Quote:
Originally Posted by acottawa
I have travelled fairly extensively both for work and pleasure and been in probably close to a hundred airports on 6 continents. I am not an expert in the sense that I know about negotiations between the airport authority and airlines, but I am fairly familiar with how people travel.
An in terminal hotel is of significant value if it is airside and it saves hours going through customs/security, etc for a short, but overnight layover. Other than that, its value depends on how hard it is to get in and out of the airport to other hotels nearby (for example checkpoints, toll plazas, complicated access roads can make getting to nearby hotels difficult).. Ottawa airport is extremely easy with a 5 minute shuttle to two existing hotels on the airport property. I also expect the uplands and south keys stations to eventually get nearby hotels over time that would take advantage of rail access.
For these reasons there is no business case for this hotel without panhandling at city hall.
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I can see what you are saying, but I do think that avoiding a shuttle has value to a lot of people. Just look at the difference in room rates between the attached hotels and the ones a shuttle ride away. Even if the ride is only 5 minutes, you generally have to wait for the shuttle to go, so realistically it adds time and inconvenience, which matters to frequent travellers and air crews.
I also think that the proposed hotel is different from the current offerings as it will be higher-end. Based on location, it will also pay much higher rent to the airport authority than the others, which adds to the amount of money they have to develop facilities and routes. Again, this is just my non-expert opinion, but there has to be a reason that the airport authority is making this a priority and all of the other major airports in Canada already have this. It certainly suggests that a business case exists.
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