Move nearer the airport when it gives you a meaningfully more dependable departure or a worthwhile amount of extra sleep. Keep your city hotel when the early transfer is verified and moving would consume the last evening for little gain.
“Airport hotel” does not settle the question. What matters is the journey from that particular room to your terminal at the hour you need it. The example times below are hypothetical.
Set the terminal arrival target first
Use your airline and airport instructions for the actual flight, including bag-drop and boarding deadlines. Do not work backward from a universal two-hour rule. As one example of why details matter, Edinburgh Airport directs passengers to consider their airline’s check-in opening and notes that times vary by carrier and can change. Edinburgh Airport: Check-in desk times.
Keep three times separate on your plan: when you leave the hotel, when you aim to reach the terminal and the airline’s relevant deadline. A planned arrival time should not simply equal the last moment you are allowed to arrive.
Can the city transfer run at that hour?
Look up the first service on your travel date. If it cannot meet the arrival target, check a prearranged alternative and its complete cost. Include the pickup point, luggage and a realistic buffer for uncertainty.
A route that runs well at noon does not prove an early departure works. If the only viable option remains unconfirmed, a nearby hotel may remove that uncertainty—but only after its own terminal connection is checked.
Does the nearby hotel actually remove the transfer?
Ask whether you can walk to your terminal by an open pedestrian route or need a shuttle. For a shuttle, verify operating hours, frequency, booking requirements and which terminals it serves. Check whether a missed departure creates another long wait.
If the hotel’s answer is vague, calculate with the transfer still unresolved. Being close on a map is not the same as being convenient with bags before dawn.
Compare sleep gained with the evening lost
In a fictional example, the city journey takes 50 minutes plus a 20-minute buffer. The airport-hotel journey takes 15 minutes plus a 10-minute buffer. Moving saves 45 minutes on departure morning.
Now imagine packing, transferring and checking in the night before takes 90 minutes. You are exchanging that evening time and any extra cost for 45 minutes of later departure and possibly less uncertainty. That can be a good trade; it is not automatically one.
Make the booking decision
Choose the airport stay if the verified connection, morning timing and cost justify the move. Keep the city stay if the confirmed transfer is manageable and the final evening matters more. Pack before bed either way, and keep the terminal address and booking details available offline. Recheck the transport plan before the last date when you can change the hotel without a penalty.
Once the last night is settled, use the preflight verification checklist for the other departure details.