Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel

Chose this hotel from reviews on TA. Stayed Nov 5-2009. This property is excellent for an overnight layover stay. Although it is adjacent to the airport you need transportation to get to it unlike the Sofitel which you take an elevator to from Terminal 5. From Terminal 5 I recommend taking the HotelHoppa bus (4GBP pp) located just outside of Arrivals by the signs #26 & 27 past the Taxi stops. Bus is also available from other terminals. Not aware of the bus we took a taxi from Terminal 5 to the hotel at a cost of 30GBP - quite high considering the low cost of the bus. However, upon our return to the airport the following day, we did use the HotelHoppa bus which picks you up right at the hotel door. It stops every 30 minutes. You can purchase your tickets inside the hotel at a kiosk machine or directly with the driver - just have exact change. We had a standard King room which was quite large. The bed was very comfortable. Bathroom was clean but needs to be updated. WiFi is available in the rooms (using your laptop) for a charge of 5GBP for 1 hour. In-room coffee and tea, safe, minibar, blower, iron available. Toiletries in bathroom. TV channels mostly in arabic fewer in english - did not understand that! Gift shop in lobby has souveniers of London just in case you forgot to buy while in the city. Pretty reasonably priced too. Our rate did not include breakfast - which we paid 17GBP pp - good but not all that great. There is no other place around the property to eat unless you take transportation. Great hotel for an overnight stay.

Room was fine - served its purpose of staying near Heathrow for a flight the next day. It was much nicer that the old-fashioned Marriott we stayed at last time near Gatwick. We would stay here again.

I phoned the hotel in advance to find out how to get here from Heathrow airport, and was told how to catch the bus. We arrived at Heathrow Airport from Frankfurt, Germany and because we are U.S. citizens, we had to stand in that long line for passport check for one hour. The bus was only running every half hour, so that is how long we waited for it. Then it took 30 minutes to get us to the Renaissance because it is the bus's last stop after dropping people off at all the other airport hotels. The man at the concierge desk told me that if I had called him, he would have recommended a 5 minute taxi ride for the 2 of us.

In advance, request a room near the elevator. You have no idea how long a walk it will be to your room if you are given one of the far away rooms. The hotel is like a square with long halls.

We paid £85.24 for the room and 2 weeks parking through Holiday Extras and while the hotel is low rise and unattractive and dated it served the purpose and was great value. Another reason we picked it was because you weren't obliged to leave your car keys, which we object to. They told us a taxi to T4 was £15 each way but the Hotel Hoppa now runs to T4 & T5 and was £8 per person single, so with a taxi tip, about the same price.

It was parallel with the runway so there was aircraft noise but we were able to sleep.

First impressions of the lobby are very good as it is well lit and spacious and welcoming.

On arrival the a/c in our room was very cold but we soon fixed that. The room was as you would expect but had no iron. The bathroom shower had a removable shower head and the towels were hard and thin.

The TV remote was not at all user friendly and it took an age to find the channels we wanted.

We had used the hotel before some years ago and would use it again.