YotelAir Istanbul, Turkey — A Hotel Inside Security and Passport Control!
I have stayed at plenty of in-airport hotels over the years, but they are always outside of security. In Orlando, Chicago, Denver, Zurich, Frankfurt, etc. some hotels are within walking distance from security at the airport. However, in all those cases one has to leave the airport's secure area (and if you just transiting the country, you have to clear immigration and customs) just to get to the hotel and back. In this case, I arrived from the US and walked straight to the hotel with no security check at all, then the next morning, I walked straight to the lounge, and then to the plane. It was completely seamless, and no security check was needed when transiting to an EU country.
After my very long 14-hour+ flight (including 2 hours on the ground in Houston for repairs), it was great to have a place to get a shower and sleep comfortably for the night. We landed in late afternoon Istanbul time, so after checking into my room, I headed back out to explore a bit and grab dinner. I opted for the sushi restaurant right across from the hotel. Not awesome, but not bad either.
