I almost always take public transit to get to my hotel from the Airport. In fact, I check that out. No point in saving $40 on a badly located hotel, if one has to pay nearly $40 or more to get there. Plus all the other assorted costs of a bad location, which often exceed the price of a better located hotel. My 2¢.
Yup, I will rarely stay near the airport.
Even for one night, I'd rather stay in the center next to restaurants and so on.
Airport hotels feel like ghost towns.
And I also take public transport when I can. As long as I can lift my 45-50 pound suitcase, I will continue to do so.
Last month, I went from North Sydney to the airport for a flight to Melbourne. I would have liked to take one of those shared shuttles but they won't pick up anywhere north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, even though it's just a couple of miles from the CBD.
So I considered Uber but decided to take the train, which required changing at the main station. Only saved about $10-15 I think, but old LBYM habits die hard.
This was on a Sunday morning so the trains weren't too crowded. If it was a weekday, my understanding is that those trains are packed in rush hour so I probably would have used the Uber.
When I arrived in Melbourne, I took a shared shuttle and I think I was like the second or third drop off so it wasn't that much longer than taking a taxi.
A couple of days later, I had to go to pick up a rental car and the Victoria transport site didn't show any trams or buses which would have avoided walking some distance with my suitcases.
So I used an Uber for a 1-2 mile ride, came out to $5. No tipping in Uber in Australia yet. Also used Uber when I returned the car to get to my hotel before flying out.
Used a share shuttle again to get to the airport. I did have to leave for the airport probably an hour or two earlier than I otherwise would have. Uber would have been about $40-45 USD.