Buffalo Airport- Hotels?

[SaraMc]

We always fly out of Buffalo, but never have got a hotel the night before. With our kids we want to make sure that we are close by the night before and let them try to get some sleep. Dont care about parking, as we would want to park our car at the airport. I know that there are a few hotels across the street from the airport. Which ones do you guys prefer?

 

[DaniB]

We stayed at the Hampton Inn (walden galleria) in Buffalo - Sept 2010. Loved it! Pricey however.

On the way there we had the park & fly rate. Cost us $210 including taxes, etc. Great hot & cold breakfast in the morning!! Nice seating area for it. The shuttle to take us to the airport left on the time scheduled for us and got us to the airport in plenty of time. Best of all - NO BEDBUGS!!!

On the way home we stayed over again. The shuttle picked us up very quickly when we phoned from the airport. This time it cost us $156 including taxes, etc.

Both time we had 2 double-beds. Free internet. Nice indoor swimming pool.

Hubby & I are going back to Disney September 2011 (no kids!!) and we are staying there again.

 

[dsneygirl]

We stayed at the Sleep Inn last month. Nothing fancy but it was clean and close. The breakfast starts at 4:30am and had a really nice selection.

 

[TheBig2na]

I use www.parksleepfly.com. you can get a hotel and parking and shuttle to and from the airport. its literally a 2 minute drive to the airport for some of them. holiday inn express, sleep inn and suites. not sure what hotels are on there now, but usually a great deal.

 

[DISDANCEMOM]

We always fly out of Buffalo, but never have got a hotel the night before. With our kids we want to make sure that we are close by the night before and let them try to get some sleep. Dont care about parking, as we would want to park our car at the airport. I know that there are a few hotels across the street from the airport. Which ones do you guys prefer?

Why do you want to park at the Airport? To me park of the appeal of getting a hotel the night before is getting the shuttle right up to the curbside check-in...especially in the winter. Another great perk is that when you come back if there has been snow they will often have your car all cleaned off for you...

As for hotel recommendations...if you really don't want parking I would suggest using Priceline...I went for a shopping weekend a couple of weeks ago and got the Holiday Inn for $69 a night (2 double beds) it was fine...nothing spectacular but we just wanted a clean bed to sleep in!

 

[SaraMc]

Ok, with parking at a hotel. Which do you suggest? We were leary of taking a shuttle across as we have two little ones and i dont want to bring the car seats in the shuttles as we are not taking them on the plane.

 

[formill]

Ok, with parking at a hotel. Which do you suggest? We were leary of taking a shuttle across as we have two little ones and i dont want to bring the car seats in the shuttles as we are not taking them on the plane.

Park at airport for sure! So far shuttles we have taken are great for the ride there but waiting in the freezing cold is no fun at the end of a trip. The shuttles we have been on are also in a very big hurry it seems- they don't wait for the kids to even buckle and many seat belts are missing/stuck etc...park at the aiport and get your kids there safely in their car seats! I have worked it out price wise and since all hotels charge for their parking there is very little difference (the only exception seems to be the Marriot which does not charge more to park there). As for the person who had their car cleaned off- lucky!......at Sleep Inn ours was buried- and we had to push it over a snow bank for it was stuck. If you do choose to park at hotel ask where you will be parked- many have off site locations you must park at. We have used priceline or hotwire to get hotels at a better rate-got the Best Western twice paid around $54 a night.

 

[Diamondintheruff]

If you drive to the airport yourself, make sure to check out the coupon on the Buffalo Airport site.

I often use priceline bid your own price for a hotel for the night before. To check out what others have bid on hotels check out this site.

http://www.betterbidding.com/

Usually I end up with the Millenium. I've paid from $42 to 65 dollars for it through priceline. You can still take the shuttle and park there for a price. I think it was $7 a day or something. Call the hotel to find out for sure. The Hotel is about a 12 minute drive shuttle to the airport. The Millenium is fine for my family as they have a pool, are across from Olive Garden and beside the Walden Galleria mall (Can you say Cheesecake Factory?) However, they don't have breakfast included and they could really do with some updating. But we love being able to walk to the mall and have drinks with dinner without worrying about driving. After all our vacation has started even if we aren't in Disney yet.

