Located inside the airport adjacent to Terminal C, 811-room Hyatt Regency DFW International Airport (2334 North International Parkway, DFW Airport, Texas. Tel: 972-453-1234. www.hyatt.com) is its own hub for business. Travelers have day-use rooms for layovers, with access to the pool, fitness center, restaurant, and in-room dining. Event spaces include the Innovation Ballroom, with glass doors opening onto the pool area.
Finland’s Aviapolis (aviapolis.fi) is an evolving “City With Wings” that integrates Helsinki Airport (www.finavia.fi/en/airports/helsinki-airport) with a residential community and business district of more than 2,000 companies.
Offering the fastest routing between Europe and Asia, the airport is presently undergoing a historic multi-phase expansion. I enjoyed an overnight layover at the 330-room Hilton Helsinki Airport (www.hilton.com) adjacent to Terminal 2, including the in-room sauna and complimentary food and spirits in the Executive Lounge.
Hilton Munich Airport
Photo: Hilton Munich Airport
Hilton’s global airport hotel network includes another Skytrax favorite, Hilton Munich Airport (www.hilton.com). Located between Terminals 1 and 2 in the heart of Munich Airport’s city-like campus, the 551-room hotel’s commanding glass atrium lobby is the perfect place for craft cocktails at Nightflight Bar. With dining at the Charles Lindbergh restaurant, guests, also have day use rooms for layovers and a two-hour card for use at the Fit&Fly Spa. Steps from the hotel, Airbräu is an authentic biergarten for starting or finishing your Munich experience.
Designed by global architecture firm Gensler to resemble a bird in flight, Westin Denver International Airport (8300 Peña Boulevard, Denver. Tel: 303-317-1800. www.marriott.com) is a perennial global Skytrax honoree. Directly connected to Jeppesen Terminal, itself an artful wonder with a peaked roof inspired by Colorado’s snow-capped Rockies and Native American teepees, the 519-room hotel features the striking Sky Lobby and commissioned works from Colorado artists. The glassdomed Grand Foyer event venue overlooks the runways and the mountainous Colorado Front Range. Seamless connection via commuter rail speeds travelers to Denver’s Union Station in under 40 minutes.
Voted Skytrax’s “Best Airport Hotel” in North America for the past six years, and fourth in the world in 2020, the luxurious Fairmont Vancouver Airport (3111 Grant McConachie Way, Richmond. Tel: 604-207- 5200. www.fairmont.com) is the airport’s only airside hotel. Steps from the airline gates, all 386 rooms and suites offer soundproofed floor-toceiling windows and unobstructed runway, ocean, and mountain views. “Quiet Zone” day use rooms are available, while elite travelers have the Fairmont Gold level, with access to an exclusive 24-hour lounge, Fas- Track security lane, personal concierge and more. The hotel is also a magnet for weddings and social and seasonal gatherings.
There’s also a new era ahead for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) as work continues on a revolutionary $14.5 billion upgrade plan centered around the Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP). Targeting completion by 2023, pivotal components include the Automated People Mover (AMP). Running every 90 seconds around the clock, this $2 billion, 2.25-mile elevated guideway train will deliver passengers from three external stations to three terminal stations with moving walkways. The AMP connects to the new $1 billion Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC) center, which integrates all rental car operations in the world’s largest such facility, and L.A. Metro’s light rail system via the future Airport Metro Connector (AMC) Station.
Offering panoramic runway, cityscape, and ocean views from its H Overlook rooftop patio, H Hotel Los Angeles (6151 West Century Boulevard, Los Angeles. Tel: 310-215-3000. www.hhotellosangeles.com) was designed after the shape of LAX’s runways. Part of Hilton’s Curio Collection, this smart 168-key layover property features commissioned artwork in the lobby and innovative California cuisine in the Waypoint Kitchen + Bar.
Could LAX’s own architectural icon, the 1961 Theme Building, follow in the footsteps of the TWA Hotel and become part of an integrated hotel and conference center? That tantalizing possibility arose in 2019 in proposals for redeveloping LAX’s central terminal area. Formerly housing the Encounter restaurant on the glass-walled top floor and a rooftop observation deck, the parabolic Midcentury Modern landmark currently sits idle, but with the proposal reserved for future consideration, it stands as a potential dream stay.
