The catch at TWA Hotel
Five things stand between the terminal in the photographs and the night you book. The building is everything it looks like; the catches are the address, the extras on the bill, the clock on the last morning, what the room leaves out, and the crowds who come to see the same building you are sleeping beside.
On our shortlists
It is an airport hotel, and Midtown is the best part of an hour away
The hotel stands inside JFK, in front of JetBlue's Terminal 5, and nothing outside the airport is within walking distance. Into Manhattan, the AirTrain to Jamaica costs $8.75, and the whole trip takes about 50 minutes to Penn Station on the E train, $11.75 in all, or about 30 on the Long Island Rail Road, $14 off-peak and $16 at peak. A yellow cab is a $70 flat fare to Manhattan before surcharges, tolls and tip, and with a $19 billion rebuild of the airport under way the Port Authority warns drivers of detours and closures and tells travellers to take the train. A day in the city from here starts and ends with close to two hours on the move.
What to do. Book it for the night you land or the night before you fly, and spend the nights in between in Manhattan or Brooklyn. If you have one night in New York and want the city, this is not the place to spend it.
The rate is not the bill: a nightly fee and a 3% charge go on top
Every room carries a facility fee of $19.83 a night plus tax. It pays for the Wi-Fi, unlimited local and international calls on the rotary phone, the 24-hour gym and luggage storage, so it buys something, but it is not optional. A further 3%, a Port Authority concession surcharge, is charged on the room rate, and New York's hotel taxes come on top, so the bill comes to close to 30% more than the rate. Summer adds more: from 1 May to 1 November the rooftop pool needs a reservation, and outside the free swim from 7am to 10:45am a guest pays a cover from $25 an adult and $10 a child aged 5 to 12. Valet parking is $80 a night.
What to do. Compare it on the all-in price, fee and taxes included, before you weigh it against a hotel in town. In summer, swim before 10:45am, when the pool costs a guest nothing; from November to April it is free all day.
Check-out is 11am, and keeping the room for an evening flight costs up to $150
Check-in is 4pm and check-out 11am, which is awkward at a hotel built around flights. Getting into the room early costs $75 from 8am or $25 from noon; staying late costs $50 for 2pm, rising $25 an hour to $150 for 6pm, and neither is guaranteed. On the day of an evening departure the last morning is where the bill grows. Two things soften it. The hotel holds bags for up to five hours after check-out at no charge, and the lobby, the museum displays, the Sunken Lounge and the Food Hall are open to anyone, so handing back the key does not mean leaving the building.
What to do. Ask for the time when you book rather than at the desk, since both depend on availability. A $50 checkout at 2pm plus the free five-hour bag hold covers you until 7pm for a third of the price of keeping the room until 6pm.
There is no room service, and the rooms keep the extras to a minimum
Room service is not offered. Food comes from the Food Hall downstairs, where Vinny's Panini and the TWA Corner Store never close, or from a delivery driver you have to meet at the door yourself, for the safety of other guests. The rooms are dressed for the period rather than stocked for a long stay: Knoll furniture, a terrazzo bathroom with a Hollywood vanity, a rotary phone and a hidden safe. Guests raise, again and again, that there is no coffee machine and that the fridge comes empty, and the ice machines are on one floor in each wing. Breakfast is not part of the standard rate.
What to do. Joe Coffee by the check-in desks opens at 5am, and the Corner Store sells water, fruit and snacks at any hour. Buy what you want for the room on the way up.
The terminal is a public building, busy into the night, and its bars close now and then for private events
The lobby, the museum displays, the Sunken Lounge, Connie and the Paris Café are all open to people who are not staying, non-guests can pay from $50 to use the pool, and 50,000 square feet of event space holds up to 1,600 people, so the Flight Center is busy with visitors and parties well into the evening. The lower seating of the Sunken Lounge closes now and then for private events while the upper bar stays open, Connie closes for events on some nights, and the roof shuts for the odd private evening too. Guests also raise worn carpets in the corridors and front-desk service that is uneven when the building is busy.
