Although you might not feel it's the case, air fares are generally a lot cheaper now than they were several years ago. It is truly the age of air travel! People are able to zip off to foreign lands in a few hours and escape the humdrum bore of their everyday lives. When you get to your destination, of course, you will need somewhere comfortable to stay. To truly enjoy their holiday, this, for many people, means staying in luxury hotels in prime locations in the heart of the city.

 

This lust for quality and a central location puts real pressure on airport hotels, which have had to make significant changes to the way they are run in order to remain competitive. Some analystscalculate that around 6.4 billion USD was spent in 2007 alone on capital investment in the industry -  and that airport hotels were outranked by luxury hotels.

 

Although this may have made grim reading for some airport hotel managers, the downturn of the economy more recently has meant that people\'s budgets are really stretched. Airport hotels have been lowering their prices considerably, and they are now a very real alternative for people who want to spend their money enjoying the city rather than their luxury hotel room. Depending on the proximity of the airport to the city, the close proximity of the airport hotel once they have landed all tired and ready to sleep is another attraction of airport hotels. This is also the case when they need to make their return flight!

 

It seems that, according to customer satisfaction surveys, the quality of airport hotels has improved in recent years. But a recent alternative being offered by some chains - the so-called small luxury hotels seem to be hitting the market hard. Offering competitive prices between that of airport hotels and larger luxury hotels, outstanding quality of service and facilities, and prime locations in the city; these seem to be a very attractive option to many people. These small luxury hotels are attractive not only to holiday makers, but also business customers - with excellent conference facilities and a location near business centres. This is often not the case with airport hotels.

 

With local people looking to make income from tourism, there is also a widening niche market of 'holiday cottages' (and luxury villas etc.). These are found in many locations globally and generally offer a more personal and peaceful stay than luxury hotels and airport hotels. In these turbulent economic times, it will be interesting to see how airport hotels, luxury hotels (both small and large) and holiday-cottage type facilities hold out.

 

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