Cr owne Plaza Hotel London Heathrow

[ontheweb]

We are looking for a hotel near Heathrow. Our plan would be to drop off our luggage and then go to London for the day before returning. The next morning we would go back to the airport and use a transfer to Southampton for our Princess cruise.

 

Their website makes it sound easy to get there from the airport (we will be at terminal 5). Is it as easy as it sounds? Also has anyone stayed at this hotel, and if so do you have any comments?

 

Sounds like it has a pool, which DW would very much appreciate. It does not sound like breakfast is included, which would have been nice, but we can live without.

[Cotswold Eagle]

You will get replies suggesting you don’t do this - get a hotel in central London and don’t waste time back and forth from airport to hotel (for example, by the scheduled Hoppa bus service or free local bus) and from airport to central London. This could easily eat several hours of your day. 

 

But to your actual questions, assuming you mean the Crowne Plaza off the airport and not the new one attached to Terminal 4, I have stayed there a couple of times some time ago (I long since gave up staying at Heathrow hotels where you need transport to the airport). It’s fine, from memory, but it’s an airport hotel, so I’d tend to look for best price amongst the many similar hotels. 

 

If you were to use the Hoppa, for T5 you need route H51, which runs every half hour and calls at several other hotels too. Probably 20 minute transfer? It does have a pool, but I can’t comment on it, not having used it! 

[ontheweb]

29 minutes ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

You will get replies suggesting you don’t do this - get a hotel in central London and don’t waste time back and forth from airport to hotel (for example, by the scheduled Hoppa bus service or free local bus) and from airport to central London. This could easily eat several hours of your day. 

 

But to your actual questions, assuming you mean the Crowne Plaza off the airport and not the new one attached to Terminal 4, I have stayed there a couple of times some time ago (I long since gave up staying at Heathrow hotels where you need transport to the airport). It’s fine, from memory, but it’s an airport hotel, so I’d tend to look for best price amongst the many similar hotels. 

 

If you were to use the Hoppa, for T5 you need route H51, which runs every half hour and calls at several other hotels too. Probably 20 minute transfer? It does have a pool, but I can’t comment on it, not having used it! 

The reason why we thought of staying by the airport is to not schlep out luggage from the airport to London.

 

How far is the one off the airport? I was actually looking at the one by T4 as it sounded like there was an easy way to get there from T5.

 

One last question---is there a list of the hotels that the Hoppa bus stops at?

[ontheweb]

I googled Hoppa bus Heathrow and see it stops at the hotels in the Heathrow area.

 

I think I misread your post replying to my original post thinking that bus went to hotels in greater London. My bad misunderstanding, not yours.

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

The reason why we thought of staying by the airport is to not schlep out luggage from the airport to London.

 

How far is the one off the airport? I was actually looking at the one by T4 as it sounded like there was an easy way to get there from T5.

 

One last question---is there a list of the hotels that the Hoppa bus stops at?

 

Oh, OK, to be clear you are talking about the relatively new Crowne Plaza London Heathrow T4, NOT the Crowne Plaza London Heathrow 🙂 (One might think that they could give their hotels better names....) I haven’t stayed at that one, but I am staying at the neighbouring Premier Inn and heading over to T5 for an early flight next month. 

 

That hotel is attached by a covered walkway to T4. Because of the size and layout of Heathrow it’s probably as far away from T5 as the off-airport Crowne Plaza London Heathrow. It’s several minutes walk up the walkway to T4 (as are the Premier Inn and Hilton), then a free local bus round to T5, again about a 20 minute transfer. Details of transfer here.

 

So you will still be wrangling luggage along a walkway and on and off a bus, I’m afraid. 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

 

Oh, OK, to be clear you are talking about the relatively new Crowne Plaza London Heathrow T4, NOT the Crowne Plaza London Heathrow 🙂 (One might think that they could give their hotels better names....) I haven’t stayed at that one, but I am staying at the neighbouring Premier Inn and heading over to T5 for an early flight next month. 

 

That hotel is attached by a covered walkway to T4. Because of the size and layout of Heathrow it’s probably as far away from T5 as the off-airport Crowne Plaza London Heathrow. It’s several minutes walk up the walkway to T4 (as are the Premier Inn and Hilton), then a free local bus round to T5, again about a 20 minute transfer. Details of transfer here.

