I am not sure if you know, but you can use hotels even for a day use, which means spending the day in the hotel only. It is not something that is widely used however it can be very convenient at times.
I know people who use day hotels if they have a long wait between business meetings or they have a tight deadline that they need some peace and quiet. Recently we flew to Abu Dhabi on a deal I found for a ticket of £120 return with Alitalia. I had a long wait from my London flight to my Abu Dhabi flight as I didn’t want to take the risk of missing the flightdue to delays. Instead of sitting around at the airport and being tired and grumpy I decided to check out the day hotels. I think this was one of my best ideas ever. 🙂
I looked at the Hilton Milan Malpensa airport which had a day rate of 47euro (~£37), which is a bargain, considering how expensive Milan airport is. We were picked up from the airport and dropped back later and spent the day relaxing, sleeping and enjoying the amazing views. When we had to start our journey to Abu Dhabi we were fresh and rested plus we saw the villages around Milan, which is always a bonus.
The hotel was nothing special other than 4 star, I would give it 3.5 airport hotel, but it was clean with comfortable bed and had nice views. If I have a long delay I will definitely be checking day rates again as it made the journey so much more pleasant. I think I have spent enough days and nights sitting around airports in my students years. 🙂
Next time you have a trip planned with long stop over consider this option, especially if you have children and you know they will get tired. It is much more worth it than sitting on uncomfortable seating at the airport or buying overpriced drinks and food.
P.S Many airports have hotels within terminals as well and you can rest there and pay per hour. I know Amsterdam are very good for this. 🙂
