Doubletree by Hilton Manchester Airport is a solid choice of airport hotel if you're looking to…read morestay at or near Manchester Airport. The location is good, cross the street and it's a short walk to the train station and terminals using the skybridge. Although, depending on your luggage and the weather, you may wish to use the hotel's paid shuttle service which departs to your Terminal from the hotel's main entrance.
NOTE: The hotel was originally a Hilton property but quietly branded to Doubletree in late 2020, with no other changes over than joining the Doubletree sub-brand of Hilton Hotels.
The pricing at the hotel does tend to be pricey, and can often cost more than the locations in the city centre, you're basically paying for the convenience of being right near the airport. I paid £127 for a standard room. Although as a Diamond Hilton Honors member, my room was upgraded and breakfast was provided complimentary.
It is a very busy hotel, so you may have a bit of a wait at check-in and to answer the phone if calling the hotel directly. There was a very pleasant staff member who helped serve me at the front desk, he provided free parking for my friends dropping me off and helped sort out a further upgrade to my room. Originally, I had only been upgraded to a Deluxe Room, but I did further enquire if it was possible to get a Junior Suite and he confirmed it would be.
I was very impressed with my room, the interior of the room was comfortable, and combined with the comfort and facilities, it would be very well suited to a long hotel, and didn't seem like the usual standard of an airport hotel at all. I appreciated the mini fridge in the room which had two bottles of soda, and a small carton of milk complimentary (only provided in Junior Suites but this is a make or break for me when staying in a hotel), as well as a sofa, work area, and small dining table.
I wasn't impressed with the bathroom, the shower was a standalone shower inside the bath, I found it very difficult to use as the shower was mounted to the wall, meaning you had to stand on the edge of the bath which carries the risk of the bath overflowing during your shower, or tripping over the plug. I also found the controls difficult and if my stay was any longer than one night, I would have had to make alternate arrangements. The wall-mounted soaps also would have been too high for anyone sitting in the bath to reach. I would much prefer them going back to the cute little plastic bottles which are much more convenient to use. The waste bin in the bathroom also had not been emptied from the previous guest. Gross!
I did have some issues with the noise within the room, there was a lot of noise coming from the corridor. I was placed in a room on the ground level of the hotel, which could be why. The noise coming from outside the hotel was minimal, I didn't get any plane noise though, which was good considering how close they are to the airport.
Breakfast as I recall starts VERY early at 5:00 am for continental, with a cooked offering starting half an hour later. I recall it ending at around 10 am. This is an idea I like, rather than starting and ending the cooked options early, they have an offering for the early birds while keeping it on a little later for the late-risers as at an airport hotel like this one in particular, they MUST cater to those with morning flights. Breakfast in general was reasonable and up to the brand's standards, in particular, I liked how they had a small gluten-free area and the freshly prepared omelettes were VERY good.
Perhaps a renovation is needed of some areas of the hotel, which could be the reason the hotel was downgraded in Hilton's standards from a Hilton Property to Doubletree, but despite a couple of glaring flaws, they delivered a comfortable stay, exceeding my expectations for an airport hotel with impressive service and a good breakfast, making it the ideal stop off before or after a flight at any of Manchester Airport's three terminals. 4*