Heathrow TW6 airport hotels: an escort for the hours between landing and take off

The three hour rule, in plain figures

Nothing at Heathrow is booked for less than three hours, £700. Her journey out to you comes out of those three hours; it is not stacked on top of them. Because the airport lies far outside the two central fare zones, her taxi there and back is costed at the moment you book, and the desk quotes that figure alongside the fee before you say yes. One number, agreed in writing, and nothing left to talk about when she knocks.

Longer bookings climb the same tariff as in town. For guests with an early flight, the usual answer is the overnight: ten hours, £1,800.

The night before an early flight

A dawn check in is a good reason to sleep at the airport. Sofitel London Heathrow, TW6 2GD, is the most convenient address for Terminal 5 flyers, connected to the terminal by an enclosed walkway, so the morning is a lift ride and a short stroll to bag drop. Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, SL3 0FF, is the quieter choice, although its address is in Colnbrook, over the perimeter road and a short drive from the terminal itself.

For a dawn flight, take the overnight and give the desk your check in time. The ten hours are arranged to finish an hour before it.

The long layover

Connections of eight or ten hours are common at Heathrow, and a day room turns a dead afternoon into something better. For the central terminals there is the Hilton Garden Inn at Terminals 2 and 3. Along the Bath Road, Renaissance London Heathrow, TW6 2AQ, is the one for plane watchers, its runway side rooms facing the northern strip, and Radisson Blu Edwardian Heathrow sits a little further along; both suit a longer stop with a short taxi each way.

Say when you touch down and when you must be airside again, and the three hours are fitted between the two with room to spare either side.

The night nobody planned

Cancelled flights and missed connections put travellers into Heathrow hotels they never meant to stay in, often late and often short of sleep. A quiet dinner and good company in an unexpected room is a reasonable way to rescue the evening. Copy the hotel's name word for word from the airline's voucher, because several airport hotels carry similar names, and the desk will be straight with you about how soon she can be there.

Three terminal stations

Each terminal group has its own station, a walk of about 5 minutes from the check in halls: Heathrow Terminal 5, Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3, and Heathrow Terminal 4. The first two have the Heathrow Express as well as the Piccadilly and Elizabeth lines; Terminal 4 has those two lines but not the express.

The Bath Road hotels are not on any railway; for those, a taxi or the hotel bus from the terminal is the way in.

How she gets to TW6

On the roads, the M4 sets the pace: about forty-five minutes from the West End late at night, well over an hour at the Friday peak. On the rails, the Heathrow Express links Paddington with the central terminals in about fifteen minutes, and the Elizabeth line runs through from the West End and the City without a change. Late at night she always comes by car.

However she travels, the desk writes back with one arrival time once it has your name, your hotel and your room, checked a single time, and the fee is hers, handed over by you in person when she reaches your door. Two or three hours' notice is ideal. A message from the baggage hall still gets an honest reply, even when the time it names is later than you had in mind.

Who reaches the airport first

No one on the rota lives near the airport, so the quickest are those with the fastest line out. The Paddington companions, Laura, Nora and Vanessa, live beside the Heathrow Express. Danielle in South Kensington is on the Piccadilly line. Anyone on the full rota can be booked for Heathrow, with her fare quoted in exactly the same way.

Back towards town

If you would rather stay in town and ride out in the morning, the Paddington station hotels are fifteen minutes from the terminals by train, and South Kensington sits on the direct Piccadilly line. By the Elizabeth line, the City is a straight run east. Central bookings carry no minimum beyond one hour.