Have a long layover? Why not book a day-use at an airport hotel?
My upcoming layover in Madrid
So when we flew out of Salt Lake City in route to Dublin, Ireland in May…starting our over sea’s journey, we booked the red-eye to Atlanta. After a 2 hour layover we flew on to Washington Dulles. From there we had an 11 hour layover before we flew over night again to Dublin. We flew business class on points and with lie-flat seats but still it was a real slog. In planning our layover we decided to book a room at the Courtyard Dulles Airport. Having earned Platinum Elite status with Marriott they allowed us to check in at 9am instead of the usual 3pm plus we had a free shuttle pick us up.
Unfortunately we had to check out by 8pm to catch our 10pm flight but it was sure nice to have a bed and a shower before our next leg. At the time I hadn’t heard about day use hotels so it didn’t even occur to me that may have been an option.
On a side note, I earned 100,000 points and Platinum Elite status just by signing up for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card from American Express. It has a ton of perks I’ve used such as early check in when available and late check out when available, which I’ve also used many times.
So on Saturday we take an early flight to Madrid from Malaga then we have a 7 hour layover. It’s going to be in the upper 90’s so a walk around the city doesn’t seem that fun but a soak in a pool does. We booked a day-use room at the Hilton Madrid Airport for €83. We get a nice room and full use of the hotel pool and spa for 1/2 the price. We have from 9-6 booked! We might even get to slide in on breakfast since I have Gold Status with Hilton gifted from my American Express Card.
We found we could book it right on Hilton.com, hotelsbyday.com, or dayuse.com, all posting the same price plus there were other day use hotels priced as low as $32.
The thought of hanging out at the airport for 7 hours was just not appealing even though we have access to the Iberia Business Class lounge. Still access to the lounge is technically limited to 3 hours before your flight.
We are looking forward to a few days in Dubrovnik, Croatia before pushing on the Kotor, Montenegro for a month or so. Our house sit and long rest here in Yator, Spain has come to an end. Yea!
So following up on our day-use stay at the Hilton Airport Madrid. It’s really great when everything happens on time...which was not true in our case. I pre-booked our Hilton but then our flight into Madrid was delayed an hour. We were hungry on arrival so decided to hit the Iberian Lounge before heading to the hotel only to look down at the watch 20 minutes in and it was already 12:15. Our next flight boarded at 4:40. That’s pretty tight to go to the hotel and back but we did anyway. I called the Hotel hoping to get a refund due to the delayed flight but I only got a big NO even after reminding them of my Gold Status...Lol. Sometimes it works. Anyway we decided we could use a big walk anyway so we booked it out through baggage claim to wait for the shuttle that was 5
minutes away...supposedly. We got there in 4 and waited another 15 only to board the bus while the driver Hi-5’d all his friends and hung out for another 10. It’s 1:00 by then and 25 minutes later we got to the hotel after making about 5 stops at every terminal. Note: the Hotel said it would be a 10 minute ride in. Not! Anyway we checked in at 1:30 and reserved a ride back at 2:30. So funny. We could’ve waited for the 3pm shuttle but didn’t know the airport well enough to risk getting here late. So....next time I would still book a “day-stay” but maybe not until the day of...just to make sure we have the time. Also, VIP clubs are really hit and miss and often more miss than hit. This Iberia Club is huge. Has lots of space to spread out, plugs everywhere to charge your phones, wine on tap, beer and every drink you could want self serve and