Hotel near London Heathrow Airport

fluffernutter

Sun, Jun 19 2016, 12:56 am

I have an overnight stopover in LHR (830 PM - 1030AM) and I am looking into hotels for the night. Any suggestions? I just need a place to sleep with a relatively easy way to get to and from the airport. The cheaper the better.

sushi galore

Sun, Jun 19 2016, 1:13 am

fluffernutter wrote:

Heathrow hotel is right by the airport. Many who come overnite to London stay there. It's nice and clean and no long rides to the city's Heimishe areas

fluffernutter

Sun, Jun 19 2016, 2:41 pm

I searched for Heathrow Hotel but nothing in particular came up. Is that the official name?

Someone told me about Thistle and that looks good - just a lot. And I saw ibis - anyone have any experience or other ideas?

Mrs Bissli

Sun, Jun 19 2016, 3:19 pm

Thistle and ibis are all chains, so fairly uniform standards. I'd say 3.5 stars. Nothing posh but tend to be quite clean and comfortable. (Thistle used to be more like 4 stars but some sites haven't been renovated). For similar ranges, check Premier Inn and Travelodge. Slightly above these are Novotel and Mercure. One of the terminals (can't remember if it was T3 or T5) is directly connected to Yotel where you can book by the hours but very tiny room.

Just google and see the distance from the airport, and check tripadvisor or hotels.co.uk for reviews. Note none of the hotels offer complimentary shuttles. Instead most are served by Hoppa bus where you pay small (used to be like GBP5, but more like GBP8 these days?) one way.

I really cannot think of any hotel that's right by the airport and not a long ride to 'the city's Heimishe areas'.

etky

Sun, Jun 19 2016, 3:29 pm

Years ago we had a short stopover like that and stayed at a hotel that was IIRC connected by a walkway to one of the terminals, I think possibly terminal 4. It was very convenient.
It might have been a Hilton. The windows were soundproofed so we didn't hear too much of the airplane noise.

fluffernutter

Mon, Jun 20 2016, 8:37 am

Maybe I'm doing the math wrong - but the shuttle to the airport is about GBP8? Thats around 12USD, right? That means to get to and from its like $24. That a lot. No? Or are things in England just a lot more expensive?

Mrs Bissli

Mon, Jun 20 2016, 10:16 am

sorry I meant to say £8 for roundtrip per person, so about $12. Just to put things into perspective, the cheapest tube fare within central London is £2.4 (like $3.50). I tell US visitors to treat £1 like $1.

imasoftov

Mon, Jun 20 2016, 10:31 am

fluffernutter wrote:

The Heathrow Airport website has a hotel page, one of the ones mentioned is Heathrow Hotel Bath Road. It also mentioned the Thistle.

This hotel also came up when I typed "Heathrow Hotel" into Google.

I have no experience with airport hotels in London myself.

fluffernutter

Mon, Jun 20 2016, 10:36 am

Ah, ok that changes things! I'm still thinking that it might be cheaper and more comfortable to get a taxi to and from to someone I know. That way, I can refrigerate food and then not have to buy any. I may even be able to get a ride one way.

Is there bad traffic in the mornings? My flight is at 10 so I have to get to the airport at around 7 or 8, right?

Mrs Bissli

Wed, Jun 22 2016, 10:57 am

LHR traffic is quite heavy esp turning off M25 to M4 intersection. Approach roads to terminal 5 also tends to clog up esp 6-7am because of people taking the first flights out. It really depends on how far you're travelling. From NW London, it would take about 1hr without traffic accident, the worse I've done was 1.5hrs when there was a pile up on M40/M25. In any case, do NOT take a black cab unless you want to spend £70+, there are local minicabs that should quote something like £35-40.

If you're landing 8:30pm, by them time you clear the passport control and collect luggage, it would be close to 9:30pm (add a bit more time if you don't have EU/Swiss passport). If indeed you're going to stay at someone in NW London (GG, Hendon, Edgware) you won't get there till after 10pm (traffic at that time at night is not bad, could be about 45min, just ask the driver to avoid Wembley if there's an evening event).

Of course, the alternative is to find a hotel closer to the airport that has a mini fridge.

fluffernutter

Wed, Jun 22 2016, 1:54 pm

Thanks so much for your help Mrs. Bissli. I'm still debating. Waiting to hear back from someone in London that I can stay by but want to make sure its worth it. I feel like I wont sleep at all if I go into London to sleep (by the time I get there, and then leave again) so I should just book a hotel.

Someone has 2 United Club passes that I can use and I'm wondering, if I get to the airport early enough, I can just stop in there and get Kosher food there. I've heard they have. I just have to double check that too! Smile

Worse comes to worse, I'll have to buy a sandwich and just live without protein for a while while I'm traveling.

What is a black cab? I'll probably take one of the frum drivers. My freind has someone that her mother in law uses.