The Best American Airport Hotel

Airport Hotels differ from other types of hotels in several ways.  For example, most hotels have a fixed check-out time and a set schedule for housekeeping no matter if they are budget inns, luxury establishments, business hotels, vacation resorts, hunting lodges or any kind of pay-to-stay place at all. At airport hotels, however, check-out proceeds around the clock, as does housekeeping and room-service. Most other hotels rent out their rooms by the day, whereas Airport Hotels make their rooms available in a variety of time-slots, including ½ day and hourly.

In some ways, an Airport Hotel operates as a combination of hotel, hospital and 24-hr mall all rolled into one. In cases of unexpected security or AOG (aircraft on ground) situations, an Airport Hotel is transformed into an Emergency Accommodation Facility. At other times, an Airport Hotel may double-up as an in-house Convention Centre for busy corporate air-travellers meeting in a convenient location. For these and various other reasons, we tend to rate airport hotels in a category of their own.

In North America, one Airport Hotel stands out for imagination, innovation, style and sheer iconic status. Located beside New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 5, the retro-chic TWA Hotel opened in May 2019 in what was once the historic TWA Flight Center that operated from 1962 to 2001.

The original TWA building was designed by world-renown architect Eero Saarinen for Trans World Airlines, an airline long-controlled by the legendary Howard Hughes. Conversion work began in 2016, and today there is a 512-room hotel complete with retro-themed restaurants and bars, infinity pool, ballroom, library-cum-bookshop, an enormous fitness-centre, meeting rooms and what is reputed to be the world’s largest hotel lobby at 200,000 square feet. 

In keeping with the nostalgia theme, the bedrooms are equipped with Saarinen-designed chairs, a 60’s style martini bar, and even a working rotary-dial phone. Museum exhibitions of Aviation History run around the year, and parked at the back is a 1958 Lockheed Constellation aeroplane converted into a unique restaurant. Regardless of its retro appeal and attention to historical detail, this is fundamentally a functioning commercial enterprise, and given its convenient location and commitment to service, we have no hesitation in naming the TWA Hotel as the Best American Airport Hotel by far!

Pix by TWA Hotel, Michelle Young 

The Best Airport-Lounge Company

For nearly a century of commercial aviation, Airport Lounges were exclusive cocoons that individual airlines provided for their elite passengers flying First and Business Class. In that milieu, front-end passengers paying top-dollar for exclusivity and luxury in the air could enjoy similar benefits at airports before their flights, provided by the airline they were travelling with.

Then, just before the new Millennium, came a former global banker and erstwhile entrepreneur. Once a frequent-flyer on business trips, Hong Kong-based businessman Hoi-see Song chafed at not being able to access the privileges and conveniences at Business Lounges for a variety of reasons.

“For one thing, in some countries many airlines did not provide Airport Lounges for passengers on short-haul or domestic routes.  For another, most airlines simply could not provide an Airport Lounge at an airport where they did not have a sufficient number of flights to justify the significant investment involved. As air-travel became more and more a necessity, many affluent air-travellers found that they could not enjoy the benefits of an Airport Lounge simply because they were flying Economy Class due to corporate policy or governmental regulations”,  Song recalls wryly.

“Personally, I did not mind dining at the excellent variety of restaurants at most airports, but I did miss the convenience of being able to have a bite while accessing Internet and Wi-Fi facilities as well as the business-requirements of that time such as printers, fax-machines,  telephones, meeting-rooms and even the ability to have a refreshing hot shower in one convenient location at an airport. Airport Lounges also provided helpful staff and a conducive environment to relax, think or get work done, depending on my needs or mood at any particular time.”                                              Thinking out of the box, Hoi-see Song came up with the innovative idea of Pay-Per-Use Airport Lounges  that would cater to all air-travellers . This immediately empowered airlines of all sizes to provide a full-service Airport Lounge for their elite front-end passengers, practically anywhere in the world! Credit-card companies also found that, for the first time, they could extend executive facilities at airports to their members in a savvy move which met the evolving lifestyles of their target markets. Thus was born the Plaza Premium Lounge – a facility now found at airports all over the world, and a concept being emulated by a host of me-too players. 

