Lodging: Reason To Stay

A night in an airport hotel is usually about as comfortable as hunkering down in a plastic chair in the departures terminal. But several airports have created first-class havens that are destinations in their own right.

Opened last month, the boutique Aviator Hotel at the private Farnborough Airport in Hampshire, England, provides seven high-tech meeting rooms alongside its sleek luxury suites (£295; aviatorfarnborough.co.uk). In Hong Kong, the Regal Airport Hotel now offers overnight stays in its award-winning OM Spa. Guests can enjoy canopy beds, flat-screen TVs and free-standing tubs (£354 for two, £288 for one; regalhotel.com).

At the Munich airport, guests staying at the Kempinski Hotel snack on healthy treats at the poolside bar. (£397 kempinski.com). The Fairmont Hotel at Vancouver Airport is outfitted with floor-to-ceiling soundproofed glass for eye-popping—but blissfully quiet—runway views. A fish valet makes sure guests' catches make their departure flights (£52 for four hours; fairmont.com/ vancouverairport). But the new Sofitel Hotel at chaotic London Heathrow might best them all. Accessed directly from the new Terminal 5, the lobby is themed "Antarctica" and includes a fountain cascading out from a mirrored ceiling onto floodlighted ice blocks (£3,000 a night; sofiteheathrow.com). Later this month, check out the 165 Imperial Suites, which will feature bathrooms studded in Swarovski crystals. Who cares if you miss your flight?

© 2008