We love flying out of Manchester, and in for a penny, in for a pound on the drive I say. We drive from Halifax so it's a long day (or two shorter days) no matter how we do it. We have stayed at a Holiday Inn there, which had a nice shuttle and a good park-and-fly rate--there are two HI in Manchester, the Holiday Inn Manchester Airport on Brown Ave is closer to the airport and had better deals. Last time we went we stayed at a suite hotel, I don't recall which one. Ted in Halifax recommended it, and it was about the same quality, price, location as the HI but with a bigger room (suite). I'm sure it's here somewhere--maybe the Maritimes best fare thread.
The airport is super, clean, well laid out, not too big and not too small. We've never had any issues there. We recommend it highly.