Airport hotel or early start?

[Superl]

Worth comparing the cost of parking with and without the hotel too - often there's very little in it.

[Smilesonfaces]

I love staying the night before in a hotel. It is part of the holiday and extends it by a day. I don’t have any need for anything more than a Premier Inn and for usually less than £40 a night it isn’t worth the stress of driving to the airport on the day.

[Kraken]

We always do a hotel the night before at Manchester unless on the late Virgin flight (VS73) that can depart as late as 1pm - but we're normally on the earlier VS75.

Have done the Radisson Blu a couple of times - can't be beaten on location, but it is pricey. We normally do Premier Inns now - 3 of them close to the airport. Heald Green & Runger Lane North / South.

A word of warning to the OP, as it appears they will be staying a Saturday night. Avoid the Premier Inn Heald Green at all costs if you plan to eat / try to enjoy a drink in the attached Beefeater. The bar area in particular seems to attract a certain type of local clientele, if you catch the drift. TripAdvisor reviews back this up - reports of near fights in the carpark & rowdy behaviour in the bar seem commonplace.

I should also add that only a few rooms at Heald Green have air-con, whereas all do at Runger Lane North / South.

Go to the Runger Lane North / South Premier Inns and you are well away from any local residential areas, so the only people you'll be eating & drinking amongst are people who are probably also there for a night-stop before a flight.

[pinkspideruk]

years ago we used to get the train/coach up in the early morning - I have a vivid recollection of us running across reading station at like 4am with our suitcases to make our connecting flight - my mum and aunty puffing on their cigs as they went!

however, nowadays we always get a hotel the night before - depending on who you fly with you can use twilight check in (ba/virgin for sure not sure about others) so its a lesiurely breakfast in the morning and stright to security no fuss no muss

[Lisbon]

We fly from Gatwick but are almost exactly opposite it around the M25 so always book a hotel, it's not worth the stress of what traffic will be like and having to get up early, because of my sons prom we had to travel at midnight this time and there were three motorway closures which added an hour and a half to our journey, I wouldn't want one of those to overrun in the morning rush hour
Rob

[anneeb]

We have the same quandary next summer, still deciding at the moment, luckily a bit of time to settle on a solution. We live about 35/45 minutes from Manchester airport, have never booked a hotel but have heard of people missing flights because of various hold-ups on the motorway.
We normally do meet and greet, last year we booked an executive travel firm, lovely to be driven there and back. We have never had a problem, when we've known beforehand we've gone over Warburton bridge. I am feeling that our luck cannot hold and would hate to miss our flight. Our options are
1. Meet and greet again
2. Use the travel firm again there and back. Reasonable cost.
3. Book hotel, my thinking is close to airport, again because of possible hold-ups on motorway. Get a lift for one of us and cases, rest of us get the train. Get the travel firm to pick us up from airport on return.

[Minnie Mum]

Always a hotel for us. I can’t face the stress of a early morning and driving the same day 😣

[vampiress88]

See I’m in two minds about this as I asked similar questions few months back and got the same answers so booked a hotel. It didn’t feel any better to me. I didn’t have any issues driving there or back. I felt I spent more money and time rather than sleeping nicely in my own bed now I don’t know if this is cos of where I stayed or not but I’m thinking we are probably going to risk it next year and not stay overnight

[vampiress88]

I’m about 1.5hours away and my plane will leave at 10 so would be leaving at 5am. Surely that’s enough time even if something happens on the roads.

[Smilesonfaces]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

I’m about 1.5hours away and my plane will leave at 10 so would be leaving at 5am. Surely that’s enough time even if something happens on the roads.

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Definitely wouldn’t be enough for me. You need to check in at 7, do you also need to park up ? You have a contingency of just half an hour. I understand what you are saying about sleeping in your own bed but that would just stress me out.