Airport hotels are enjoying a renaissance of sorts as business travelers, frustrated by mounting delays and canceled flights, are leaving the terminal in search of the wider array of amenities available nearby.
The overnight occupancy rates at airport hotels rose 1.9 percent from October 2006 to October 2007, said Jan D. Freitag, vice president for global development for Smith Travel Research, who called the increase "a fairly strong showing." A growing number of business travelers are simply finding it more convenient to fly in, conduct business from an airport hotel and fly back out, Freitag said.
The airport hotels are also benefiting from business travelers decamping from busy terminals. The relative calm of the hotels can be reached right from within the airport or by a short, often free, shuttle ride. Some travelers are using the hotels as a quiet place to open up a laptop and work or have a meal. Others are taking advantage of reduced day rates at some airport hotels to get a nap.
Airport hotels are starting to court these nonlodging guests by introducing or enhancing amenities specifically aimed at them. At the Holiday Inn Dallas-Love Field, reachable by shuttle from the airport terminal, the restaurant is divided into zones, including one that faces a wall with cascading water meant to calm frazzled travelers and a bar with one TV tuned to the Weather Channel.
Sue Morgan, vice president for franchise food and beverage at Holiday Inn's parent company, Intercontinental Hotels Group, said the amenities aimed at delayed and connecting passengers have worked so well that the company is planning on replicating them at a new property set to open next year near the Denver airport.
Sandy Leblanc, general manager of the Philadelphia Airport Marriott, said there had been an increase in visitors using the hotel's lobby and restaurant, especially when weather creates many delays.
As a result, the hotel has introduced a wireless Internet access plan for travelers who want to log on for just a couple of hours. The hotel is rearranging the furniture in the lobby to accommodate the periodic spikes in traffic and considering whether to expand food service to the lobby.
A thornier question, Leblanc said, was how to deal with the travelers who set up camp in the restaurant to work on their laptop or conduct an impromptu meeting without buying any food. She said the hotel was moving toward instituting a $32 table fee for travelers who don't buy anything.
At some airport hotels, travelers can rent more than just a table. At the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel, for example, travelers can check into a guest room at a day rate that starts at one-quarter of the property's standard $399 overnight rate. The hotel's general manager, Dan McGowan, said some travelers use the time and the space to nap, while others conduct impromptu meetings or use the space as a private workstation.
Aside from eating, working and sleeping, some travelers use their delay time to sneak in a workout or a spa treatment. At the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel, the spa area includes treatment rooms, a sauna, a pool, and a fitness area. In the last year alone, use of the spa by day visitors was up 15 percent, said Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia, president of the Absolute Spa Group, which manages the Fairmont spa.
