nice touch, it's printed with images of the toi toi grasses native to New Zealand.
Check-in is being speeded up. Soon, guests will be able to skip the front desk and go straight to their assigned room using a code sent to their phone to unlock the door.
Its design reflects the local style. Rather than use a cookie-cutter look that could be located anywhere, the stylish lobby has "a living wall" of native plants and the restaurant has artwork by the country's Maori people.
This Novotel also has all the advantages you would otherwise expect of an airport hotel: Its connected to the terminal, its restaurant is open all day, and its lobby has electronic monitors posting arrival and departures information.
Do you have any thoughts on airport hotels to share? Feel free to post a comment.
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I stayed at the hotel on what I think was either its second or third night of opening, and I have to say your review was spot on. I have stayed at many airport hotels and at best most are functional, but with a 7am departure and the prospect of a 4am wake up call in the city, I decided to stay at the Novotel overnight and take advantage of 25% opening special discount. The lobby is like an art gallery - there's an incredible two storey steel spiral staircase, there is the living wall of plants, there are plenty of Maori-influenced designs and, yet, it is also very modern. The restaurant had a number of tables for solo diners like myself with airline-size TV monitors to make solo dining easier (I suppose), though I was happy to just enjoy the meal while reading a magazine. I can thoroughly recommend the Pinot Gris on the wine menu - has three letters like TVW or something like that, and the food was outstanding for a restaurant so new. My waiter was clearly quite "green" but he was friendly, from the local area and told me a lot about Manukau Harbour and the Maori group who built the hotel. Highlights that you don't have to be 100% slick - just friendly, efficient and most of all, genuine. I think his name might have been Charles. The rooms are whisper quiet. I was in time to see an A380 take off, but you couldn't hear a thing. Bathroom is large and well designed and if it wasn't for my alarm going off at 5.15am I would have slept through and missed my plane, As it was, I got up, walked the 20 yards to the overseas terminal, checked in, then came back and had a leisurely breakfast. Perfect. It really was the best airport experience I have ever had.
Posted By Peter Tavare on June 4, 2011, 6:11 AM
I stayed at the hotel on what I think was either its second or third night of opening, and I have to say your review was spot on. I have stayed at many airport hotels and at best most are functional, but with a 7am departure and the prospect of a 4am wake up call in the city, I decided to stay at the Novotel overnight and take advantage of 25% opening special discount. The lobby is like an art gallery - there's an incredible two storey steel spiral staircase, there is the living wall of plants, there are plenty of Maori-influenced designs and, yet, it is also very modern. The restaurant had a number of tables for solo diners like myself with airline-size TV monitors to make solo dining easier (I suppose), though I was happy to just enjoy the meal while reading a magazine. I can thoroughly recommend the Pinot Gris on the wine menu - has three letters like TVW or something like that, and the food was outstanding for a restaurant so new. My waiter was clearly quite "green" but he was friendly, from the local area and told me a lot about Manukau Harbour and the Maori group who built the hotel. Highlights that you don't have to be 100% slick - just friendly, efficient and most of all, genuine. I think his name might have been Charles. The rooms are whisper quiet. I was in time to see an A380 take off, but you couldn't hear a thing. Bathroom is large and well designed and if it wasn't for my alarm going off at 5.15am I would have slept through and missed my plane, As it was, I got up, walked the 20 yards to the overseas terminal, checked in, then came back and had a leisurely breakfast. Perfect. It really was the best airport experience I have ever had.
Posted By Peter Tavare on June 4, 2011, 6:13 AM
We stayed at the Paris CDG Hilton last year. The rate was considerably cheaper (~165 Euro) than what we paid daily (~215 Euro) for a 7-day stay at a 3-star Best Western in the 8th. It was a 5 minute walk from the RER station. The hotel shuttle van took about 10 minutes the next morning to get us to Terminal 1.
The room and bath were huge and although this was early March 2010 and it was about 32 deg in the morning, they had the A/C on (the windows are sealed). All the 4-star hotels we have stayed in in Paris (10 different times in the 8th and 10th) were dumps compared to the CDG Hilton. It was extremely quiet there.
Posted By Rich on June 6, 2011, 2:34 PM
The Westin at the Detroit Airport was amazing. My decent sized window overlooked the terminal, and the only noise I had was a soft drone (kind of similar to when your refrigerator is running). The airport was connected directly to the terminal with its own security checkpoint, and even though my flight didn't leave until 6 am, I was able to use all the terminal facilities the evening before using a special security clearance just for hotel guests. Yes, it was a bit pricey, but it was worth every penny.
Posted By Sarah on June 6, 2011, 3:27 PM
Both the newish Marriott GICC at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and the decade-old Fairmont at YVR are stunning. The Marriott is just seconds from the airport via overhead people mover, and connects to much of the rest of Atlanta via MARTA--while charming downtown College Park (the historic community that houses ATL's airport) is just seconds away. YVR's Fairmont is right in the trans-border terminal, and reflects the city well--great bathtubs too. And the recent expansion of SkyTrain leads right from the hotel to downtown Vancouver. . .
Posted By Dave on June 6, 2011, 9:55 PM
Dave: YVR??? Are we supposed to know that?
Posted By BEB on June 7, 2011, 7:10 PM
Dave:
YVR - airport code for Vancouver Airport.
http://www.world-airport-codes.com/ is a good site for deciphering airport codes world-wide.
Posted By Judy on June 8, 2011, 7:05 PM