If you’re looking for an airport hotel to stay at the night before a flight from Heathrow, it’s well worth putting the four star London Heathrow Marriott Hotel on your list.
With so many hotels to choose from around Heathrow, finding the right one for a family can be difficult. We stayed at the London Heathrow Marriott Hotel on Bath Road before a flight to Los Angeles, so if you’re looking for a family-friendly Heathrow hotel to make the start of your holiday a little easier, here are five reasons it has become one of our favourites.
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It takes the stress out of an early flight
This is really the whole point of booking somewhere the night before. Rather than getting everyone up in the dark and driving to Heathrow on the morning of the flight, we did the long drive down the M4 the day before, checked in and let the holiday start a day early.
Check-in was quick and efficient, which mattered after a long drive and within minutes we had our keys and were settled into our room. By the time we actually needed to be at the airport the next morning, all the stressful bits were already out of the way.
For a family, that extra night makes a surprisingly big difference. Instead of worrying about traffic, parking and whether everyone will be awake enough for an early start, you can wake up knowing you’re already close to the airport.
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The rooms work well for a family of four
There are 393 rooms at the hotel, ranging from deluxe, superior and executive rooms to suites and one of the reasons we chose the Marriott again was that the rooms here are genuinely spacious enough for a family of four.
We stayed in an executive room, which was modern, spotlessly clean and had two double beds. We never travel light, but there was plenty of storage for our luggage, as well as all the facilities you’d expect from a four-star hotel, including a large flat-screen TV, air conditioning, a safe, fridge, high-speed Wi-Fi, hairdryer and ironing facilities.
Our room overlooked an outdoor courtyard. Some rooms have airport views, and because the hotel is so close to Heathrow’s runway, I was initially a little concerned about noise. I needn’t have worried, though. The soundproofing was excellent and we didn’t hear a thing.
Executive rooms also come with a few extra touches, including bathrobes, slippers and complimentary water. For us, though, the biggest benefit was access to the M Club Executive Lounge.
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The M Club Lounge is worth considering
Booking an executive room gives you access to the M Club Executive Lounge, and it’s genuinely one of the best reasons to choose this hotel over a cheaper airport option.
Between 6pm and 8.30pm, there’s a good selection of hot and cold food, along with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. After a full day of travelling, it was exactly the kind of place we needed to unwind and get into holiday mode. If we hadn’t needed to leave so early the next morning for our flight, we could also have had breakfast in the lounge. From our previous visit, we know there’s a decent choice of hot and continental breakfast options.
For a family, the food and drinks can make the additional cost of an executive room feel worthwhile, particularly if you’re going to make good use of the lounge. Access may also be included with certain Marriott Bonvoy status levels.
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It doesn’t feel like a typical airport hotel
The lobby is modern, spacious and atrium style and it made a good first impression as soon as we walked in.
There’s a bar, a quick service grab and go area and a full-service Carluccio’s restaurant, along with plenty of comfortable seating if you simply want somewhere to relax.
The real surprise for us, though, was the swimming pool. It’s not something you necessarily expect to find at an airport hotel, and it’s one of the things that sets the London Heathrow Marriott apart from many of the other Heathrow options.
Having a pool is particularly useful when you’re travelling with children. It gives everyone something to do after a long drive and makes the hotel feel more like the beginning of your holiday rather than simply somewhere to sleep before an early flight.
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It’s well located for Heathrow and for parking when you are on holiday.
The hotel is on Bath Road, close to the M4, and is well placed for Heathrow’s Terminals 2, 3. We flew out of terminal 3 with Virgin and returned into Terminal 5 with BA, so having a convenient base was particularly useful.
The hotel is also close enough to the airport that you can see the runway from the front of the building.
We normally use Heathrow’s official Meet & Greet parking, but the Marriott has its own 250-space car park and offers park-and-fly packages. We found this much more convenient, particularly as we were flying in and out of different Heathrow terminals this time.
One thing to know, though, is that you can’t simply walk to the terminals from the hotel. There is a hotel shuttle service advertised around the lobby, which cost us £39 one way for a family of four, but it needs to be booked in advance. On our return from Terminal 5, we took a London black cab, which cost £25 and took around 10 minutes.
Ready to book?
Prices when booking directly with Marriott London Heathrow Marriott start from around £319 a night for a double deluxe room with 15 days onsite parking. . Prices will vary depending on your dates and room type.
If you’re flying from Heathrow and want a comfortable, family-friendly start to a long-haul holiday, the London Heathrow Marriott is one of the better Heathrow airport hotels that we have stayed at.
For us, the combination of spacious family rooms, , the M Club Lounge and the convenience of staying close to Heathrow with on-site car parking makes it somewhere we would happily stay again when flying from Heathrow.