DaVinci Airport for 6:30am flight home: would you sleep at the airport?

Hi Stacey,
You will undoubtedly get as many opinions as the options listed and a few more suggestions besides. For what it's worth, here's mine. Several of the possibilities cost pretty much the same. In the upper price bracket I'd pop for the Hilton. I'm a little paranoid about being dependent on any transportation, even my own car, for early morning departures. With the Hilton, you're there. We did the Hilton in the Copenhagen airport a few years ago, and we just loved the ease of a 3 minute walk from our room to the check-in counter. Because our flight was at 8 A.M., we were able to check in, then walk back to take advantage of the free breakfast. I think they had coffee and rolls set out for customers whose flights were too early for the full breakfast. Even if you can sleep in the airport, you will be wasted by the time you get home. Of course it's the end of your trip, so maybe you don't care. Buon viaggio (both ways), Rosalyn

Just a note: most of the hotels near the airport that have a shuttle service do not begin the service until 7am, must too late for my 6:30am flight. The shuttle is only 6 euros, so it's a deal, but we'd have to pay for a taxi to the airport, which might negate the savings of the "cheaper" hotel.

Thanks for your quick reply!

Why didn't you look at this question BEFORE you booked the flight for 6:30? (By the way, you are not the first person to do this kind of thing. It happens all the time, but what were you thinking?)

I've been kicking myself all week, Lee!

But, to defend myself in my inexperience, in most US cities, the shuttle to the airport runs 24 hours a day to and from hotels and is under $25 dollars, so I actually am surprised that the less expensive shuttles are not 24 hours near this airport.

Your paying how much money to go to Rome in the first place ....just thinking about any extra cost and you shouldn't be going in the 1st place. It's at least a 4000 trip so what's another 100 to 300 bucks.

Ok, Rosalyn and Patrick are fueling my inner desires. Thank you!

I'd stay at the Hilton and walk to the airport. One time we were skiing in St. Anton and took the taxi to Munich and stayed at the airport hotel. Don't know what the Hilton is like, but I enjoyed the Hotel Kapenski. We relaxed and listened to music in the lobby. It was a like a one night mini-vacation within a vacation. The hotel was so much luxurcious then the hotel we stayed in St. Anton. We did love our hotel in St. Anton, but it was a nice change for one night.
If you flight was a little bit later, I'd say stay and enjoy your last night in Rome. I don't think I'd want to be stressed out worrying about making my flight so early in the morning.

stacey i would do the 4th option as well. let your hotel know you will need the taxi as soon as you check in, that way they have an advance heads up. i completely disagree with the "what's another 300bucks.." statement. 300 bucks is a chunk of change that can be used to enhance your experience at better restaurants, see another site, purchase a desired item, etc. just because you spend several thousand dollars on a vacation doesn't mean you can't be concerned about saving a few hundred dollars! it is this mindset that has gotten us into the credit crunch we are currently in! :?) besides, that 300 bucks is a good start towards your next vacation ;?)

Here's a thought....why not ask the hotels under #3 & #4 how much a taxi would cost at that time of day? This way you'll have some idea.

From my research, a taxi from one of the less expensive hotels near the airport still costs 30 euro since it's so early in the morning (so over $45).

But yes, that would be about $100-200 cheaper total from one of the airport Hiltons (the Hilton that is IN the airport quoted me $376 a night; the Hilton that is 2 miles from the airport, with their own shuttle, $305 a night).

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I'm going to check on the cheaper hotels again to see what they give as the taxi fair, and I'll check on the 2-mile out Hilton to see if they truly have a 24 hour shuttle. I also found the Graffiti Wall link, Sleeping at the airport, which was fun to read, but definitely turned me off of sleeping at the airport.

The rest of our month long trip is mostly planned--this was the last piece of the puzzle;-)

Stacey,
What about trying to book a room on Priceline at the last minute. I do this often when I need a hotel at the airport. Priceline lets you choose the number of "stars" and the geographical area. For most of the cities, they have an area near the airport. I usually bid about 1-2 days before I need the room in order to get a really good price. So far, I have been lucky and never gone without a room.

I've done this in the U.S. and London but never in Rome. I've found it a great choice when you want to save money but don't really care at which hotel you stay. And this would work if you were willing to sleep at airport if it didn't work out. Most of the places are chain hotels (e.g. Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott, etc.) and the prices are substantially less than the going rate. When you bid, you don't see the name of the hotel until after your bid is accepted.

Thanks, Laura! I haven't tried that yet, but I'll consider it for sure.

We were in Rome in Nov. with the same problem a 7:15 flight.We took a taxi for 4 for 50E.Our hotel called them and they were on time.Stress free and we spent our last night in Rome.

Jack,
So the taxi didn't charge extra (I read from 20-40% extra) for the early morning pick up from Rome? Which hotel were you at?
Thanks for writing!

Chiming in- when does the airline "say" you have to be at the gate? If this is the first leg of your trans-Atlantic flight, in my experience they want you there an hour before boarding. In fact, when racing for our (albeit later in the morning) flight home from Rome, my name was being broadcast as I tried (thank goodness for only using a carryon) to rush through and my seat was nearly given away forty- five minutes prior. If you in fact have to be at the gate at 5:30, and therefore at the airport by 4-ish- if it were me I would agree with your "sleep" in the airport plan. It is horrible, yes- you can't go to check in until a few hours before the flight, post 9-11- so you can't sleep at the gate area as in days of yore. You have to sit or stand around the ticketing area, ugh. I would get to the airport as late as safely possible- more like after midnight- and just suffer through. Unless you opt to go to bed really early and get your money's worth for the hotel, if you decide to do that.

Karen
I've read several conflicting answers to when I need to be at the Rome airport (for my flight first to Amsterdam, then to Portland, Oregon): some people say you need to be there at 4:15am, while others say the airport wasn't even open till 5:30am! So now I'm thinking I need to just call KLM/Northwest to get the real scoop on that....

The Priceline idea given earlier is very tempting: I can "try" to get a hotel and if not, sleep at the airport. One benefit is we'd be so tired that sleeping on the plane will be a breeze;-)

Thanks!
Stacey

Stacey,
If you're going to look into Priceline, you should check biddingfortravel to get an idea what hotels will cost. People post their winning bids along with those not accepted for different hotels. Also pay attention to the season they had their successful bids, since this may make a difference. Here's the link for their Italy page:
http://tinyurl.com/2ercwk

After I posted the priceline suggestion, I took a look at the hotels they have for Rome. While they show the airport on the regular part of the site, when you click on the "Name your own price" section, the Rome airport is not one of the geographic areas that you can choose. So this might not work for Rome.

Unless things have changed, the taxi fare from Rome to the airport is fixed at 40 Euro. Last April four adults with four bags paid only 45 Euro at the same ungodly hour you will be traveling.