Sometimes, it is painful to look for a Florida hotel near an international airport. Most places are very noisy and not so comfortable because location is all they offer. That's why I prefer to go a couple of Miles away and I picked the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Coral Gables during my last stay in Miami. (Note: this hotel has been rebranded as Indigo Hotel Miami Dadeland.) What a good choice this was. The Crown Plaza is located a couple of Miles south of MIA airport. It's very quiet with large rooms and beds providing a rather aristocratic feel. Actually, it's pretty much like a super luxury American motel because it's located on a vast area with direct parking close to your room. As I just stayed overnight to continue to Washington International I had no chance to sample their internet connection speed. However, I must say I liked this place much better than all other Miami hotels I have visited over the past years. I will certainly come back because it's not to far away from A1A and Kendall Drive with a plenty of great shopping. I recommend you have a rental car when visiting this part of South Miami as a tourist.

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Some international flight connections are funny, so I ended up spending one night in a Washington hotel on my way from San Jose, Costa Rica to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Believe it or not, but the Hilton IAD Airport hotel was a superb choice for the large detour I had to take on this Star Alliance round the world trip. There is a shuttle picking up passengers from the arrival terminals on IAD Washington International Airport every 30 mins for transportation to Herndon, VA, a 15 minute drive. The rooms are very large and well equipped with king-sized beds and spacious bath rooms. The room service is fast with decent food and their internet connectivity leaves nothing to be desired. I had a wonderful night full of sleep. It's pretty quiet. The next day they arranged a private taxi trip for shopping around Washington for just 50 Dollars. It was a great pleasure to stay at this hotel. I enjoyed the great rooms and the good service. Discount Hotel Booking: Hilton Washington Dulles Airport

Two shots from my Hilton hotel room. Unfortunately, US Airways lost my luggage on the flight from San Jose to IAD so I did not have a good camera with me to shoot any better pix.

As the name suggest, this is a budget place for longer stays. However, I used this Florida hotel for a transit stay of one night and it was just fine for that. It's location beside the highway is perfect for a quick drive to Tampa International airport. The rooms are very basic and clean. They do have internet, but during my stay it was not working for most of the time. I would assume it was an unlucky coincidence. The only thing that I really did not like was the positioning of the climate control. It was placed right beside the bed and would blow beside my head. It's not very comfortable at all to have a heater or aircon blow air into your ears, so I left the heater off, to make sure I could get s good nicht sleep. Actually it got a bit cold at night so I had to turn in on and off all night to feel comfy. You may want to ask if they have rooms available that don't have the climate unit right beside the bed. If interested in staying at this place: book online.

Two standard beds with a climate control in between

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What a nice place this Hampton Inn in Largo is. I was initially looking to book a hotel close to the beach, but due to the high season in January they were fully booked or totally overpriced. The Hampton Inn is a 15 minute drive away from Clearwater Beach so still close enough if you are a beach addict. The location is very central for the Tampa Bay area and the rooms are comfy. I had a great big kingsize bed with 5 different pillows, a huge bathroom with very hot water and all amenities you can imagine for a 3 day stay. A lot of parking space was available for my rental car. The only disappointment was the small gym, but hey, it's a comfortable transit hotel and not a luxury place like a Sheraton or Hilton. I will certainly stay again at the Hampton Inn in Largo when I travel back to the Tampa Bay area as I know my way from the International airport and just like this place.

A lot of space around the kingsize bed. It would be suitable for handicapped people.

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