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iconic former TWA terminal at New York’s JFK airport – the one shaped like a bird’s wings, a protected landmark since being shuttered in 2001.


JFK currently has no on-site airport hotels since the closure in 2009 of the Ramada Plaza, but work has just started on rede- veloping the TWA terminal, which will house the hotel’s lobby and 40,000 sq ft of meeting and event spaces, along with bars and restaurants and a 10,000 sq ft public observation deck. The hotel rooms will be housed in adjacent wings to the terminal and opening is not expected until late 2018. Not to be outdone, Chicago’s O’Hare airport is planning a new 300-400 room hotel next to Terminal 5, which handles international flights, with up to 65,000 sq ft of meetings space. Access to the hotel and terminal will be via the airport’s automated ‘people mover’ transit system. Likely opening date will be 2020. By then, the 8 million-plus people who fly each day,


years,” points out Margaret Bowler, direc- tor of global hotel relations at HRG. “The only difference now is that there are more properties with better facilities being built close to airports.”


ADDITIONAL CHOICE In many respects, the new generation of airport hotels offers a range of additional choices to travel buyers. With more hotels being located within airports and close to terminals, the advantages of using them to hold meetings or small conferences are apparent: savings on taxi transfers to city centres, for example, as well as more productive use of an employee’s time by staying on-site before returning to home base. Calculating the total cost savings – in time as well as money – can make significant differences in assessing whether on-site airport hotels are truly cost-effective. Although room rates in the new-build hotels may be higher to justify the extra


“The activity that clusters around large airports means hotels also see significant meetings revenue from local businesses”


according to figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), will – un- foreseen events not withstanding – have been joined by many thousands more on present forecasts. This is despite evidence of a recent slowdown in the rate of global passenger growth numbers as a result of terrorism fears and economic issues. While these numbers alone are enough


to encourage global hotel chains to pursue a more aggressive airport hotel strategy, the key dynamic in the next two decades will be the growing prevalence of the millennial traveller (those aged between late teens and mid-30s).


As far as it is possible to ascribe collective


behaviour to this cohort, many millennials seemingly display a desire for a certain type of travel experience that includes bright and spacious hotels with flexible designs (such as multi-use lobbies), ‘wellness’ centres, global cuisines and a more informal style, according to research carried out by Hilton and Marriott among others. But even if the upsurge in new gen- eration airport hotels being developed is maintained, will demand follow? “Clients who want somewhere convenient to meet or stay have used airport hotels for many


32 BBT September/October 2016


investment, says Bowler, in the final analy- sis they remain “as driven by demand as ever”, as shown by HRG’s annual global hotel survey published earlier this year. The activity that clusters around large airports means hotels also see significant meetings revenue from local businesses. The London Heathrow Marriott, for example, which recently completed a multimillion- pound refurb of its conference centre, says roughly 60 per cent of its meetings, incen- tives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) bookings comes from local businesses. Conference and event organisers, however, “are definitely taking new hotel developments at key international hubs into serious consideration when putting together a client proposal”, says Victoria Deprez, senior events manager at Event Travel Management. But she adds that “many clients are still reluctant to consider airport-based properties as a serious alterna- tive, due to the adverse perception these hotels sometimes have”. Ironically, London’s newest ‘airport’ hotel is actually separated from the airport by the River Thames: the 18-storey, 453 room Intercontinental London – The 02 is perched on the Greenwich Peninsula close to the


View from the runway Key takeaways


 Get a room Airport hotels traditionally sell rooms for shorter periods than mainstream properties due to the transient nature of their guests, so it may make sense to book a room for a few hours for a small meeting rather than a formal meeting room. Ask the hotel if they have availability, or check ‘microstay’ websites such as Dayuse.com or Byhours.com.


 Doubling up The new Heathrow T4 hotels due to open in 2018 will be dual branded, a growing trend in airport hotels. The hotels will be housed in one building but comprise a 300-room Crowne Plaza and a 450 room Holiday Inn Express, both brands owned by Intercontinental Hotels Group. The reason? Doubling up provides significant operating efficiencies and cost savings.


 Cabin fever Pod hotel operator Yotel which offers basic airport accommodation by the hour within the terminals at Heathrow, Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol, is set to open at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in November followed by Singapore’s Changi airport in 2018. At an introductory rate from Ð50 for four hours, the ‘cabins’ look a steal, albeit rather cramped and not for those with claustrophobic tendencies.


O2 Centre, while London City airport is on the north side of the river. But the five-star hotel is only a short tube, taxi or riverboat ride away, giving it some claim to being an ‘airport’ hotel – not surprisingly, perhaps, since it is owned and operated by Surinder Arora’s Arora Group. Yet soon there may really be an on-site hotel at London City: the government recently backed a £344 million expansion plan for the airport which would include a 260-room hotel on site. Maybe the man who would be king of airport hotels will get involved in that, too.


BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM


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