Inside Australia’s ‘first ever’ hotel inside Sydney airport

If you’ve ever set your alarm for 3am – or earlier – to make it to the airport in time for a flight, this new hotel will completely change the way you fly.

If you’ve ever been booked on a 6am flight, or perhaps landed on the tarmac several hours before you can check in to your hotel – this new stay within Sydney’s International Airport will serve as a complete game changer for travellers.

With overseas travel restarting from Monday for vaccinated Australians out of Sydney airport, a new hotel – almost two years in the making – will soon open its doors as an Australian first.

Dubbed the Aerotel, this hotel sits less than a 60 second walk from the arrivals gate, with rooms able to be booked from as little as three hour stays – to overnight ahead of an early flight.

The Aerotel is the first in-terminal hotel in Australia.

The room can be booked for three hours, six hours, or overnight

Set to open in early 2022, when international travel will likely be in a stronger position and international tourists more likely to be allowed into the country for leisure purposes, the 15-room hotel hopes to fill a gap in the market for early morning departures and arrivals.

With stays starting from $55 per person for a three hour booking, guests can increase their stay to six hours or even overnight.

“We have some single rooms and double rooms, and it is flexible where you can choose between three hours or longer at six hours,” Poh Kiat Lee, Regional General Manager for Plaza Premium Group, parent company of Aerotel, told news.com.au.

“So it’s very flexible. You can store your luggage under the bed for more space. You also have a full ensuite.”

The room can be booked for three hours, six hours, or overnight from just $55,

But one of the best features within the new hotel is the arrivals lounge. Typically, lounges are allocated at the departures terminal for passengers to grab a light meal or drink before their flight takes off.

But the arrivals lounge within the terminal hotel is for guests who want to have something to eat, store their luggage and grab a drink before they leave the airport altogether.

And the best bit is the unlimited service will set you back just $35 (without access to a private hotel room).

“This is the first arrival lounge on land side,” Mr Lee explained.

“Someone arriving at 6am in the morning, but their meeting isn’t until the afternoon – what do they do? They come here [to the lounge] and they can book in without even booking a room. The lounge is an independent product, so people can just walk in and pay their $35 and enjoy food and beverage and the showers too.”

The Aerotel already exists elsewhere around the world, such as inside Singapore’s Changi airport.

International travel is back in a matter of days, with Sydney’s overseas terminal running at a 1 per cent capacity rate for the past several months.

From November 1, thousands of Australians both here and overseas will be faced with significant changes in terms of exiting and entering Australia – with airlines already putting contingency plans in place to prepare for any potential issues or speed bumps in the first few weeks of international travel making a return.

On Thursday, Australian airline Qantas announced how they plan to avoid any airport issues by rolling out a specialised app to provide a user-friendly digital experience to guide customers step-by-step through international flying.

Sydney International Airport is getting ready to allow for quarantine travel to start from Monday.

The airline says in addition, passengers will be encouraged to arrive at the airport an hour earlier for their international flight – meaning the recommended arrival time of three hours before boarding will push to four hours.

It’s a change Mr Lee says makes an option of staying within the terminal the night before a flight all the more appealing.

“It offers flexibility and comfort,” Mr Lee explained.

“For someone who wants to travel, first flight out at six o’clock in the morning they need not have to wake up at 3am to travel to the airport but instead they can stay here overnight and leave the airport for the first flight out of Sydney.”