The prospect of staying at an airport hotel, with minor exceptions (such as the Kempinski Airport Hotel München), ranks about even with having a tooth pulled for many business travelers. Fortunately, that isn’t always the case.

The Dearborn Inn is the world’s first airport hotel, having opened in 1931. It was the brainchild of Henry Ford, whose airport was located across the street. While Ford Airport closed in 1933, the Inn remained and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, undergoing a complete renovation in 2008.

Given the Inn’s proximity to the Henry Ford Museum as well as the Ford Motor Company’s campus, it’s not surprising that many hotel guests are there to visit one or the other. As it happened, a series of presentations on the future of automotive technology was the reason for my visit.