Paris Sheraton

Like most people who travel often, I dread the inevitable night in an airport hotel as much as I do paying my taxes or catching a cold. During the course of many years of travel, it’s never ceased to amaze me that this particular category of lodging is so consistently poor.

To be sure, for hoteliers, these are tough properties to run well, since they’re subjected to an awful lot of wear and tear, and it’s hard to motivate your staff when face contact with new guests usually expires within 24 hours. But when I’m paying for a night in a hotel, any hotel, I’d like it to offer a much better experience than those I’ve had in most airport hotels around the world (I think my all-time worst was in Bangkok, where the room stank of cigarette smoke the moment I opened the door, and when I slipped into an otherwise neatly made bed, my foot recoiled when it came in contact with a previous guest’s sock).

Certain major world airports are more dire than others for immediate-vicinity lodgings, too — the hotel park at New York City’s JFK must rank at the very bottom of the pack, and Heathrow in London doesn’t do much better. Transiting through Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport recently on my way from Eastern Europe to Stockholm, I spent a night at the Sheraton Hotel there. I’d booked this property without giving it any thought. The midnight arrival of my flight from Kiev and a 7 a.m. departure to Stockholm precluded going into the city for the night.

The first thing I liked about this hotel is that it’s actually at the airport rather than in some office park a half-hour away via a courtesy shuttle or taxi — with carry-on luggage only, it took less than 15 minutes to get from the plane to the hotel. Then I was pleasantly surprised by the swift, courteous service at the front desk. Things got even better when I got upstairs to my room, which was quiet, attractive and very comfortable. Having given the dodgy-looking in-flight meal a miss, I found myself tucking into a nice dish of pasta with wild mushrooms a half-hour later, and after a hot shower, I hopped into a bed that was so comfortable, I rang the front desk for a wake-up call, lest I robotically turn off my own alarm clock and go back to sleep.

Brief though it was, this was an unexpectedly agreeable evening, and it got me to thinking about what travelers need and want from an airport hotel. Here are a few of my thoughts, and I’d be glad if you added your own.

What Makes a Great Airport Hotel

* Contiguous access to the airport terminal — waiting for a courtesy shuttle or cab is stressful and needlessly time-consuming.

* Free Internet access.

* Easy-to-operate light switches, audio equipment, bath fixtures, air-conditioning/heating and window treatments — having to consult a user’s manual is a nuisance in a place where the average stay is less than 24 hours.

* Reasonably priced 24-hour room service with food that you actually want to eat.

* Round-the-clock breakfast (the Sheraton fell down here).

* Airport baggage trolleys in the hotel lobby.

* Silence — the Paris Sheraton overlooks several busy runways but is as quiet as a tomb.

* A dead-simple alarm clock on the night table, a clock in the bath and another clock in the bedroom. You are staying in an airport hotel because time is of the essence.

* Windows that open; many people who stay in airport hotels are between long-haul flights and crave some fresh air.

* Automated checkout. Your bill should be posted on your TV screen, and a copy should be sent to your home address when you click “OK.”

* Comprehensive amenities. If you’ve forgotten something like a toothbrush, you don’t want to have to go downstairs to a lobby shop in search of it.

* A 24-hour business center so you can print out your boarding pass, or an in-room printer.

* The phone numbers and websites of all airlines serving the adjacent airport in the guest folio.

* A desk with stationery and office sundries.