Hotel recommendation at Heathrow

[diannedri]

We're arriving at LHR at 7:30 PM and leave at 10:00AM the next day for Copenhagen to start our Baltic Cruise. Any recommendations for reasonably priced hotel room with 3 beds? Did search on orbitz and found a few but would like personal recommendation! Thanks!

[Globaliser]

Your first research step should be to email all the airport hotels to see which of them has rooms with three beds, and how much they would be. You may find that this cuts out a lot of options straight away.

 

The next thing to consider is the question of which terminals you're flying into and out of. If you are on British Airways and both flights operate to Terminal 4, then the Hilton may be worth paying some extra money. That is the only on-airport hotel at Heathrow, and you can simply walk to it from Terminal 4. Every other airport hotel involves a journey in a taxi or on the Hotel Hoppa bus service. (No hotel shuttles are permitted at Heathrow; you have to use one of those alternatives.)

 

Otherwise, Priceline may well be a solution for you, as you don't really need to care about where you're staying for a few hours so long as you know the quality level that you're getting. Don't forget to do some research on boards such as http://www.biddingfortravel.com (which is not as scary as its reputation if you treat it as a read-only resource). Your main constraint, if you do Priceline, is that you can only rely on getting a room with two beds in it. So you may need two rooms. But if you score rooms at a sufficiently low price, that may still be cheaper than booking directly.

[diannedri]

Thank you so much, Globalister. I think I'll take your recommendation and check out the Hilton as we are flying on British Air.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We stayed at the Jury's Inn Heathrow. I got a good price at londontown.com. It does have access to the Hoppa bus, although we didn't find that out until after we'd paid an outrageous cab fare to get to it.

 

It's the hotel nearest the tube, if you want to go into London for the evening (long trip in, however.)

 

It was quite a reasonable hotel, quiet, clean, and it cost of £59.00.

[diannedri]

Thank you, Wendy! About how much time does it take to get to the hotel from the airport?

[Globaliser]

About how much time does it take to get to the hotel from the airport?

If you're at Terminal 4, the Jury's Inn is less than five minutes' drive. If you're at one of the other three terminals, it's usually between 10 and 20 minutes' drive, depending on the amount of road congestion within the central terminal area and therefore how long it takes you to get out through the tunnels.

 

You want to check which terminals your flights operate to. British Airways' operation is mostly split across Terminal 1 and Terminal 4, with both short-haul and long-haul flights using both. There are also a handful of flights using Terminal 3.

[pcur]

I can personally recommend the Premier Travel Inn on BATH ROAD (there are two, and this is the one closest to Heathrow). I booked it online through expedia, and it was around $130 for the one night.

 

The HOPPA #6 shuttle goes there to/from Heathrow for 4 GBP per person each way.

 

Very impressive lobby with a coffee shop, bar, and large restaurant. Buffet breakfast was 7.5 GBP per person, and it's the traditional English breakfast. You can also grab a bite at Heathrow.

 

Our room was large, very clean, nice bathroom, and no outside noise. However, we did get some floor squeaking from the room above, so don't get room 1004.

 

All in all, it was a good place to stay for the night, and easy to get to/from the airport. The HOPPA runs until 11:30 PM, and just ask the info desk for the location. From the airport it's about 15 - 20 minutes, but the run back was only a few minutes. It's the last pick-up, I guess, going back to the airport.

[kernow]

Try holidayextras.co.uk. We normally drive to Heathrow the day before we fly and nearly always find the best hotel prices on this site. We have stayed in quite a few of the airport hotels and have found them all OK. On this site they often have an unnamed 4 star at a bargain price, you can often guess which hotel it is by reading the discriptions.

 

Julie

[diannedri]

Thanks so much for all your help! (I'm trying to plan for a group of us who are traveling from different locations in the US and on different flights! Some connecting in London and some overnight at LHR and some needing late check-out in CPH) This board is very helpful and I appreciate it.

