First night in Palau?

I am in the planning stages for a trip to Palau in February and in checking arrival time in Palau from Manila have discovered that the flight arrives at 1:50 am. Even with anticipating a fairly quick trip through the arrival procedure, I figure it will be 3 am or later before checking into a hotel. I am wondering if it is possible to hang at the airport (or elsewhere) and check into a hotel in the morning? If anyone can give me some insight into what the airport at Koror is like, it would be much appreciated! Or should we just say 'hang the expense' and book into a room for the first night?

It's very small. There are some plastic bucket style benches to sit on outside and the same in the air conditioned inside. I'm sure they lock the place up after the flight. It's sort of in the middle of nowhere though not too far from town. Go here and insert Palau in the search box for pictures of the airport.

Definately get a room. Compared to French Polynesia the hotel prices in Palau are downright cheap.

I found the cheapest single room at the Palau Marine Club and they have twins for $45 per night (AC, fridge but shared bathroom). (Scroll down to the bottom of the Web page.) I highly recommend it. You are on the water, there is a great sitting area outside with free water and coffee all day and you are away from the traffic and construction of downtown Koror.

It would be like sitting at a bench in rural America at a crossroads miles from town--at 2 am.

A lot of flights come and go during the middle of the night in Palau. The airport has a couple of cafes, but they probably won't be open. Most hotels have a shuttle or taxi service to get you to or from the airport. The town of Koror is about 30 minutes from the ariport. I'd go ahead and check-in when I get there. If you're trying to save the money, you'll probably have to wait until after 12 pm (the usual check-in time).

Thanks for the replies. I thought booking a hotel was probably the best idea but we were planning on spending a couple of nights at the Carolines Resort first so we could take advantage of their privileges at the Pacific Palau Resort and get acclimated before moving to cheaper accommodation. I'll look into booking at the Palau Marine Club for the first night before moving on to The Carolines Resort.