 

So you will still be wrangling luggage along a walkway and on and off a bus, I’m afraid. 

OK, for the moment I'll take that out of consideration. I thought I read, but can no longer find, that there is a convenient tube to there from T5.

 

I see there is both a Holiday Inn T5 and a Holiday Inn Express T5. Would they be close enough to terminal 5 to not do much luggage schlepping?

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

OK, for the moment I'll take that out of consideration. I thought I read, but can no longer find, that there is a convenient tube to there from T5.

 

I see there is both a Holiday Inn T5 and a Holiday Inn Express T5. Would they be close enough to terminal 5 to not do much luggage schlepping?

 

Yes, you can also take the Tube for free between T4 and T5, but of course there’s getting down to and up from the stations on escalators or elevators. You’ll also need either an Oyster card (London transport card) or a contactless payment card to access the platforms (you won’t be charged). 

 

There are several hotels with T5 in their name as you have discovered. All that means is that they are to the western end of the road system with most Heathrow area hotels on, and therefore closer to T5 - they will still require a Hoppa or bus transfer. The only hotel attached to T5 itself is the rather expensive Sofitel. 

 

If you have not seen it, the London Toolkit has a good section on LHR hotels - https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/heathrow_hotels.htm

 

To be very clear, NO hotel is allowed its own shuttle service to Heathrow (for environmental reasons ostensibly). The only transfers are Hoppa, local bus or taxi/mini cab. 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Cotswold Eagle

[just_dont]

 

To be very clear, NO hotel is allowed its own shuttle service to Heathrow (for environmental reasons ostensibly). The only transfers are Hoppa, local bus or taxi/mini cab. 

"Environmental" reasons... uh huh.

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[Joanne G.]

3 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

The only hotel attached to T5 itself is the rather expensive Sofitel. 

 

To the OP, do check the price of the Sofitel.  The convenience to Terminal 5 from the Sofitel may be worth it to you.  We stayed there the night before our flight home.

 

As it turned out, our outgoing flight left from terminal 2, but we found our way to T2 using the line that became the Heathrow Express after the stop at T2, which we had taken into the city upon arrival.   We found the Heathrow Express to be a great deal - a fast, direct trip into Paddington Station.   Tickets can be purchased online in advance.

 

My point is that if you are arriving at Terminal 5, you could check-in at the convenient Sofitel, drop off your luggage, and be on your way rather quickly on the Heathrow Express into the city.  

 

Have a great trip, whatever plans you make!

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

26 minutes ago, Joanne G. said:

My point is that if you are arriving at Terminal 5, you could check-in at the convenient Sofitel, drop off your luggage, and be on your way rather quickly on the Heathrow Express into the city

This is a good plan, but there is an argument to say if you are doing that and don’t have (a) mountains of luggage or (b) a very early flight, you might as well take the luggage in on the HEX and stay at the Hilton at Paddington station (which in practical terms is a Heathrow hotel if using the HEX). 

Both versions do need more of a budget than the OP’s selection of hotels suggested, but definitely worth pricing up the better convenience. 

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, just_dont said:

 

 

"Environmental" reasons... uh huh.

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Oh, yes, they are all about the environment at Heathrow, you know 🤣🤣

[matamanoa]

When we stayed at a hotel connected to the North terminal in Gatwick, we found that because they were connected to the airport, they would not take our luggage on hold as it is a security risk.  It might be good to ask if the hotel you are considering will actually hold your luggage until you finally check in.

 

Barb

[Joanne G.]

10 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

Both versions do need more of a budget than the OP’s selection of hotels suggested, but definitely worth pricing up the better convenience. 

 

The Sofitel strikes me as a business hotel, which means week day rates are likely to be higher than weekend rates.   We stayed on a Saturday night found the rate acceptable - and we are frugal travelers.   Could be quite different on a week night.

 

Heathrow is MASSIVE!   However, we found the signage to be helpful, and we found our way around without any major problems.  But we had to chuckle when the concierge at the Sofitel suggested we take a cab to Terminal 2.   An airport so big that cabs run between terminals was new to us - and our home airport is big Chicago O'Hare.

