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The best airport hotels for 2025 – and the pricey brand to avoid altogether
One of the best-rated airport hotel brands by customers costs just £78 a night, on average. 1,653 Which? Members told us about their airport hotel stays, everywhere from Heathrow to Edinburgh, Newcastle to Manchester and beyond.
What is clear is that convenience is crucial – nine in 10 guests told us this was crucial, more important even than cleanliness or bed comfort. After all, the last thing you want en route to a 4am check-in is a late-running bus that trundles round every hotel in the area before dropping you 10 minutes from the terminal.
But location isn’t everything either, not when it costs the earth at least – take London Gatwick’s Bloc hotel, which despite being based within London Gatwick airport, came bottom of the table.
Read on to find out the best airport hotel near your airport in 2025, whether you’re looking for no-frills, cheap rooms at great value, or a more luxurious night’s sleep with added extras like hotel car parking.
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Airport hotel chains in the UK – best and worst rated
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER | 80% | £147 | EDI, LHR c, MAN, NCL | ||||||||
| 79% | £77 | BZ, BHX, EDI, EMA, GLA, LBA, LCY, LGW, LHR, LPL, LTN, MAN, SOU, STN | |||||||||
| 78% | £168 | LGW, LHR | |||||||||
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER | 76% | £151 | ABZ, EDI, EMA, GLA, LHR, LTN, STN | ||||||||
| 73% | £154 | MAN | |||||||||
| 73% | £118 | ABZ, EMA, LGW, LHR, LPL, MAN | |||||||||
great value | 72% | £78 | LHR, LTN d |
USING THE TABLE Based on a survey of 2,236 hotel stays from 1,653 Which? Connect panel members and members of the public in Jan 2025. A dash (-) means we didn’t have a big enough sample size to give a rating. WRP = Which? Recommended Provider, shown with a red dot. Based on customer score and other criteria, including pricing transparency and a minimum of four stars for location/value for money. Great Value providers shown with a purple dot. Average price Mean rate per double room per night based on three of the most popular locations (according to our survey), each month from Mar 2025 to Feb 2026 when we checked in Feb 2025. Airports Where the hotel has ‘airport’ in its name, or is advertised as an ‘airport hotel’, there may be other options near to the airport. Customer score Combines overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend. a Price based on two locations. b Price based on one location. c Currently closed to guests. d Thistle Express (not included in survey). Sofitel is not a WRP because it was rated two stars for value for money.
Best hotel chain in 2025
DoubleTree by Hilton
Score: 80% - Which? Recommended Provider
Locations: Edinburgh, London Heathrow, Manchester and Newcastle
With full marks across four categories in our survey, DoubleTree by Hilton topped the tables, getting all the basics of an airport hotel right, then going a little bit further. Guests gave it five stars for its cleanliness, the comfort of its beds, its branches’ convenient locations, and the fact its descriptions matched reality in our survey.
And if our undercover review of Newcastle’s DoubleTree is anything to go by – what a reality that is: the warm cookie you’re handed on arrival (it got four stars for customer service), the uniformed maître d’ in the Italian restaurant, and the fact you can order a room service club sandwich at 2am (or continental breakfasts from 4.30am), and spacious, comfortable rooms with generous midday check-out times. At the Newcastle branch, you could make the dash from the reception desk to airport security in about 90 seconds, if you had to.
For the £76 we paid, the DoubleTree is a steal. Across all DoubleTrees, our pricing research found guests paid £147, on average, which reflects higher prices at Edinburgh and Manchester, but even at that rate, it’s good value.
Book a room at DoubleTree by Hilton
Best value hotel chain in 2025
Premier Inn
Score: 79% - Which? Recommended Provider and Great Value
Locations: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Liverpool, London Luton, Manchester, Southampton, London Stansted
At an average of £77 per night across its 15 outposts from Aberdeen to Southampton, Premier Inn was one of the cheapest airport hotel chains in our survey, second only to Travelodge. But it scored 79%, and got five stars for bed comfort, location and description matching reality – outstanding, given the price. That’s likely why it also got four stars for value for money, along with cleanliness and the quality of its bedrooms and bathrooms.
Thistle
Score: 72% - Great Value
Locations: London Heathrow, London Luton
Another Great Value option – if you’re flying from London Heathrow or Luton – is Thistle, which ranked among the top 10 airport hotel chains in our survey.
It was rated four stars for value for money – understandable considering you’re able to sleep a five minute’s pod ride from the airport terminal at London Heathrow, in a quiet and clean – albeit dated – room, with a decently comfy bed and a buffet breakfast at an average price of £78 per night. Our undercover inspectors found it to be a total bargain, with excellent deals for park and stay to further sweeten the deal.
