Fort Lauderdale Hotels with Shuttle Service
While researching for a place to stay prior to a future cruise, I decided to share the information as I was collecting it. I will post a detailed review of the hotel I book later in the year.
This is going to be my first time to Fort Lauderdale so I’m going into this fresh. That’s the nice way of saying I know nothing about this.
As you may already know my preferred way to book hotels is through Hotwire.com. I have been booking with them for years and have saved thousands of dollars.
To get these hotels I am performing a Hotwire.com search for the Saturday night before my cruise, selecting the five closest areas to the Fort Lauderdale Airport, filtering out hotels that don’t include airport transportation, and sorting by price low to high.
I first did this a month ago. Since then I’ve updated the prices and noted any significant changes.
In a perfect world one of the lowest priced hotels would be the one for me. That isn’t usually the case. As usual the top of the list here is littered with hotels I won’t even consider.
In general, I don’t consider Days Inn, Red Carpet, Rodeway, Extended Stay or anything with a number in the name. I will stay away from brands I haven’t heard of unless they have extremely good reviews. I’ll also eliminate any properties with a rating below 3-stars on Trip Advisor. If a property has a rating of 3-3.5 stars, I will do further research on it. 4-stars and up are usually good but I will take a look at a few recent reviews just to make sure.
Just because I don’t doesn’t mean you won’t, so I’m going to cover some of the cheaper options that I personally won’t consider.
Days Inn Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port
$55 hot rate or $98 standard rate. This one offers free breakfast and a free shuttle to/from the airport. It has a 2-star Hotwire.com rating and a 2.5 star Trip Advisor rating. It’s a low rated Days Inn that doesn’t look like it’s had a makeover since the early 90’s. I’ll sleep in the airport before I’ll sleep here.
Red Carpet Inn Airport/Cruise Port
Over the course of the past month, the $82 hot rate for this hotel has dropped to $52 while the standard rate has held steady at $118. The Red Carpet offers a free airport shuttle and has ratings of 2 and 2.5 stars on Hotwire.com and Trip Advisor.
The pictures remind me of the hotel in National Lampoon’s Vacation. Unless there’s a young, nude, Christie Brinkley in the pool, I’m not going to be staying there.
Super 8 Dania/Fort Lauderdale
$88 hot rate or $101 standard. The Super 8 offers a free breakfast and an airport shuttle. It has ratings of 2 stars on Hotwire.com and 3.5 stars on Trip Advisor.
If I were in a bind I may dig a little deeper on this one due to the 3.5 stars on Trip Advisor. But I’m not in a bind and it breaks my rule of no hotels with a number in the name. Actually I did just take a quick peek at the first page on Trip Advisor and the 5 most recent reviews were two 1-star, two 2-star, and one 4-star. The recent bad reviews would scare me off of this one.
Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort Hotel & Suites
$109 standard rate and no hot rate. This one offers a free breakfast and airport shuttle. It has a 3-star rating on Hotwire.com and a 2.5 star rating on Trip Advisor. That Trip Advisor rating is too low. Looking at the pictures of the pool area reminds me of the apartment complex from the Karate Kid.
The Link Hotel
The standard rate here has dropped from $102 to $88 and a $61 hot rate has recently been added. The Link offers a free breakfast and an airport shuttle. It has a 3-star rating on both Hotwire.com and Trip Advisor but it breaks my rule of a hotel I’ve never heard of.
Now I’m going to get into a couple of hotels that I normally wouldn’t consider based on brand. In this case I looked a little deeper due to decent ratings and the fact that they seem to be popular cruise hotels.
Ramada Fort Lauderdale Airport/Cruise Port
The Ramada hot rate has risen from $112 to $118 while the standard rate has increased from $127 to $130. It has a 2.5 star Hotwire.com rating and a 3-star Trip Advisor rating. The Ramada offers a free breakfast and a shuttle between the airport, cruise port, and the convention center.
I read the 25-30 most recent reviews on this hotel. Surprisingly only two of them were below 3-stars. The big selling point seems to be the free shuttle with the breakfast being a nice bonus.
It’s not surprising that the main picture for this hotel on both Hotwire and Trip Advisor is of the Tiki bar by the pool. They have a cool looking Tiki bar that I would want to have a couple drinks at. The exterior of the hotel looks old and run down. From the reviews it seems like it’s the luck of the draw as to whether you get an old, outdated room or a recently remodeled room.
The price point for this hotel isn’t far off from some nicer hotels I’m going to look at.
Rodeway Inn & Suites Airport/Cruise Port
$90 hot rate or $185 standard rate. The Rodeway has a 3-star rating on Hotwire and a 3.5 star rating on Trip Advisor. They offer a free breakfast and shuttle to and from the airport and cruise port.
I have never considered booking a Rodeway in my life. This one had me thinking. The $90 hot rate, 3.5 star Trip Advisor rating, free breakfast, airport/cruise port shuttle all sounds good. Then you add in a pretty nice looking sports bar and the fact that I’m going to be there on a Saturday during football season. That almost clinched it. But I decided to look deeper into the reviews.
