Frankfurt Airport Hilton

01. Introduction: Why the hell is Edelweiss Air so expensive?
02. Condor 767-300 business class San Diego to Frankfurt
03. Hilton Frankfurt Airport
04. TAP Portugal A320 business class Frankfurt to Lisbon
05. Sofitel Lisbon Liberdade
06. 4 important things every first time visitor to Lisbon should know
07. TAP Premium Lounge, Lisbon Airport
08. TAP Portugal A330-200 business class Lisbon to Toronto
09. Sheraton Gateway Hotel Toronto International Airport
10. Air Canada Rouge A321 economy class Toronto to San Diego

I’ve only been to Frankfurt one other time in my life, and to be quite honest, I didn’t really feel that the downtown area was all that interesting. Don’t give me wrong – I really like Germany, and I consider it to be one of my favorite countries, but Frankfurt just didn’t do it for me. I found it to be too business-centric and lacking the history and culture that other German cities tend to be completely drenched with, and it left me feeling a bit empty inside. I’m sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that the entire city was pretty much demolished during World War II, and a lot of the old architecture is long gone. It’s a very modern place with not much soul – kind of like most large cities in the US.

I’m telling you all this because I needed to explain why I chose to stay at the airport instead of trying to find a charming little hotel downtown. “You mean you flew all the way to Germany and stayed at the airport?!” Darn right I did. Besides, I was only staying one night and I had a very early flight in the morning that I needed to catch, so staying very near to the airport was the most convenient option.

A quick look on hotels.com revealed the Hilton to be the best choice – at least in terms of visual appearance. The pictures of this place looked really good, and a scary as it may sound, that’s all I need to make a hotel choice. If the pics look good, I’m in. Normally this works pretty well, but I did get burned last May with my decision to stay at the Miami Airport Hotel. That was a total letdown. Let’s see how I fared this time…

My flight from San Diego arrived about noon, and by the time I got out of passport control and customs, it took about 10 minutes to walk to the entrance to the Hilton. The nice thing is that this hotel is located adjacent to terminal 1, which was super convenient considering it was the one I had just flown into. I didn’t even have to go outside to reach it, which would be awesome in the winter time, but less so in the middle of summer like it was when I was there. Those huge glass and metal walkways may look pretty, but it’s like walking through a greenhouse and I was dripping in sweat by the time I reached the front desk.

Thankfully, despite it being a bit early (1pm at this point) they were able to check me in without any issues. That was such a relief. I didn’t feel much like hanging out waiting for my room to be ready, and I definitely didn’t have the energy to go into the city yet.

First impressions of the Hilton Frankfurt Airport were pretty good. As a matter fact, I was actually quite impressed darn near immediately. This is a fairly new structure, and all the glass and metal in the lobby gave it a very high-end appearance. I especially liked all the natural light coming in through the windows in the roof, which was pretty much opposite of the dark and dreary Park Plaza Hotel in London I stayed at late last year. Natural light is a powerful thing, and it was nice to see them embrace it so fully here.

I found the room to be quite stylish and very comfortable overall, but for the love of God, I wished they would have turned the air conditioning down just a little bit. It was frustrating to turn up the thermostat to its highest (hottest) setting, only to feel very little effect of that change coming out of the vents. No matter what I set the temperature to be, it continued spewing miserably cold air and I was convinced that it was going to start snowing at one point. At least that gave me the opportunity to try out the complementary bath towels. One was enough to keep me warm that evening, though I actually did consider putting the second one on.

Two final things to note about my stay here at the Airport Hilton. First, there is a grocery store located not far from the entrance of the hotel (within The Squaire) that is simply phenomenal. The self-serve salad bar was where I got dinner that evening, and for roughly 7 dollars (US), I had a healthy and huge meal which was highly satisfying. If salad bars aren’t quite your thing, there are a multitude of other little cafés and restaurants immediately nearby. You won’t have to go far to find food near this hotel, and all of it is reachable without going outside.

The second thing worth noting was the fact that this is a very quiet property. I went to bed at 7 PM due to being overwhelmed by jet leg and the need to wake up at 4 AM the next morning, and it was dead silent the entire time.

Even though there are several other hotels located adjacent to Frankfurt airport, I wouldn’t be so tempted to try any others after the experience that I had here. The Frankfurt Airport Hilton is very convenient and very comfortable, and I could definitely see myself staying here again without even thinking twice. Two thumbs up from SANspotter.