What to do. Before you plan your one evening around the Sunken Lounge or Connie, check the closure dates listed on each venue's own page, and reserve Connie for the evening.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants to walk out of the door into the city, because nothing outside the airport is within reach on foot and Midtown is 50 minutes away. Anyone who expects room service, a coffee machine in the room or a slow morning before an 11am check-out. Families of five or more in one room, since rooms take four at most and there are no rollaway beds. And anyone on a late flight who has not priced the late checkout.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone with a first night after a long flight or a last night before one. It is the only hotel inside JFK, joined to Terminal 5 by Saarinen's flight tubes and four minutes' walk from the AirTrain, and the evening is the point: a drink in the Sunken Lounge under the split-flap board, another aboard Connie, and from November to April a free swim in the heated pool on the roof, looking out to runway 4L/22R. On a January weeknight that starts at about $225. Book one night, and spend it in the building.
The catch elsewhere in New York
- The PlazaMidtown
The entry rooms do not face Central Park or Fifth Avenue. The Plaza King and Deluxe rooms look over the inner courtyard or 58th Street, and in January the Carnegie suites, with a partial park view, and the Pulitzer suites, over Fifth Avenue, cost more than $1,000 a night above them.
- The Carlyle, A Rosewood HotelUpper East Side
The entry Superior Room is 360 sq ft (33 m²), faces the courtyard and has a rain shower but no bath, and even in January it costs about $1,300 a night before tax.
- The Fifth Avenue HotelNoMad
The 1907 building holds only suites, from about $2,065 a night in January. Every standard room is in the 2023 tower.
- The Beekman, A Thompson HotelFinancial District
Laissez Faire, the club in the cellar, plays until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, and The Bar Room serves until 1am, so low floors hear the weekend.
- 1 Hotel Brooklyn BridgeDUMBO, Brooklyn
A $45 nightly amenity fee plus tax is added to every room at check-in, covering the house car, the classes and the pool whether you use them or not.
- The William ValeWilliamsburg, Brooklyn
The entry King with Balcony is sold on neighbourhood views. The Manhattan skyline is promised only in categories with Manhattan View in the name and in the penthouse Vale Garden Residence.
- Nine OrchardLower East Side
The cheapest rooms are small: the Studio Queen is 230 sq ft (21 m²) with little storage, and the Nook is sold below it without a published size.
- Hotel ChelseaChelsea
The Petite Chelsea, the entry room, is about 200 sq ft (19 m²), with a queen bed, a limited view and a place on the lower floors.
- citizenM New York BoweryLower East Side
Every room is about 150 sq ft (14 m²): the bed meets the walls on three sides, and the shower is a glass pod in the room itself.
Questions people ask
Good questions about TWA Hotel
What are the downsides of TWA Hotel?
Five things stand between the terminal in the photographs and the night you book. The building is everything it looks like; the catches are the address, the extras on the bill, the clock on the last morning, what the room leaves out, and the crowds who come to see the same building you are sleeping beside. It is an airport hotel, and Midtown is the best part of an hour away The rate is not the bill: a nightly fee and a 3% charge go on top Check-out is 11am, and keeping the room for an evening flight costs up to $150 There is no room service, and the rooms keep the extras to a minimum The terminal is a public building, busy into the night, and its bars close now and then for private events
Who should not book TWA Hotel?
Anyone who wants to walk out of the door into the city, because nothing outside the airport is within reach on foot and Midtown is 50 minutes away. Anyone who expects room service, a coffee machine in the room or a slow morning before an 11am check-out. Families of five or more in one room, since rooms take four at most and there are no rollaway beds. And anyone on a late flight who has not priced the late checkout.
Our verdict
Book it for the night you land or the night before you fly, and spend it in the Sunken Lounge, aboard Connie and in the rooftop pool facing the runway. Base yourself in the city for everything in between.
Last checked: October 2026