I've also stayed at the Best Western. They are super close to the airport and their breakfast buffet starts at 4:30 and they have a make your own waffle machine (which is a huge selling point for my kids). Again the place needs updating but I usually get the room for under $100 and my hubby loves a free breakfast.

 

[mtmbyck]

Am I missing something?? Even if you park at the airport, you will have to shuttle to the terminal. I don't believe they had long term parknig right in the airport (and if they do I am sure it is super pricey).

As for shuttling with young ones, yes.....you would have to and no guaratee on seatbelts but it would not stop me from leaving my car at the hotel.

We stay at the Marriott always. Super comfy beds and a NICE hotel. Nice pool. And parking is free for up to 2 weeks. What I like is that the shuttle comes to get you when you get home at the airport, can take you to the hotel and family can wait inside while parent gets car, cleans it off and warms it up. PLus, you have time to pick up a beverage or have a clean potty break at the hotel.

On priceline you can get the Marriott for $99 which inckudes taxes sometimes!

 

[twokids0204]

If you drive to the airport yourself, make sure to check out the coupon on the Buffalo Airport site.

I often use priceline bid your own price for a hotel for the night before. To check out what others have bid on hotels check out this site.

http://www.betterbidding.com/

Usually I end up with the Millenium. I've paid from $42 to 65 dollars for it through priceline. You can still take the shuttle and park there for a price. I think it was $7 a day or something. Call the hotel to find out for sure. The Hotel is about a 12 minute drive shuttle to the airport. The Millenium is fine for my family as they have a pool, are across from Olive Garden and beside the Walden Galleria mall (Can you say Cheesecake Factory?) However, they don't have breakfast included and they could really do with some updating. But we love being able to walk to the mall and have drinks with dinner without worrying about driving. After all our vacation has started even if we aren't in Disney yet.

I've also stayed at the Best Western. They are super close to the airport and their breakfast buffet starts at 4:30 and they have a make your own waffle machine (which is a huge selling point for my kids). Again the place needs updating but I usually get the room for under $100 and my hubby loves a free breakfast.

We got the Millenium for $34.00.

Yes it is $7 per day to park, but we just parked at the airport - pretty much the same rate, and security patrolled lots. As well there is a coupon for extended parking at their website.

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Am I missing something?? Even if you park at the airport, you will have to shuttle to the terminal. I don't believe they had long term parknig right in the airport (and if they do I am sure it is super pricey).

As for shuttling with young ones, yes.....you would have to and no guaratee on seatbelts but it would not stop me from leaving my car at the hotel.

We stay at the Marriott always. Super comfy beds and a NICE hotel. Nice pool. And parking is free for up to 2 weeks. What I like is that the shuttle comes to get you when you get home at the airport, can take you to the hotel and family can wait inside while parent gets car, cleans it off and warms it up. PLus, you have time to pick up a beverage or have a clean potty break at the hotel.

On priceline you can get the Marriott for $99 which inckudes taxes sometimes!

There are NO seatbelts on shuttles. They fall under the public transportation and do not have to have seatbelts.

The Buffalo airport does indeed have long term parking on site. They have three options for parking. Lot A, B and C. Obviously A is closer and a bit more expensive. There is also a lot owned privately across the road from the airport.

Yes, there are shuttles at the Buffalo airport but they are different than the hotel shuttles. The hotel Shuttles have you call them on the phone once you touch down at the airport. Then you wait outside for them around the corner at a covered bus stop for them to come to pick you up. Some hotels are more than 10 minutes away and the hotel shuttles come as soon as they can but expect to wait 10-20 minutes for them. Once inside the shuttle they take you to the front desk of the hotel where you pick up your car keys and then head out to find your car in the hotel parking lot. Keep in mind that sometimes you have to wait to be served by the front desk if they are busy. So I've found that the hotel shuttles actually take a bit more time. But sometimes the parking is already included in the price of the hotel so I don't mind as much.

The airport shuttles are plentiful. There are different shuttles for lots A, B and C. They do a continuous circle of the airport. There are shuttle bus stops right outside of the luggage carasols. You can see the shuttles from inside the building before you head outside. Which in cold weather makes a difference. You can expect to wait 0-10 minutes for an airport shuttle. Once inside the shuttle the driver asks people which sections they are parked in and drives right up to your vehicle. I've never waited more than 3 minutes for a shuttle.

