The Airpark is the part of Scottsdale that works for a living: about 2,600 acres of offices, hangars, car dealerships and corporate headquarters around a single runway, with more than 2,500 companies and some 48,000 jobs by the city’s count. Our lexicon entry and the airport and Airpark history explain how a 1942 Army flight school became the city’s job center. This note is the practical part: where to sleep if your week is meetings in the Airpark, or if you’re flying your own airplane, or someone else’s, into Scottsdale Airport.
Locals use the name for the district between Scottsdale Road, the Loop 101, Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard and Hayden Road, with Bell Road through the middle. Perimeter Center is the office park just east of it, off Pima Road and up against the TPC Scottsdale golf courses. Kierland and the Scottsdale Quarter sit just across Scottsdale Road on the west, technically half in Phoenix, and they’re where the Airpark eats dinner.
Distances below are by road to the airport’s administration building on Airport Drive and to Perimeter Center, with off-peak drive times. The runway runs north-northeast through the middle of the district, so a hotel a mile away as the crow flies can be four miles by car.
Beside the runway
- Best Western Plus Scottsdale Thunderbird Suites. The closest bed to the airport: about half a mile, two minutes, on Butherus Drive. All 120 rooms are two-room suites around a courtyard pool, breakfast is free, and pets are welcome. Mid-priced. The default for flight crews and for anyone with an early wheels-up, and before breakfast you can walk to the Thunderbird Field II veterans memorial at the airport entrance, where a Stearman biplane marks the field’s 1942 start.
- Holiday Inn & Suites Scottsdale North–Airpark. On the east side of the runway at the 101 and Raintree Drive. It’s about a mile from the airfield as the crow flies but about 4.4 miles and eleven minutes by road to Airport Drive, and 2.8 miles and seven minutes to Perimeter Center. Its draw is the Raintree Cafe, a real restaurant serving breakfast and dinner, which few Airpark hotels have. Mid-priced; no pets.
Perimeter Center and the TPC edge
The cluster for meetings: three properties within half a mile to three-quarters of a mile of Perimeter Center, two to three minutes by car, and about 3.2 to 3.5 miles and eight to ten minutes from the airport.
- Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains. The full-service business hotel of the district: about 266 two-room suites, around 14,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, and AGAVE’s patio looking across the Champions Course at sunset. The Arabian Horse Show’s lodging directory lists a shuttle within a five-mile radius, which covers the airport, the Airpark offices and WestWorld; confirm it when you book. Parking is paid and there’s a nightly destination fee on top of the rate. Upper-mid-priced.
- Hilton Garden Inn Scottsdale North/Perimeter Center. 122 rooms on Princess Drive, a restaurant and bar, free parking, and rates well below the big hotels next to it. Mid-priced. The sensible pick for a three-day work trip.
- Scottsdale Links Resort. A Hilton Vacation Club timeshare of one- to three-bedroom suites with kitchens and washers beside the Champions Course, about half a mile from Perimeter Center. It’s open to the public by the night, but expect a sales pitch and know the buildings have no elevators.
At Hayden Road and the 101, the Hilton North Scottsdale at Cavasson, opened in 2023, is the new full-service option: 237 rooms, a poolside gastropub, a top-floor terrace facing the McDowells, about 1.6 miles and five minutes to Perimeter Center and 3.8 miles and ten minutes to the airport. Upper-mid-priced. And the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, a little over a mile and four minutes from Perimeter Center and about 3.3 miles from the airport, is where you put the client you’re trying to impress.
The Bell Road cluster
At Scottsdale Road and Bell, on the Airpark’s northwest corner, five brand-name hotels sit within a block of each other, all about 2.1 to 2.6 miles and six to eight minutes from the airport and about the same to Perimeter Center: Residence Inn Scottsdale North (full kitchens, on the Scottsdale side), Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix-Scottsdale and the Sleep Inn, the cheapest of them. The Scottsdale Promenade across the road has a Trader Joe’s for the long stay. A little farther north, the Hyatt House and Hyatt Place are about 3.2 miles and eight minutes from the airport.
