A hotel which exists for the purely functional reasons of being somewhere for a brief stay just before or after a flight from Heathrow Airport (and perhaps to leave you car there for a few days) it’s only fair to judge Heathrow’s Thistle Hotel purely on these criteria.
So does Thistle Hotel Heathrow measure up? Read our review to find out.
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Parking
One good reason to choose Thistle Hotel Heathrow is the ability to stay over the night before your flight, and subsequently leave your car in the car park for the duration of your trip. The parking is not free of course, but it is reasonably cost effective to purchase a stay and park package, which is what we did.
It was easy enough to find a space in the well lit car park (we arrived at night), and we noted that there was an overflow car park with plenty of spaces free too. Entry was via a barrier system, although it was already raised on our arrival.
Check in
Approaching the hotel, although the building looked old, the hotel had clearly had a bit of a refresh, with a quite attractive looking reception area (see photo). There were three receptionists working, and we only had to wait a couple of moments to check in, at which point our car registration number was taken, and we were issued our room card.
So far so good. Browsing the reception area we noted a kind of self serve shop area with some drinks and snacks available to purchase. Upon seeing the prices all we could do was laugh out loud however… £6.49 for a sharing pack of Kettle Chips, or £25.99 for a bottle of chicken wine!
Needless to say we did not indulge in anything from this disgracefully overpriced area, and went straight to our room.
Facilities
The hotel is on two levels, with no lift. We lugged our suitcases up the stairs, and were greeted with what appeared to be the world’s longest hotel corridor. Fortunately our room wasn’t that far down.
Other than the aforementioned self serve area, there isn’t much to report. There is a bar and restaurant area on site, for which there was a menu in our room. The prices again did not look very appealing, and we had no urge to check it out.
Breakfast is advertised, but again we did not have any burning desire to try this, preferring to get something at the airport before our flight instead.
The room
The room itself could best be described as fair. The hotel obviously dates from the 80s or earlier, and well worn areas of the original wood could be seen in places, although the majority of the furniture was reasonably new.
To be fair, the shower worked fine and the bed was comfortable enough. Noise from the planes taking off overhead was not intrusive, and we slept reasonably well. For a few hours sleep before an early start to jump on a plane, it was adequate for our needs.
The usual tea and coffee making facilities were available in the room, and it is always nice to have an iron and ironing board without having to ask reception for someone to bring one.
The plug sockets had been updated with USB charging ports, however to my annoyance I found they were not working, and left for our morning flight with a low battery, having wrongly assumed my phone to have been charging while we slept.
A safe was also present, and some towels which were clean enough but had clearly seen better days.
Driverless pods
An exclusive feature of this hotel is the ability to take the Heathrow driverless pods which run between the hotel and terminal 5, and cost £8 each way per person.
On this occasion we were going out of terminal 3, and although we considered jumping in the pods and taking the free shuttle train from terminal 5 to 3, we opted for an Uber to the airport instead. To be fair we soon wished we had opted for the pods, as our cab really smelled of B.O., and we did not enjoy the ride at all.
On the way home we also took an Uber back to the hotel, and at over £26 we again wished we hadn’t, as the faff of getting up to the car park level 3 to meet the driver probably outweighed the inconvenience of getting the shuttle train from terminal 3 to 5 and using the pods.
Lesson learned!
Final thoughts
The Thistle Hotel Heathrow is more keenly priced than other hotels near the airport, and this pricing is really a reflection of how dated the hotel is.
Having said that it is comfortable enough, and as a basic place to sleep for a few hours and leave your car for a few days it worked out okay for us.
On the downside I felt thoroughly insulted by the prices for the snacks and drinks in the reception area. Why does British Corporate mentality always have to be “let’s charge as much as we think we can possibly get away with”?
Can I recommend this hotel then? Well, in general no. However if you’re flying from Terminal 5, then the convenience of parking at the Thistle Hotel Heathrow and using the driverless pods may well be a big enough positive to outweigh the fairly uninspiring experience of the hotel itself.
APTT rating : 6/10
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