[English Jane]

I second Kernow's advice. We did this and got the Sheraton Skyline for half the usual price. The hallways are a little shabby but the beds are AMAZING. Two of the most comfortable doubles you will ever sleep in - one separated in a screened area. For me the beds and the bathroom are everything in a sleepover hotel. The location is great too, right near your terminal with easy shuttle access. We only paid £80 for the room and there were 4 of us.

Jane

x

[BurBunny]

Otherwise, Priceline may well be a solution for you, as you don't really need to care about where you're staying for a few hours so long as you know the quality level that you're getting. Don't forget to do some research on boards such as http://www.biddingfortravel.com (which is not as scary as its reputation if you treat it as a read-only resource). Your main constraint, if you do Priceline, is that you can only rely on getting a room with two beds in it. So you may need two rooms. But if you score rooms at a sufficiently low price, that may still be cheaper than booking directly.

 

Careful about Priceline for more than 2 people. They don't even guarantee two beds, they guarantee a room for double occupancy. Many of their hotels won't offer 2 bedded rooms, only one double.

[handfordr]

I'm afraid i disagree completely with the advice given by Globaliser. It is a false economy to use Priceline at Heathrow. Priceline hotels have low rates but that is not the point at Heathrow, where you can spend much, much more than the room rate on the add-ons. The monopoly Heathrow Hoppa service costs 4 GBP per person each way at all mainstream hotels to or from the terminals, an airport hotel basic breakfast can be > $US20 and main meals double that easly with bar drinks exhorbitant prices too. In the more remote hotels there is little option but to use these hotel facilities. Guess what, the low Priceline rate hotels normally are these same remote hotels like the Crowne Plaza where you're likely to pay the over the top prices.

 

Do not go to each hotel directly. There are nearly 30 hotels at Heathrow so its time consuming and unless its the same day you'll normally get a rotten rate. Use a consolidator that has booked blocks of rooms. The main ones like Holiday Extras have contracts with all the hotels at Heathrow and their contracts say that the hotels never undercut them direct, the consolidators are normally much, much cheaper.

 

The smart move is to use one of the consolidators on-line quote facilities. Enter you want a triple room for your dates and you'll get a list of all the Heathrow hotels with triple rooms at consolidatrs prices. In the hotel details, you'll often get example prices of breakfasts etc, so you can see which ones are expensive.

 

Holiday Extras site is at: http://www.holidayextras.co.uk/

 

Hotel rates are extremely volatile. Normally best budget buys are the hotels along the Bath Road, typically the Ibis, Holiday Inn or Premier Travel Inn. Here you have the option of free buses to the central terminals and a choice outside the hotel. There are pubs. Mc Donald's, supermarkets, Italian restaurants ... If you're using T4, the Jury's Inn is worthwhile considering with a direct Underground link direct to T4. If there are 2 or more of you a taxi from the hotel to T4 is cheaper than the expensibe Hoppa Buses.

At weekends prices are about half that of during the week, at this time the swishest 4 /5 star should be below $US175, a budget hotel like the Ibis $US80

[Globaliser]

Priceline hotels have low rates but that is not the point at Heathrow, where you can spend much, much more than the room rate on the add-ons. The monopoly Heathrow Hoppa service costs 4 GBP per person each way at all mainstream hotels to or from the terminals, an airport hotel basic breakfast can be > $US20 and main meals double that easly with bar drinks exhorbitant prices too. In the more remote hotels there is little option but to use these hotel facilities. Guess what, the low Priceline rate hotels normally are these same remote hotels like the Crowne Plaza where you're likely to pay the over the top prices.

...

Hotel rates are extremely volatile. Normally best budget buys are the hotels along the Bath Road, typically the Ibis, Holiday Inn or Premier Travel Inn. Here you have the option of free buses to the central terminals and a choice outside the hotel. There are pubs. Mc Donald's, supermarkets, Italian restaurants ... If you're using T4, the Jury's Inn is worthwhile considering with a direct Underground link direct to T4. If there are 2 or more of you a taxi from the hotel to T4 is cheaper than the expensibe Hoppa Buses.