 

[mtmbyck]

I have never had to leave my keys at the Marriott. We have our keys with us. Yes, the shuttle can take 10-15 minutes but you can wait inside. The shelter for buses is just outside to the right and you can see the shuttles as they pull up and then go outside.

I was simply expressing that having the airport shuttle drop you and family off in the middle of a parking lot at your freezing cold car possibly covered in snow isn't for everyone.

 

[DISDANCEMOM]

Ok, with parking at a hotel. Which do you suggest? We were leary of taking a shuttle across as we have two little ones and i dont want to bring the car seats in the shuttles as we are not taking them on the plane.

We have used the Days Hotel. It is right across the street from the Airport. We paid $129 for the night and that included 2 weeks of parking and breakfast in the morning. They use the large vans for shuttles and everyone had seatbelts. When the kids were in car seats they would let us take the seats on the shuttle and then they would take them back to the hotel and store them for us. (we just had to make sure they were labeled well with our name and return date). The shuttle was fabulous. We told them at check in what time our flight was and they scheduled the shuttle based on that. Sometimes we've been the only family in the shuttle and sometimes we've shared. With the hotel being RIGHT accross the street they can do that as the trip back and forth is a mere moments.

As for the return...you simply call the hotel (from the courtesy phone in the airport) once you have your bags and they send over the shuttle. As someone earlier mentioned...you can wait inside the airport until you see the shuttle pull up. We've only taken one trip in the dead of winter and that was Dec 09. That trip when we got back to our car they had already cleaned off the snow and the shuttle driver had us wait in the shuttle while the car warmed up...you can't beat that!

 

[KerriMc]

We have used Fairfield Inn which is right across from the airport. We've been there twice now and preferred it to another one we stayed at before (it was a Marriott but I don't remember which one). That shuttle took longer.

It never takes them long to come and pick us up from the airport and then we go to the washroom at the hotel while we load up and warm the van up. Then we stop quickly at the Tims right next to the hotel and then hit the road!

We are going there again in March!

 

[Raptorfan]

I used to always fly out of Buffalo as well. A two hour drive was worth the half the price tickets. Recently I started flying out of Detroit and foun that the ticket prices there were about 40% less than Buffalo. Last time we stayed at the Westin in the airport and had them valet park the car. Price was less than staying at a local hotel and paying for long term parking at the airport or off site. The savings was still worth a couple more hours of driving.

 

[Tower]

We stay at the Marriott always. Super comfy beds and a NICE hotel. Nice pool. And parking is free for up to 2 weeks. What I like is that the shuttle comes to get you when you get home at the airport, can take you to the hotel and family can wait inside while parent gets car, cleans it off and warms it up. PLus, you have time to pick up a beverage or have a clean potty break at the hotel.

Thanks to comments on this thread (and others of a common theme) we've just come from out 2nd night booked through Priceline for this hotel. As mentioned, it's clean and very comfortable. We stayed there on Dec 8 before flying out for a cruise, the shuttle brought us in very good time and the staff were really attentive to our 3 kids and our needs. We had to go back to Buffalo last night to retrieve some lost luggage (Airtran doesn't fly into Toronto) and we stayed another night there. For the $60 plus tax booked through Priceline it was a steal. Unfortunately, there were several other families taking over the pool area and our adults only 'getaway' was scuttled in that regard, but we holed up in our hotel room and enjoyed time away from our little ones. We love our kids, but we just needed some Mommy/Daddy time.
Would I stay at that Marriott again? In a heartbeat! Parking was easy. We simply advised the front desk of our licence plate number and it could be parked there for up to 2 weeks at no extra charge! I'm already looking at another getaway sometime soon with DW!

 

[thebigman65]

Which Marriot is it? I see 3 listed in the buffalo area. I would like to book this for our March trip as I have heard good things!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tower]

Which Marriot is it? I see 3 listed in the buffalo area. I would like to book this for our March trip as I have heard good things!

The one on Millersport. It's the only 3.5 star in Buffalo so it's easy to bid on Priceline.

 

[thebigman65]

The one on Millersport. It's the only 3.5 star in Buffalo so it's easy to bid on Priceline.

Thank you!

 

[jeannief]

I just got the marriot for 1 night for $60 plus taxes (77) with priceline. I think the secret is to book close to your flight.