Last Updated on December 27, 2020 by Greg Bessoni
Finding parking at the airport can be stressful and expensive. Even if you search through the best deals on ParkingAccess, this may not always be the easiest option when you have an early flight to catch or need to drive a long distance. We’ve discovered a potential solution – free parking near the airport for the duration of your trip when you book a room for a night.
There are a few park and fly companies on the market including ParkSleepFly, ParkSleepHotels, ParkSleepFlyHotels, and others. However, you can also go directly through the hotels for better deals and avoid the middleman. Read on to learn more about the service, how it compares with regular airport parking facilities, where to find the best deals, and what reviews say about these services.
How Does It Work?
Park Sleep Fly package deals allow you to stay at the hotel the night before or after your trip, then leave your car there for the duration of your trip (at no extra cost). One of their free shuttle buses will pick you up and take you on a quick ride to the airport. We’ve shared deals in Denver, Chicago, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, and many more below.
This stress-free option can be a great saving compared to airport parking lots that can cost upwards of $30 per day. Plus, you get the bonus of a hotel night stay near the airport to avoid traffic and other potential inconveniences. Although hotels typically have a 15-day limit, you can find options for long term parking as well.
Park and stay is an excellent option for people who are located far from the airport they’re flying out of, have early flights, or simply want to save money on airport parking. You won’t have to stress in the morning about finding a spot in an airport parking lot and catching your flight on time. Just take the free shuttle service from your hotel!
The hotel parking prices are generally pretty good, but some locations are too high (such as Los Angeles). When booking, you typically pay a small deposit and pay the rest at the hotel.
Overall, this service is the best choice for people with long term parking needs rather than short-term parking. If you need to park for just a couple of days, it won’t be the best deal and you should look into other airport parking options.
Park and fly deals are most popular, but these companies also typically offer the same service for cruise ports.
Pricing + Package Examples
Although these are subject to change, here are a few examples from ParkSleepFly:
Buffalo Airport (BUF)
- 1 night stay & 8 days of parking in December at Days Hotel – $87 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in December at Millenium Hotel – $65 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Ramada Portland Airport– $149 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Howard Johnson Portland Airport – $169 (plus taxes)
Seattle (SEA)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Days Inn South Tukwila – $155 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Seattle Airport Value Inn – $156 (plus taxes)
San Francisco (SFO)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Red Roof Inn – $279 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at El Rancho Inn – $355 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Travelodge San Francisco Airport North – $369 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Quality Inn St. Louis Airport – $146 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Holiday Inn Express – $159 (plus taxes)
- 1 night stay & 15 days of parking in January at Marriott St. Louis Airport – $250 (plus taxes)
More Details
Total prices for these park and fly hotels don’t typically change when shortening or extending stay length. However, most hotels placed limits on days you could park (usually 15 days, but some offer longer stays for an extra cost). There are even monthly parking options. Depending on the location, many of these deals are fairly cheap. We checked these online reservation deals on Park Sleep Fly, but we’d also recommend checking directly with the hotels because you can often find better deals.
Los Angeles (LAX) is one location that was spendy at around $500 – probably not worth it. San Francisco was a little spendy as well and Oakland airport was a little cheaper, but there was only one option. There weren’t many options in most areas either, so perhaps prices will come down once more hotels take part in the program.
Additionally, this service may not be a good deal is when you’re taking a trip that lasts only a couple of days. The packages usually cost the same no matter how long you will need to park (unless it’s a super long stay at over two weeks). While $80 is a great deal for 15 days of parking fees, it’s not ideal for just 2 days.
How Does Park Stay Fly Compare to Regular Airport Parking?
These airport hotel packages are often a better deal (depending on the location). For example, a parking spot near the STL airport at a non-hotel lot costs a $10 to $25 daily rate. Say the cheapest available option is $15 daily parking – this comes to $225 total for 15 days.
Instead, you could purchase the Quality Inn hotel package listed on ParkSleepFly for $146 and get a hotel stay included with an airport shuttle. This is a fantastic savings that has even more benefits. Or, you can save $55 more on this example by going directly through the airport hotels’ website (see below for more details).
Booking Options
There are a few different travel websites that allow you to book park and fly deals. Most of these are pretty similar, but ParkSleepFly is the biggest at the moment. They have served thousands of customers and have great reviews on TrustPilot. However, there have been reports of parking reservations being unavailable or costing extra once they arrived to the hotel.
Features
- Hundreds of partner hotels available
- Up to 14 days of free parking
- Options for parking needs longer than 14 days (for an extra cost)
- Not many bad ParkSleepFly reviews
- Cancel for free within 24 hours of booking
- Some first-time deals in their email newsletters
- Cruise port parking options available
- Amenities listed (breakfast, elevators, electric vehicle charging, valet, etc.)
Booking Through Hotels
There seem to be a vast amount of new companies and websites popping up that offer this service, but we’d stick with the top companies that you can trust or simply hotels themselves. Anyone can make a website and take your credit card information. Make sure to check directly with the hotel – you can almost always find the best rate here! Many airport hotels offer free parking for a certain number of days.
For example, the Quality Inn St. Louis Airport deal on ParkSleepFly was $146 (plus taxes, which were about $30). This comes to $176.
On the Quality Inn website, they advertise a 1 night stay for $73 that includes 7 days of free parking. After this, parking is $6 per night. This adds up to $121 for 15 days of parking and a 1 night hotel stay – $55 cheaper than the ParkSleepFly website quoted.
Most of the time, the hotel websites will have the best rates that you can book online.
Bottom Line
Most cities offer great hotel park and fly deals, plus there are even some options for nicer rooms and amenities (such as a breakfast buffet). This convenient parking and hotel stay can be a relaxing prefix to your trip before leaving for the airport. If you find a deal that is even slightly cheaper than regular airport parking, you should try it out! Waking up in your hotel room then hopping on a quick shuttle bus to the airport is such a breeze compared with taking a long drive to the airport, facing potential traffic, and finding a parking space before your flight.
