Airport Hotels - The right way to start a short break holiday
Unless you have the dubious pleasure of living right next door
to an airport one of the biggest downsides of going on holiday
is catching a flight at an ungodly hour of the day. While
driving half asleep at 4.00 am, with a nagging doubt you have
forgot something may be some holidaymaker's idea of fun - for
most it sounds like a bad way to start your holiday. However,
help is at hand in the form of Airport Hotels, where you can
spend a relaxed evening - and even afford an extra hour or two
in bed before leaving. Airport hotels may not enjoy
the best of reputations. In many peoples mind they are ranked
alongside train station pubs - filled with chain smoking
business men in cheap suits. However, while there is certainly a
convincing argument to avoid train station pubs (you have to pay
to get in the toilet for starters), airport hotels are a long
way from their cheap and not-so-cheerful roots. These days the
savvy traveller can pick up a great value deal at some excellent
hotel accommodation situated close to their airport of
departure. One hotel that certainly fits this bill is
the 4-star Arora International Hotel near Gatwick. Situated a
mere 8 minutes from the airport, the hotel boasts a health club,
with state of the art facilities including a gym, jacuzzi, steam
room and solarium. The quality of service and dining is also
high with two bars, a deli and brassiere restaurant for those
wishing to sample the culinary delights of this award winning
hotel. For those using the hotel before they catch a flight
there is every convenience with an Avis car rental desk within
the hotel and an adjoining train station going directly to
Gatwick. Another big advantage of staying at airport
hotels is many let you use their car park facilities - at often
very reasonable rates. The Cottons Hotel and Spa situated near
Manchester International Airport offers some excellent deals on
up to 15 days parking for guests of their hotel. The hotel
itself is also 4-star and comes equipped with pool, colour
therapy sauna, steam room, gym, tennis courts and spa. While you
may also be confused over what a colour therapy sauna is, you
have to agree it sounds enticing and certainly beats crawling
through Manchester traffic to catch an early morning flight.
If you really want to banish your negative image of
airport hotels once and for all then you needn't look much
further than the completely re-vitalised Sheraton Skyline near
Heathrow). Visually
stunning the Al Dente Ristorante is the ultimate experience of
fine dining cuisine where Marco Di Tullio's menus combine
tradition, creativity and flavours based on perfect cooking
techniques and obsessive research of the best market and
imported products available in the UK. In the past airport
hotels may have meant chicken in a basket - at the Skyline this
type of dish is very much confined to memory. As the
world of airport hotels is such a competitive area there are
always great deals to be had for those looking for accommodation
pre or post flight. Websites such as airport hotel specialists
Superbreak or Hotelnet have an excellent
selection of deals and are worth looking at before planning a
stay near an airport. Overall, airport hotels have
changed significantly over the past ten years and are no longer
the realm of the odourly challenged. However, it is still
recommended that the world of train station pubs is avoided
unless on the look out for recreational drugs - or at the very
least have a 50p coin to get into the toilet.