The Kierland edge
For the trip where dinner matters as much as the meeting.
- AC Hotel Scottsdale North. 165 rooms, a good bar, Kierland Commons directly across the street, about 1.4 miles and five minutes to the airport. Upper-mid-priced. Our pick for the solo business traveler.
- Westin Kierland. The 735-room resort with 27 holes and a sunset bagpiper, about 1.6 miles from the airport. Book it if the trip includes a family or a golf day; in late January it’s also where Bonhams holds its car-week sale.
- Kasa Scottsdale Quarter and Extended Stay America Select. The long-stay options, a mile or so from the airport. Kasa is furnished apartments with self check-in and no lobby staff; ESA is no-frills studios with a stovetop, a short walk from the Quarter.
Client dinner, sorted by walk: Dominick’s and Mastro’s Ocean Club at the Quarter and Kierland, North Italia and The Mission at Kierland Commons. From Perimeter Center, Toro at the TPC clubhouse and Bourbon Steak at the Princess are five minutes away.
For private flyers
- What it is. Scottsdale Airport (SDL) is a city-owned general-aviation field with one runway, 8,249 feet, and the city ranks it among the busiest single-runway general-aviation airports in the country. The city describes it as having no commercial airline service; if you’re flying commercial, you’re landing at Sky Harbor, about 19 miles and thirty-five minutes southwest. The airport note covers that run.
- Customs. U.S. Customs is on the field, available daily from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM per the city, which makes SDL a practical port of entry for a flight in from Mexico or Canada.
- The runway, this month. The city’s airport page lists Runway 03/21 closed October 24 to 31 for pavement preservation. Check the NOTAMs before you file.
- Event weeks. During Barrett-Jackson (January 23 to 31, 2027) and the WM Phoenix Open (February 8 to 14, 2027) the ramp fills with business jets. Arrange parking with your FBO early, and book the hotel before that.
- Crew rest. The Best Western on Butherus is two minutes from the field and has two-room suites; the AC and the Hilton Garden Inn are the quiet, mid-priced alternatives within ten minutes.
Shuttles
The only hotel shuttle we found for the Airpark is the Marriott at McDowell Mountains’ five-mile radius service, listed by the Arabian Horse Show and worth confirming. Otherwise, plan on a rental car or rideshare. The Airpark is built for cars: the blocks are long, the office parks are spread out, and in summer a half-mile walk between buildings at 2:00 PM is not a plan.
What it costs, and when
- January through March is high season for the whole city, and the Airpark gets three event surcharges on top: Barrett-Jackson at nearby WestWorld in late January, the Phoenix Open at TPC in early February, and spring training in March. The Perimeter Center hotels, a short drive from both WestWorld and TPC, book out earliest those weeks.
- April, May, October and November are shoulder season, and for a work trip the sweet spot.
- June through September is the cheap stretch for every hotel here, and the resorts on this list, the Westin and the Princess, are where summer rates get interesting. The summer playbook has the fine print, including the resort fees that don’t drop.
By tier: the Sleep Inn and Extended Stay America are the budget end; the Best Western, Holiday Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Bell Road brands, Hyatts and Kasa are mid-priced; the Marriott at McDowell Mountains, Hilton North, AC and Westin are upper-mid; the Princess is the top.
Who each suits
- Flight crew or an early departure: the Best Western Thunderbird Suites.
- A conference or a week of client meetings: the Marriott at McDowell Mountains or the Hilton North at Cavasson.
- Three days of meetings on a budget: the Hilton Garden Inn at Perimeter Center.
- A month-long project: the Residence Inn, Hyatt House or Kasa, for a kitchen.
- The trip where the dinner is the meeting: the AC, walking to Kierland Commons.
- The client who flew in on their own jet: the Princess.
One rule of the road
The Airpark empties onto the same four roads, Scottsdale Road, Frank Lloyd Wright, Hayden and the 101, every weekday at 5:00 PM. Schedule the last meeting near your hotel, or wait it out over a drink and drive at 6:15.