There’s so much more to an airport hotel than just its location. Of course, being located at a stone’s throw away from the terminal is a plus but the demands of weary, bleary-eyed travellers or the busy business traveller goes beyond the ‘convenient’ distance.
The brand new Courtyard Marriott, a premium property located hardly 300 metres from the Kochi international airport, tries to accommodate passenger needs, provides amenities and services that travellers expect.
Gateway to a destination
“Wish lists of travellers certainly vary and though we may not be able to nail down every single one of them we have certainly tried to provide all the key elements that make a true airport hotel. We also understand that the Courtyard is not a destination but a gateway to one,” says Prakash Jayadevan, hotel manager.
After a long-haul flight or alighting to board the next, most passengers long to catch up on their sleep. Strangely in most of the airport hotels, you have people arriving and departing at odd hours, there is omnipresent sound of aircrafts booming across the skies. Courtyard is soundproof. And in the comfort of the rooms, there are those heavy curtains that shut you out completely from the noise and light outside. From the wide windows it is funny to see huge machines floating silently from the airport close by.
Contemporary style
The Courtyard has 107 rooms that include seven suites, 22 twin rooms and 78 king rooms. All these rooms are equipped with LED television, tea/coffee maker, electronic safe, high speed internet access, cosy bed, clean bathrooms and contemporary décor.
“We have wired and wireless connectivity in the guest room, the lobby, other public areas and the board rooms. In the lobby we have media cubicles where guests can log on or catch up with their favourite television programmes without disturbing the others,” adds Prakash.
The spacious lobby houses the front desk, MoMo Café, an all-day dining restaurant and MoMo 2 Grab and Go stores. “The restaurant offers a buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner in addition to a la-carte menu. We thought of the store with the traveller in mind. From here he can grab fresh, packed sandwiches, pastries and a whole lot of goodies while rushing out to catch the flight.”
Most business honchos, flying in after long hours but on brief stopovers, prefer the hotel of their stay for their meetings. The Courtyard has three board rooms with audio-visual facility all set and ready for the conference. “These rooms have wired and wireless connectivity. Apart from this we also have a business centre with fully loaded workstations.”
A fully-equipped fitness centre, swimming pool and jacuzzi provide options to unwind after a hectic board meeting or the morning after a tiring flight.
A good airport hotel calls for helpful, multilingual, staff, available around the clock. “Yes, I’m sure we have helpful staff. Multilingual, I’m not sure but they converse fluently in English, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and one person even in Arabic. And they work round the clock.” This means the jetlagged traveller needs to spend very little time at the front desk and get quickly to the comfort of his room.
Amenities
The room and bathroom fixtures are trendy and chic. Yet they are easy to operate and there’s no need to ring up housekeeping for help. There is 24-hour room service, complimentary valet parking, express checkout facility, an alarm clock on the night table and an iPod docking facility. Very thoughtfully the hotel has comprehensive amenities like a hair dryer, phone numbers and websites of all airlines and the usual, useful stationery.
The rooms are reasonably priced at Rs. 5,499 for the deluxe room, Rs. 6,999 for the executive deluxe and Rs. 9,499 for the suites. The hotel also offers a special day use rate too and a breakfast package for a deluxe room at Rs. 5,999. All these rates are exclusive of taxes.