 

For my upcoming post-cruise stay, I chose the Hilton Garden Inn, which promotes itself as being inside Terminal 2 with "easy access" to Terminal 3 by a pedestrian underpass, which I expect to be the terminal for my American Airlines flight.  I hope that's actually true.   And I am prepared for that underpass to be looooooong.  

 

 

[ontheweb]

15 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

 

Yes, you can also take the Tube for free between T4 and T5, but of course there’s getting down to and up from the stations on escalators or elevators. You’ll also need either an Oyster card (London transport card) or a contactless payment card to access the platforms (you won’t be charged). 

 

There are several hotels with T5 in their name as you have discovered. All that means is that they are to the western end of the road system with most Heathrow area hotels on, and therefore closer to T5 - they will still require a Hoppa or bus transfer. The only hotel attached to T5 itself is the rather expensive Sofitel. 

 

If you have not seen it, the London Toolkit has a good section on LHR hotels - https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/heathrow_hotels.htm

 

To be very clear, NO hotel is allowed its own shuttle service to Heathrow (for environmental reasons ostensibly). The only transfers are Hoppa, local bus or taxi/mini cab. 

Thanks, I will check out that site.

[Cotswold Eagle]

32 minutes ago, Joanne G. said:

For my upcoming post-cruise stay, I chose the Hilton Garden Inn, which promotes itself as being inside Terminal 2 with "easy access" to Terminal 3 by a pedestrian underpass, which I expect to be the terminal for my American Airlines flight.  I hope that's actually true.   And I am prepared for that underpass to be looooooong

 

They are being a bit creative there - it's certainly not "in" T2 in any usual sense of the word, it's through the car park and a covered walkway, but directly attached. I'd guess 10-15 minutes walk through to T3, but I haven't tested it...

 

There is a new hotel for T3, the Aerotel which opened this month after a very long delay. It is genuinely inside the terminal as I understand it, but is a 'transit' hotel (tiny rooms, charge by the hour etc) rather than a full-service hotel like the Hilton Garden Inn. 

[Joanne G.]

Thank you, Cotswold Eagle, for the info.  Hotels are very good at being creative in their online information!  I will probably test the walk to the terminal the night before my flight, in order not to have any surprises on the morning of departure.   

 

[ontheweb]

DW looked at that list of hotels served by the bus, and seems to like one at terminal 3. I see that there is one Hoppa bus for terminals 4 and 5, and a different one for 1,2, and 3. Is it practical to get to a terminal 3 hotel from terminal 5.

 

I'm beginning to think that we should just find a hotel in London  itself. it does sound like a lot of time will be wasted doing it the way we are now looking at. (At one point, I wanted to go straight to Southampton form Heathrow, but DW said no way.)

[Cotswold Eagle]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

DW looked at that list of hotels served by the bus, and seems to like one at terminal 3. I see that there is one Hoppa bus for terminals 4 and 5, and a different one for 1,2, and 3. Is it practical to get to a terminal 3 hotel from terminal 5.

 

Almost all of the hotels along the Bath Road are served by both T2/3 Hoppas and T5 Hoppas. Which hotel?

 

If you end up with a plan that involves transferring between terminals to catch a Hoppa to get to a particular hotel, think again!! 

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

 

Almost all of the hotels along the Bath Road are served by both T2/3 Hoppas and T5 Hoppas. Which hotel?

 

If you end up with a plan that involves transferring between terminals to catch a Hoppa to get to a particular hotel, think again!! 

That's what I thought. I was the one who originally came up with a hotel by the airport, but I'm beginning to think it is not a good idea. (Actually, I wanted to go from the airport to Southampton, but DW definitely vetoed that idea. 

[ontheweb]

First, thanks to everyone who posted informative information.

 

We booked the Sofitel today for our trip in July. I checked and was told that there would be no problem storing our luggage as long as they knew we were coming. Also the reservation agent requested but made sure I knew she could not guarantee early check in.

 

It was a little more expensive than some other airport hotels, but no extra expense for any trains and the least amount of schlepping our luggage around.. I also called our TA today because he had us getting transfers from London (I think Victoria Station), and had him change the transfers to the airport.

 

And again thanks again to everyone who responded. I learned a lot.