Worst airport hotel in 2025
BLOC hotel
Score: 64%
Location: London Gatwick
Location alone won’t guarantee a great airport hotel stay. Bloc Hotel Gatwick couldn’t be closer – just minutes from check-in desks inside the South Terminal – but it scored lowest in our survey. And with an average rate of £142 per night, it’s no wonder it earned it just two out of four stars for value, with many of you saying the rooms were too small and often windowless. One respondent reported: ‘The room was too small for two people. The bed was against the wall, so one person had to wriggle out to use the loo. And the bathroom was a wetroom, so the toilet area flooded when you used the shower.’
For much better value, choose Which? Recommended Provider Premier Inn, which came second in our survey. It costs just £77 per night on average, is a five-minute walk from the North Terminal, and offers a shuttle if you’re flying from the South Terminal.
Hilton vs. Marriott: which airport hotel is better?
Generally, this depends which one you book – both brands run a range of sub-brands, such as DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, or Hilton Garden Inn, each offering a different style of stay. DoubleTree by Hilton was rated better than its typical competitor, Courtyard by Marriott, in our survey with an overall score of 80% compared to Courtyard by Marriott’s 71%.
Courtyard by Marriott scored two stars out of five for customer service compared to DoubleTree by Hilton’s four. It scored three stars for cleanliness, description matching reality, and location, where DoubleTree by Hilton got top marks. The pair both got three stars for food and drink and four stars for value for money. The classic Hilton brand tied with Courtyard by Marriott (71%), Hilton Garden Inn scored 67%, and Hampton by Hilton scored 66%.
Book a room with DoubleTree by Hilton
Budget airports hotels: which is best, Travelodge or Premier Inn?
The answer is clear: pick Premier Inn if you’re flying from an airport that has both (Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, and London City, Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted).
Premier Inn is both a Which? Recommended Provider and Great Value option for a reason: it came in second in our survey overall, with an impressive score of 79%, and was a bargain at an average of £77 per night. Travelodge came second last in our survey, and cost only £3 less on average per night. Our advice? Spend the extra few pounds on Premier Inn’s five-star bed comfort, superior cleanliness, and better quality bedrooms and bathrooms.
What are the best airport hotels near me?
Best hotels near Heathrow Airport
1. DoubleTree by Hilton (80% customer score, £147 average price)
2. Premier Inn (79% customer score, £77 average price)
3. Sofitel (78%)
Best hotels near Gatwick Airport
1. Premier Inn (79% customer score, £77 average price)
2. Sofitel (78%)
3. Crowne Plaza (73%)
Best hotels near Manchester Airport
1. DoubleTree by Hilton (80% customer score, £147 average price)
2. Premier Inn (79% customer score, £77 average price)
3. Clayton Hotels (73% customer score, £154 average price)
Best hotels near Stansted Airport
1. Premier Inn (79% customer score, £77 average price)
2. Holiday Inn Express (76% customer score, £151 average price)
3. Novotel (71% customer score, £109 average price)
Best hotels near Luton Airport
1. Premier Inn (79% customer score, £77 average price)
2. Holiday Inn Express (76% customer score, £151 average price)
3. Thistle (72% customer score, £78 average price)
Best hotels near Edinburgh Airport
1. DoubleTree by Hilton (80% customer score, £147 average price)
2. Premier Inn (79% customer score, £77 average price)
3. Holiday Inn Express (76% customer score, £151 average price)
How to get cheap airport parking
If you’re driving to the airport, an airport hotel could help you secure cheap airport parking, either through their own car parks, or by partnering with onsite or offsite providers. Hotel deals that include a one-night stay before the flight, and parking for the duration of your holiday, can offer excellent value – we found the best, and most convenient, deals at hotels that have their own car parks.
Some hotels, like Bloc, partner with the official on-site car parks to give you a discount on your parking – £17 off a week’s long-stay parking at Gatwick, in August, when we checked.
Others partner with off-site providers like Purple Parking for their deals, but these aren’t quite so convenient. You’ll often pay extra to park overnight at the hotel. Then, on the morning of your flight, you’ll have to drive to the off-site car park before waiting around for a shuttle to the terminal.
Avoid shady car parking providers, and read our guide to the best and worst airport car parking to get to the best deal.
How we calculate scores for the best airport hotels
We don’t rate the UK airport hotels in this survey – Which? Members do. These scores are based on a survey in January 2025, where members rated their stays in airport hotels. The customer score you’ll see is based on each members’ overall satisfaction and likelihood of recommending the hotel. We publish scores, good or bad, regardless of external pressure, and it’s this editorial independence that sets Which? apart.