Hotels in Stansted Airport

[dreamsofswaying]

Is there a hotel inside Stansted airport? We are going on a trip from there and the flight leaves early, is it worth a hotel stay?

Yes

There are numerous hotels around Stansted airport although most require short bus transfers, which run regularly from all of the hotels. Look at a site such as Booking.com for options.

The Radisson Blu Hotel is actually attached to the airport terminal, so it is just a 5 minute covered walk from the hotel to the check-in desks. This hotel also offers a package with long-term parking. All this convenience comes at a cost.

As for whether or not a hotel stay is worth it, it depends on the time of your flight and when (or if) you need to check in. Stansted airport is very, very busy with early morning flights - for a 07.30 flight you would need to be inside the airport by 05.30 at the very latest, even if you book fast-track security access and don't have any bags to check in. Obviously for earlier flights you would need to be inside the terminal even earlier, so you might not spend much time in an expensive hotel bed, and you will almost certainly be leaving the hotel before breakfast service begins, so you need to allow time to eat something airside.

We always stay at the Novotel nearby. I can’t remember how much we paid for the night. We also book parking there for the holiday - £120 for two weeks at the beginning of this month. There’s a bus every half an hour from the hotel to the airport or back, at £4 each. We went on Jet 2 with a flight at 6.30 am - Jet 2 do a twilight drop, so you can check the suitcases in the night before.

The only thing is - check with the hotel, what time the buses start, with regard to your flight. Iirc, they ran all night, when we went; but they might not do, outside peak season?