The shuttle service gets high marks. The rooms– Not so much. It seems there may be some hidden fees associated with this hotel. I keep reading about a $6 resort fee and a $20 or $30 early check-in fee. On top of that I see some pretty unprofessional responses from management to negative comments on Trip Advisor. I’ve read a lot of management responses on Trip Advisor over the years and I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t want any part of that and wouldn’t consider this hotel.
Now we’re getting into the hotels I will actually consider booking.
Courtyard Marriott Fort Lauderdale Plantation
$90 hot rate or $125 standard rate. This Courtyard has a 2.5 star rating on Hotwire.com and a 4-star rating on Trip Advisor. It offers a free airport shuttle but requires a reservation.
When I first started drafting up this article last month, there was no hot rate for this hotel. Now it has a pretty good price so I decided to dig deeper. I found the surrounding area to be very attractive for someone arriving on a Saturday during football season. There are three sports bars not far from the hotel. There’s shopping mall, about a dozen restaurants, a dollar tree, and a wine store all within walking distance of this hotel.
The Courtyard in Plantation has taken the lead for me. My only reservation (no pun intended) is they shutdown the airport shuttle at 10:30pm. I haven’t booked my flight yet so I would like to make sure I’m going to be able to get on an early flight before I book this hotel.
Cambria Hotel & Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport South
$124 hot rate or $179 standard rate. Cambria has a 3-star rating on Hotwire.com and a 4.5 star rating on Trip Advisor. They offer free airport transportation from 5am until midnight and a $10 per person cruise port shuttle that runs from 9am until 2pm.
This is another hotel I am seriously considering. It’s a little closer to the airport and cruise port than the Courtyard I’m looking at. The area around it isn’t as attractive with no sports bars and not nearly as many shopping and restaurant options as the Courtyard has. It looks like you have to cross over or under I-95 to get to the nearby strip mall. Their shuttle runs until midnight. In the event I have a later flight, this would likely be my hotel choice. If I’m checking in late at night I won’t need the shopping or restaurants anyway.
Quality Inn Airport / Cruise Port South
The Quality Inn’s hot rate has increased from $127 to $135 over the past month. The standard rate has remained at $169. It has a 2.5 star rating on Hotwire.com and a 3-star rating on Trip advisor. They offer a free breakfast, free shuttle from the airport 5am-midnight, and a free transfer to the cruise port. Transportation back from the cruise port is $8.
Comfort Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport South & Cruise Port
After only appearing in two night searches last month, the Comfort Suites has jumped into the single night mix with a $142 hot rate and a $179 standard rate. It has a 3-star rating on Hotwire.com and a 4.5 star rating on Trip Advisor.
The Comfort Suites offers free airport transportation, free breakfast, and a port shuttle for a $10 fee.
Crowne Plaza Fort Lauderdale Airport/Cruise Port
The Crowne Plaza hot rate has increased from $136 to $164 over the past month. The standard rate is now listed at $207. The Crown Plaza has a 3.5 star Hotwire.com rating, a 4-star Trip Advisor rating, and includes an airport shuttle.
Hyatt House Fort Lauderdale Airport South
The $139 hot rate has disappered and the standard rate has increased from $161 to $175 over the past month. The Hyatt House has a 3-star Hotwire.com rating, a 4.5 star Trip Advisor rating, and offers airport shuttle service.
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Fort Lauderdale Air/Sea Port
The Holiday Inn Express $140 hot rate has disappeared but the $176 standard rate has remained steady over the past month. This Holiday Inn Express is a 2.5 star hotel on Hotwire.com but has a 4-star rating on Trip Advisor. They offer a free breakfast and airport/convention center shuttle.
Tryp Fort Lauderdale Maritime Hotel
The Tryp Maritime Hotel has a $143 hot rate and a $159 standard rate. It has a 4-star rating on both Hotwire.com and Trip Advisor. They offer airport and area (2miles) shuttles. This hotel appears to be five miles from the port so I don’t believe the two mile area shuttle will cover a tryp (pun intended) to the port.
Conclusion
I believe I have narrowed my search down to the Courtyard in Plantation and the Cambria Airport South.
Both include an airport shuttle but the Courtyard shuts their shuttle service down at 10:30pm while the Cambria runs their shuttle until midnight. I’m hoping to come in early enough to watch football games. The Courtyard has three sports bars nearby where the Cambria doesn’t have any.
The Cambria offers shuttle service to the port for a $10 fee. If I go with the Courtyard I’ll have to catch an Uber/Lyft. A Saturday afternoon price check reveals a $16 price for both services.
I won’t book a hotel until I book my flight but I’m hoping to book the Courtyard in Plantation. I love the location. Even with the Uber/Lyft it looks like I would save about $45 staying there versus staying at the Cambria and taking the port shuttle.
