OVERVIEW

On my travels I always like to stay in nice hotels, well at least the best that I can afford, and that usually entails trawling through the various travel booking engines to see which is offering the best deal. I tend to find that the airport hotels are usually slightly cheaper than those in the centre of town, and for me there is the added bonus that I can do a bit of plane spotting and photography as well!!

The hotel is located opposite the main airport terminal at Cork Airport. In fact it is easily within walking distance from the Arrivals door, across a car park and cannot be missed because of the huge colourful sign on the hotel roof. However, I didn't arrive into Cork by air, we'd driven from Galway so we actually came into the airport via the road network. Also note that there is a courtesy shuttle that operates from the Terminal.

How wrong I was.

Now, there are two entrances, I went through the one at the back, i.e where the car park is, and that's on the ground floor. Coming from the airport you walk across the airport car park which is raised and takes you directly into the reception area, but for me, I got in the doors and was confronted with what looked more like an art gallery than a hotel!

You go upstairs to the reception area to check in, alternatively as I said above, coming from the airport you'll walk straight into the check in area.

I had booked two rooms and both were given on the 3rd floor which was perfect, I always prefer being higher up, however although one room overlooked the airport and hills, my room overlooked the business park. I requested a room change which was arranged straight away without any problems , so both rooms were on the same floor just down the corridor from each other.

To the left is the wardrobe unit, complete with storage areas, hanger space and luggage area. Wood laminate floor in the entrance perfectly fitted. Tea and Coffee making facilities, amazing selection, loads of milks, every conceivable type of tea bag, two cups, biscuits, a kettle and a coffee pot complete with ground coffee. To the right is the immaculate bathroom, tasteful colours, grey tiled floor with underfloor heating, large mirror, power shower and good range of soaps, shower gel and shampoo,

Pictures of Cork International Airport Hotel

Hotel corridors

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Carry on walking into bedroom and the wood laminate makes way for carpet. There are 2 beds in the room, one double (queen size) and one oversized single, this was the case in both rooms so could easily sleep 3 people if needed. There's a 32 inch LCD TV in the room, with all manner of TV stations, almost 100 of them, mostly foreign but also airport arrivals/departures channels which proved useful. The TV can access the internet, and there's in room movies. The TV has a wireless keyboard for the net access as well. Under the TV is the fridge, mini bar, ice bucket and 4 glasses, 2 wine glasses and 2 tall glasses.

My amazement didn't stop here. I mean this is an airport hotel, but totally unlike anything I've ever seen before. You can eat at the bar, or in the Pullman restaurant, there is a wine cellar room for 10 people and another smaller bar at the other end of the restaurant. The restaurant is fantastic, especially for me and my aviation interest, as you walk in you are confronted with a mockup of an aircraft interior complete with economy and first class seating. Air route maps are on the walls. The lights look like landing gear. The plane mockup divides the restaurant in two, from the dining area, tables and chairs to the serving/preparation area.

But, it's not all planes and airships!

After a bar meal we sat down for a few pints of Guiness and Irish Coffees, but did so in the lobby area of the hotel.

Everything in this hotel is unique, the whole place must be a one-off experience and goodness knows how much it cost to build. Even the toilets were amazing!! All the lights changed colour, the taps and sinks were strange shapes and lights came on so the water looked a different colour, the hand dryers were weird, you dipped your hand in rather than holding underneath and they were dry in seconds. More like something you'd find in a nightclub.

I could go on and on about this place, everything was so well thought out, and totally unexpected. It's a shame there are no shops nearby for water/sweets etc. but I did see some people walk into the airport convenience store. The hotel was relaxed, and had a real calm feel about it, it was also quite awe-inspiring, we just sat there commenting all the time about how many different things there were, all of the attention to detail etc.

My only criticisms are that there are no shops nearby, except in the airport and that I couldn't find any tourist information leaflets.