At weekends prices are about half that of during the week, at this time the swishest 4 /5 star should be below $US175, a budget hotel like the Ibis $US80

FWIW, reported successful Priceline bids for Heathrow hotels this year appear to be in range of USD 60-75 per room for 4* hotels.

 

And holding out the option of the free London Transport buses to some of the hotels on the Bath Road (which are sometimes won on Priceline bidding) is not much use to most cruise passengers, for whom local buses are not a practicable option if travelling with baggage.

 

I know of many frequent travellers who regularly use Priceline for Heathrow airport hotels. I don't expect that they are all mugs - these are business travellers who are flying every week, sometimes more than one trip a week.

 

As I said in my original post, the main issue with Priceline that I can see for the OP is the need for three beds. That may make it a poor option. But I can't see how there are so many necessary extras attached to Priceline-bid hotel rooms at LHR that make them poor value compared to buying consolidator rates, which are still generally much higher than successful Priceline bids for the same type of hotel.

[handfordr]

Globaliser, there is a list of guidance prices for all the Heathrow Hotels consolidator rates at Heathrow at:

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/heathrow_hotels.htm

4 stars like the Sheraton, Marriott and Renaissance are all routinely available at $US100 room only that includes the 17% UK tax unlike Priceline and there are no admin fees.

A Priceline favourite like the Crowne Plaza has a hotel breakfast priced at 17.50 GBP, around $US30 , meals at least double that and drinks about 30-40% above local prices.

What I am saying is that the room rate is not your biggest cost if you stay at the isolated hotels that Priceline tends to contract at Heathrow. Heathrow hotels are not mugs either, Priceline room prices at Heathrow I would suggest are nothing more than 'loss leaders' by hotels with a business model that revolves around low room rates for retail customers who are then gauged for add-ons and the hotel conference trade where all the profit also comes from food and drink mostly going on the expense account.

I have discussed this with many Priceline addicts and the normal response is, "we're not mugs we never use the hotel restauarants or facilities"

Fine, if you are not going to use the facilities in these hotels which cost so much, (I assume 'wise' Priceliners at Heathrow bring sandwiches and a bottle of coke in their luggage and hit McDonald's in the terminals in the morning)then why stay in a 4 star hotel. Stay at a Comfort Inn or Travel Inn/Ibis

 

Its fine in Central London where you can walk out the door and not use hotel facilities, but at Heathrow hotels this is often not the case.

All the streetwise people I know who use Heathrow stay at the Park Inn, Renaissance or Marriott / Radisson Edwardian, or the Travel Inn/Comfort Inn or Ibis if they're on a budget. They may pay more in their initial room rate, but overall they're normally quids in.

[DorneyBoy]

handfordr is probably technically correct about Priceline at Heathrow. The only mugs are those who think they're getting something for nothing and dogmatically use the same purchasing avenue. Priceline UK went out of business a few years ago on the bidding model partly because the locals could see through the bidding prices being offered despite the same inventory as the US model. They've now relaunched with a different business model.

 

Priceline is just one of many options that can be good value at Heathrow, there are so many variables, there is no right answer. Priceline is just another sophisticated marketing tool which at the end of day brings in the same revenues as others. If it didn't. the shareholders of the hotels wouldn't allow corporate reates to the leisure market. Most people havn't got the time to go through all the options whether it be bidding, Marriott points, consolidators etc. If a person thinks they've got a good deal with Priceline and the hotel is happy to, who cares, both are happy.

For a lot of people the planning of a vacation is as exciting as the holiday itself, bidding at Priceline can be an extention of that. The hours you can spend researching are probably more profitably spent doing a couple of hours overtime - but thats not the point.

