On this page (5 sections)
Where it is, and the shuttle
The Novotel sits off-airport, a few minutes' drive from the terminal, so like the Premier Inn and the Holiday Inn Express it is a shuttle hotel rather than a walk-to one. The difference is the tier: this is a 4-star, so the room and the public areas are a step up from the budget pair, but you still ride a bus to the terminal, a roughly 6-minute trip.
Two details on the shuttle matter. First, the hours: it runs between 04:00 and 01:00, every 30 minutes, so there is an overnight gap and a 02:00 or 03:00 start means a taxi instead. Second, the fare: it is not free, but it has recently been cut to around £2 to £3 per adult each way, with children reduced or free, though some listings still quote up to £4. You pay at reception or to the driver. If you would rather not deal with a shuttle at all, the walk-to Radisson Blu and Hampton by Hilton are the alternatives. The Stansted hotels hub sets out which hotels walk and which ride.
A 4-star room, and the pool that closed
This is where the Novotel earns its place. It was fully refurbished in 2017 and has 250 modern rooms, with spacious standards, executive rooms that add Nespresso machines and bathrobes, and family rooms with connecting options so a group can stay together. There is a restaurant and bar, a garden terrace, and a 24-hour fitness room. For comfort and space it is clearly ahead of the budget shuttle hotels.
One honest warning, because it catches people out: the swimming pool closed in 2017. Plenty of third-party booking sites still show a pool and sauna in the Novotel's listing, and guests have turned up expecting a swim and been disappointed. The airport's own page does not list a pool, which tells you the same thing. So if a pool is the reason you are choosing this hotel, it is not here; the fitness room and garden terrace are what you actually get. Always sense-check facilities like this against the hotel direct rather than an aggregator's stock listing.
Breakfast from 04:00, and family rooms
Breakfast is a strong point for an early flight. The buffet is available from 04:00, which matches the early Stansted departures, so you can eat before the shuttle on a dawn start. That early opening matches the Holiday Inn Express and beats the Premier Inn, whose breakfast does not open until 06:30. The restaurant and bar also run through the day for an evening meal if you arrive the night before.
The Novotel is also the most family-friendly of the Stansted hotels. The family rooms and connecting-room options mean a group can stay in one place, the rooms are roomy by airport-hotel standards, and the brand's children's pricing is generous. With the shuttle right outside the door, it is a manageable base for travelling with children, as long as you have factored in the per-adult shuttle fares both ways. The early-morning timing on the other side of security is on the departures page.
What it costs, and parking
Rooms start from around £80 a night and move with the date. As a 4-star the Novotel usually sits above the budget shuttle hotels, but on a quiet night the gap can be small, so it is worth checking both before you decide the 4-star is out of reach.
If you are driving and leaving the car, the park-stay-fly bundle is the one to price: the airport quotes hotel-plus-parking deals from around £76 for the room plus a week's airport parking, which usually beats paying for a hotel and a car park separately. The hotels with parking page compares the room-and-parking deals across the hotels, and the park, stay and fly page explains how the bundle works and which car park your car ends up in.
Is it worth it?
The Novotel is worth it when comfort or a family room matters more than the rock-bottom price, and when the room rate on your night is close to the budget hotels. You get a genuine 4-star, spacious and family-friendly, with breakfast from 04:00, which is a real upgrade on the plainer Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express for not always much more. Travelling as a family, it is probably the pick of the shuttle hotels.
Skip it in two cases. If the lowest possible room price is the goal, a budget shuttle hotel undercuts it. And if you want to walk to the terminal rather than wait for a bus, especially for a very early flight, the walk-to Radisson Blu or Hampton by Hilton are the better answer, with no shuttle fare and no overnight gap. Whatever you do, do not book the Novotel for the pool, because it closed in 2017. The hotels hub lays every option side by side.