Headquartered in Hong Kong, the Plaza Premium Group provides premium airport services to nearly 14 million passengers a year in over 160 airport-locations across the world. The Group has grown to provide four core airport-services:- Airport Lounges, Airport Transit Hotels, Airport Meet & Greet Services and Airport Dining.

With its corporate commitment to make the airport experience exceptional for all travellers by going beyond expectations. the pioneering Plaza Premium Group is our obvious choice for The Best Airport-Lounge Company in the world!

(Photographs by Plaza Premium Group)

The Best Airport Train

When it first began operations in April 2002, it raised mixed emotions with its odd-looking snub nose that belied its superfast speeds of up to 160 kmh.  Now on track to welcome its 100 millionth passenger, it has in the 17 years between, won regional and global accolades as the undisputed World’s Best Airport Rail Link.
This is the modest-looking Express Rail Link (ERL) that connects Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur to its international airport in just 28 minutes. 

For most of its existence, ERL used German train-sets from Siemens AG, but in recent years it has added several new train-sets from CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Company of China.

Regardless of the nature of the equipment, the ride on the fastest trains in Southeast Asia seems consistently swift, smooth and seamless. With an enviable claimed record of 99.7% on-time performance and excellent standards of customer-service, Express Rail Link is now being called in as consultants to other rail projects around the world.

We particularly like its complimentary porter service where purple-liveried porters assist you with your luggage, transfers and check-in. This helpful porter service also includes complimentary wheelchairs and assistance for aged or infirm travellers. For a small fee, a porter will accompany you for the entire ride, and usher you into or from an exclusive limousine that comes with the package. 

Another feature we like about the iconic Express Rail Link is its commitment to the environment. Its operations have been certified ISO14001:2015 compliant for environmental management, and Express Rail Link says it helps save 44,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, taking 5.3 million cars off the roads in that period.

Add the extra convenience of city check-in for participating airlines at its KL-CAT terminal, and we fully agree that Express Rail Link deserves its kudos as the World’s Best Airport Train!

The Best Airport Railway Station

It is named after an intrepid pioneering aviator who is more famous for writing the most whimsical books. It was inaugurated in 1975, in an era of teleprinters, Morse Code and hand-signals – yet today it incorporates the most advanced cutting-edge technology of this millennium. It is connected by a futuristic high-speed train to some of the most modern and sophisticated cities in Europe, but you can also opt to leave this airport on the pillion-seat of a chugging motorbike-taxi. This is the enigmatic, contradictory Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport - formerly known as Lyon Satolas Airport - an important transport-hub for the entire Rhône-Alpes region. While the airport itself is pleasant enough, its railway-station was the feature that caught our attention.

When we visited this iconic airport railway-station in 2008, it was looking a little dilapidated and in need of proper maintenance. Yet its dynamic architecture captured our imagination and lifted our spirits during the bleak winter season. Completed in 1994, the terminal was designed to represent the human eye, but looks exactly like a graceful swan alighting on earth and bowing low, with its wings raised in salute. The building's most striking profile, based on two converging steel arches 120 meters long and 40 meters high, is most obviously expressive of a bird, symbolizing flight with the two main arches coming together at the bird's beak. Architect Santiago Calatrava said that he never thought of a bird, but more of sculpture inspired by the shape of the human eye. However, the avian imagery continues inside the building where two concrete cantilevered balconies look remarkably like birds on the down-wing, rising up in flight.
Today, 2½ decades after its construction, Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport Railway Station is still under-utilised and much of its sunlit cavernous space is largely empty. The superfast futuristic-looking TGV trains come in only a few times a day, and some of the lounges here are only used occasionally for special events. Nevertheless, its inspired architecture, dynamic vision, practical convenience and untapped resources make this our favourite Airport Railway Station in the world. To bring this facility to its full potential will require innovation, imagination and industry – the very same qualities that were put into its design in the first place!


