The best Airport Hotel in Europe (and the only one with a starred restaurant inside): review Hilton Munich

It took the drone alert and the closure of the airspace of half of Bavaria to "force" me to stay one night in what for years has been rated by Skytrax as the best airport hotel of Europe e one of the best in the world: I am talking about the Hilton Hotel in Munich.

Reservation

In certain situations, readiness is everything: being quick can mean the difference between getting out of a crisis situation quickly or getting bogged down and, in cases like these, sleeping on a bench (if you can find one).

As soon as the airport closure was announced, I opened Hilton's app and booked the first available room at the Hilton hotel. The price was already "crazy." over 330 € for less than six hours of sleep. But considering that Munich Airport closes at 10 p.m. and you can't find anything anymore-there are no h24 lounges, no open food outlets-it becomes an open but deserted cathedral.

Actually, I tried to reserve a cubicle earlier, but they were already all sold out.

Location

You have to exit the arrivals and reach the outer plaza, an immense area where all kinds of events are organized, where the ice rink is installed in the cold months, and from which there is also access to the subway that connects the airport with the city and the railroad.

Impossible to miss the signs: just follow them and you will arrive at the secondary lobby. You can walk up the stairs or take the elevator to the lobby.

Check-in

Obviously, this experience is not textbook, although a little more organization would have been expected. Unfortunately, Hilton suggests requesting the digital key, but then it still forces you to go through the front desk - and it is not a legal requirement here in Germany, as I happened to sleep in several hotels with self check-in.

There were at least 300 people in line, indeed in a massing of people, most of them without reservations.

The time frame loomed biblical, even in the priority row. Then it was enough to say to the one attendant trying to keep order, "I'm Diamond," for him to immediately escort me ahead of everyone, attracting hatred and impropriety--like when you show up at the Post Office with an online reservation and walk past 97 irate retirees.

Taking the key, I headed to my room. The attendant also apologized for the poor "upgrade" made; I replied by thanking her and saying, "I hope I don't have to walk 10 m to get to the room." Spoiler alert: I walked 15 minutes.

The structure

The lobby is a huge covered plaza: here are a beer garden and the main restaurant, which also houses a starred restaurant inside.

The Mountain Hub Gourmet has a Michelin star, and, I think I am not mistaken, if I say that it is probably the only starred hotel in the world inside a hotel of this type.

Then of course there are so many meeting areas and public areas. Which complicit with the situation had become makeshift bedding.

The lounge is active, unfortunately only until 10 p.m., and is located on the lower floor of the hotel's outermost building.

The room

At this price it would be fair to demand a suite with a private pool; instead you have a nice room, large and with everything that is logical to expect from this type of hotel. But, as is often the case, you pay for contingency and location in these situations.

I could have looked for something cheaper, sure, but likewise I would have had to waste time and money getting there and waking up earlier to get back to the airport. And in any case a qualifying stay and almost 10k points in one night.

Modern room, tastefully decorated, warm and cozy.

The right technology and, most importantly, a button that turns off everything-but really everything-that might disturb sleep, which is not a given.

Beautiful, huge bathroom. Bathtub and shower walk-in: in short, everything that would be nice to find elsewhere and is rarely found in an airport hotel.

Breakfast

Service opens at 6:00 a.m.; perhaps, because of the type of hotel and location, Opening 30 minutes earlier would be perfect, But one cannot expect everything. On the contrary, however, the service stays on for a long time, so you can have breakfast even if you get up later than in other Hilton hotels.

Walking in at the opening allowed me to appreciate the ambience and the perfectly immaculate buffet.

Offered by Hilton, higher even than the European average: neat, logical and well stocked. Products for children, for intolerant people and for all kinds of diets.

The only express cooking was egg cooking, but it was not bad at all.

Also nice is the Regional Corner That, at the time of Oktoberfest, it's not a bad touch.

Only negative note: the absence of a barman. Hot drinks only from vending machines: here, it could be done better here.

In conclusion

Does it deserve the awards? In my opinion, yes.  Of course, I have also seen other hotels near the airport, but here there is just everything: location, product quality, service and breakfast.

Now I can't wait to try the best airport hotel of the world, the Crowne Plaza in Singapore, in order to make the comparison. On one thing they are similar: price.

• hotels near airport