[Globaliser]

Globaliser, there is a list of guidance prices for all the Heathrow Hotels consolidator rates at Heathrow at:

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/heathrow_hotels.htm

4 stars like the Sheraton, Marriott and Renaissance are all routinely available at $US100 room only that includes the 17% UK tax unlike Priceline and there are no admin fees.

I followed your link and taken a Saturday night a month away (23 June), which is beyond the booking period for most business trips:-

 

Sheraton Heathrow Hotel

Double £58.00 = $114.37

 

Renaissance Hotel

Double £65.00 = $128.20

 

Park Inn-Formerly Le Meridien

Double £82.50 = $162.69

 

Sheraton Skyline

Double £88.00 = $173.51

 

Hilton

Double £116.33 = $228.97

 

Crowne Plaza

Double £123.00 = $242.52

 

These rates also look typical of those obtained by getting a quote beyond the summer period (13 October).

 

So if you score one of the bottom rates on that site, you might be doing better than securing a Priceline win at about $70 + taxes and fees = $90 all in. Otherwise, you have quite a lot of margin for incidentals.

[Globaliser]

Priceline UK went out of business a few years ago on the bidding model partly because the locals could see through the bidding prices being offered despite the same inventory as the US model. They've now relaunched with a different business model.

I wasn't aware that it had gone out of business, although I see that it now redirects bidding to the US site.

 

It doesn't surprise me, though, for reasons which have little to do with people "seeing through" the bidding model. The main problem with Priceline UK was typical rip-off Britain stuff: You had to bid more to get the same hotel via Priceline UK than if you booked through the US site. As it was perfectly possible for UK people to bid and book through the US site, savvy UK Priceline bidders did exactly that.

 

The main difficulty that Priceline has is the reluctance of most travellers (many CC members included) to book opaquely. That limits the growth of the bidding side of the business, hence Priceline has generally expanded the traditional (consolidator) side.

[DorneyBoy]

Going back to the original question of Triples for a leisure trip, I'd recommend the Marriott Slough/Windsor or the Jury's Inn. If there is a child invoved the Premier Travel Inn is also good where the child can sleep on a sofa bed.

 

All in all, all the main hotels are pretty much alike, they do their job effeciently enough but are at the end of the day modern blocks with little atmosphere. The only hotel I'd steer clear of is the Thistle, otherwise just go by price and factor in position. You don't need a 4 star hotel at Heathrow as most of the 3 stars are for an airport hotel stay just as good, unless you want the company of the significant conference trade at the 4 star larger hotels or want the sauna's, swimming pools and spa's and multiple restaurants the 4 stars feel they have to provide.

[cruiser man]

We recently investigated options via Hotwire and were offered a four star hotel by Heathrow Airport in July. We were pleasantly surprised to get the Crowne Plaza for $59 USD. With taxes/fees, the full expense was $72 USD per night. This seems to be considerably cheaper than the rates posted by others.

[handfordr]

As mentioned before the Crowne Plaza breakfast is $US35, meals double that, and drink in line with those. You have to use the Hoppa Bus for terminal transfers $US16 return per transfer per person. The hotel is remote with liitle option but to use the hotel, so transfers for two plus breakfast and meal may well be well over $US200. The room rate can be a small part of overall expenditure.

The Crowne Plaza is a very nice hotel, there is great leisure facilities with pool, spa even a golf course I think, and its really nice.

 

However if you're looking at budgeting, Holiday Inn Ariel, Travel inn, Comfort Inn are available from around $US100 at times, certainly Friday, Saturday and Sundays. These are perfectly adequate for an airport overnight, just don't have the sauna.s and spa facilities and such like. As you have the option of walking out the front door breakfast and meals are typically 50% or more below the Crowne Plaza. If you really want to economise you have the choice of McDonald's, supermarket or pubs.

You also have the choice of using free public transport to the terminals if you don't have much luggage which is more frequent than the $US8 per transfer Hoppa Bus

 

If your rate is Monday thru to Thursday - well done.