Pix courtesy of Maison De La France (Southeast Asia) . 1: © Lyon Tourism & Conventions 2: © JF Marin / Aéroports de Lyon

The Best Airport With Unexpected Potential

The Airport With The Best Unexpected Potential is Keflavik International Airport in Iceland. For a country known more for its remote location and desolate dramatic landscapes, Iceland has a surprisingly excellent international airport. The design, especially at night, reminds one of crystal-clear ice-cubes – singularly appropriate for this unspoilt land where water can be drunk from the glacier-fed streams and waterfalls. The Icelandic people are not especially friendly or effusively welcoming, but they are most efficient and helpful; and Keflavik Airport reflects this in its operations and ambience.
The Icelandair Business Lounge has a similar character – its design is stylish and efficient, and its amenities meticulously comprehensive.

Generally, Keflavik Airport is very well-run, stylish and effective – qualities airlines look for in an air-hub. And this is where Keflavik has unexpected potential – it makes an excellent major air-hub between North America and Europe. Just four hours from the USA and three hours to Europe, Keflavik is ideally located for future growth in trans-Atlantic traffic, so watch this facility that won the IATA/ACI award for World’s Best Airport In Its Class in 2005. We believe it could see an annual traffic of over 10 million passengers sooner than later!

Pix© ulalume on Flickr, Keflavik Airport(KEH)

The Best Airport For Local Identity & Architecture

The Airport With The Best Architectural Theme we like is the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia. In an aviation world of glitzy look-alike steel-and-glass edifices sprouting up everywhere, it is refreshing to be welcomed by the local hospitality of a decidedly ethnic-looking airport. Soekarno-Hatta has no pretensions of grandeur, but a down-to-earth friendly Indonesian design. Walls are of clean white concrete with brown pillars that aptly represent traditional wood-carving so typical of the Indonesian lifestyle. The halls and walkways are relatively low, again fairly typical of local residences. There are touches of classical Indonesian handicraft on the wall panels and even at each set of wall-mounted phone-booths.
It is an old-fashioned, slightly weather-beaten and oddly comfortable gateway to the great Indonesian archipelago. My favourite features at Soekarno-Hatta are the lovely small, neatly-manicured gardens outside every departure hall – each a placid little oasis of restful green. From the air, the main terminal of this airport looks decidedly like an Indonesian resort – an apt and evocative symbol of this nation’s great potential for tourism growth.
As the Indonesian economy grows and the tourism industry flourishes, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport will see expansion, renovation and refurbishment. It is my fervent hope that the authorities have the wisdom and vision to preserve this airport's distinctive Indonesian character and uniquely local architectural identity for decades to come. If they do so, it will ensure that Indonesia will have one of the most distinctive international airports in the world, with a truly Indonesian heritage and identity.

Pix by Luc Citrinot

The Best Airport For Inter-Departmental Cooperation

The Airport With The Best Inter-Departmental Cooperation we like is the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. Getting the various government departments, security agencies and airport divisions to work as one cohesive administration is the hardest facet of airport management; but what remains a pipe-dream in most places has become a practical reality in this award-winning facility. KLIA has been named Best Airport In The World in its class more than once, and has won awards for various other achievements, including being environmentally-friendly, going wi-fi, and even for having the best airport cigar-shop in the world – but there simply isn’t an award for effective management of synergy between the various government departments such as customs, immigration, police, airport security, fire brigade, labour ministry and civil aviation. The closest there is to an award comes from the International Commercial Aviation Organisation that lauded KLIA in its 2006 Audit Report, stating that “at KLIA there are a number of positive aspects that have led to a higher level of security”, and proceeded to extol “the cooperation among organisations responsible for implementing the security measures”. As an avid airport-watcher, I must say that the cooperation and seamless communication between the various departments at KLIA is an outstanding model for the rest of the world to emulate.

Pix by Malaysia Airports