Book Cheap Airport Parking & Hotels with Skyparksecure | Airport Inn Manchester Review

*This is a collaborative post

During our recent child-free holiday to Cuba, our Thomas Cook flight was originally set to leave Manchester airport at 10am. Manchester is a good 3 hours drive from our home in Northumberland and we'd need to leave in the middle of the night to get through check in & passport control in time. The obvious answer was to book an airport hotel and parking for the night before. 

We would normally book the Radisson Blu which is a fantastic hotel that's actually joined onto Manchester airport, but as it was Easter weekend, prices were coming up at £250 - £300 not including dinner which was a lot more than we have paid in the past and something I wasn't prepared to pay this time. I started searching for something more budget friendly and it was around this time the lovely people at Skyparksecure got in touch and offered to help us out. 

Skyparksecure offer over 300 car parks across 26 airports. Their website is very user-friendly and you can search for parking/parking and hotel/airport lounges very easily. As someone who is careful with their pennies, I like how the search automatically displays results from low-high price and bullets key points so you can quickly browse the various options available to you.

A quick search and I was very impressed with the prices of the hotels on offer. They were way better than anything I had found myself and there were some double rooms with 8 days parking for only £69. Bargain! In the end, Sky Park Secure booked us into the Airport Inn Manchester at a cost of £89 for a double room with 8 days parking. There is an airport transfer shuttle service which cost an additional £10 return for the two of us which was easy to use, reliable and all explained on booking so it wasn't unexpected. 

If I am 100% honest, if I had booked the hotel myself, I would not have selected Airport Inn. The hotel's reviews on Tripadvisor really put me off. If I was booking the trip myself, I would have selected the Crowne Plaza which would have cost £154 for a double room including 8 days airport parking and a free shuttle service to the airport every 2 minutes if we had booked through Skyparksecure. I decided to go ahead with the Airport Inn though despite some bad reviews and took this as an opportunity to see what a budget airport hotel was actually like. 

Airport Inn Manchester Airport Review

The Airport Inn was easy to find and we parked our car in the designated long-stay car park. Check in was friendly, quick and easy. Sometimes if you book with a third party there's always the worry that they may not have your reservation but everything went very smoothly. We completed a parking form with our car details, booked a wake-up call, our place on the airport shuttle and headed up to our room. 

Our bedroom definitely wasn't of the luxury standards I would normally book and expect but for the price, I could not complain at all. There were tea and coffee making facilities, a TV, desk and clean bathroom - everything we needed. The airport is very close by but I think the hotel must have triple glazing as we could not hear any noise once we were in our room.

The hotel has it's own spa available at a small additional charge but it didn't look great to be honest so we decided to set off on the National Trust walk around the hotel instead where we spotted a squirrel! Definitely an unexpected plus.

The Airport Inn had a special deal running where you could enjoy a 2 course meal plus a glass of wine each for £29.99 which seemed like a real bargain. We wanted a drive out though so headed into nearby Wimslow for dinner. Once booked in, it's fine to leave with your car and return it during your stay. We enjoyed a few beers in the hotel bar before retiring for an early night and actually a good night's sleep.

Our wake-up call was spot on and we were up and ready for our airport transfer in good time. I expected a mini-bus that travelled between various hotels in the area but we actually received a luxury chauffeur driven Mercedes with leather seats and a driver who was suited and booted and we were the only people booked in for that time slot so it was a direct transfer - I think we hit lucky! We were at the airport within 5-10 minutes and I liked that everything was pre-paid so that was one less thing to worry about.

I was ready to write a bad review of this hotel - if it had been terrible, I would have but it was honestly ok and for £99 for 8 nights parking, direct transfers in a luxury car plus a night's stay in a clean and quiet bedroom over Easter weekend, I really have no complaints. This stay has really made me think twice about booking budget hotels and I think it will be something I look into again in the future rather than automatically opting for the more luxurious (and expensive) options. Our return transfer was easy to book with a free courtesy phone in the terminal - we just needed to quote our name and booking reference number and we were dropped off outside of our hotel and reunited with our car. 

Skyparksecure offer airport parking and hotels at most of the UK's aiports. I would recommend their service and would use again. It's nice being able to book everything in one place and using a site which searches through and provides you with a number of different options. 

You can search and book for the best deal here.