Best Airport Hotel In The World? 18 Hours At Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

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The Crowne Plaza at Singapore Changi Airport T3 is a nine-time winner of Skytrax’s World’s Best Airport Hotel Award. We’ve stayed at some nice airport hotels, so when we had an overnight stop in Singapore, I booked a room at the Crowne Plaza.

Rooms at the hotel were going for over $200 a night or 38,000 points. I used a free night certificate from my IHG Premier card.

Once we landed in Singapore and cleared immigration, we followed the signs to the hotel. It was a short walk, as the Crowne Plaza is connected to T3 and has entrances on two terminal levels.

CROWNE PLAZA CHANGI AIRPORT

Once in the hotel, you enter the lobby. The front desk had several stations working, and it was a short wait to talk with an agent.

Sharon (my wife) grabbed a seat in one of the chairs and was offered a bottle of water by the staff.

When I checked in, I was thanked for being an IHG Platinum member and told our room was ready, even before check-in time. I asked about getting a late checkout the next day. They said the hotel was rather full, so they could only extend by 2 hours. However they also added I could check back tomorrow morning to see if they might be able to provide anything more.

Early check-in and late checkout at an IHG hotel for being a Platinum member. Not bad. We headed to our room for an afternoon nap after departing Siem Reap very early that morning.

You can’t see it from the exterior, but the hotel is built around a series of courtyards, and the walkways to the rooms are outside.

I recommend keeping your room number somewhere you can find it. The paths all looked the same, and more than once, we headed the wrong way to and from the elevator.

It’s difficult to explain, but the building with the rooms is seemingly not connected to the front door, and you enter onto a “bridge” from the walkway to the room.

The floor-to-ceiling window lets in a fantastic amount of natural light, which is helpful if you’re trying to overcome jetlag. If you’re like us and need a nap, the blackout shades did a sufficient job of keeping the room dark, even in the middle of the afternoon. We received an upgrade from a deluxe room to a premier room.

The bed was very comfortable, with plenty of outlets and space on the nightstands. The strangest design element of the room was the flower wall with a glass look-through into the bathroom/tub area. I guess this is so you can look out of the window from the tub?

A workspace and office chair faced the windows. Most welcome for an airport hotel was a long bench along the wall, perfect for putting down a backpack or carry-on bag.

The design of the room was excellent and very functional for people who are traveling with luggage. There was also a coffee machine, fridge, ironing board and iron. There were also 2 more bottles of water.

Slippers and the laundry bag were in a hidden drawer under the bench.

The bathroom was large, with a tub and separate shower. The bathroom windows looked out onto the pathways to the rooms, but since there was space because of the “bridge,” they also provided more natural light.

There was a well-stocked amenity kit in the bathroom.

We didn’t spend much time at the hotel, as we visited Jewel for meals and shopping. However, there are plenty of things to do at the Crowne Plaza.

There’s a pool area where you can order food and drinks from the hotel restaurant. From here, you’d think you’re at a resort hotel, not the airport, except for the sound of the planes taking off and landing.

There’s also a large fitness center.

Allora’s is an all-day dining location if you need somewhere to eat. There’s also a club lounge.

Final Thought

We enjoyed our stay at the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport. It’s one of the nicest airport hotels we’ve visited, and it has a great location: it’s connected to T3 and a short walk to Jewel.

This is a quick reminder that the hotel is past immigration, so you must enter Singapore to stay here. There are transit hotels at the airport if you can’t or don’t want to enter the country.

Is it the best airport hotel in the world? I can’t say. It’s a great place to stay overnight in Singapore if you don’t want to travel to the city and back. The service was pleasant, and we did get extra perks for having IHG status. The pool area and stylish rooms lift it to the next level.

But there’s no reason to plan a visit if you weren’t already going to spend the night at Changi Airport.

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