Hi-
Has anyone booked a day room at Heathrow? I am traveling with my daughter (12yo), and we arrive at 6:30 am. Our connecting flight leaves at 3:30, but we have to be there around noon. I know that my daughter will need to sleep. What is the most convenient place to get a day room? I think we arrive at Terminal 3 and then depart from Terminal 1.
Thanks!

First - there are few exceptions, but in most cases a day room can't be booked on line. You will need to call the hotel(s) directly, if that's the route you choose.

Having said that, your situation is somewhat different. If you need the hotel till noon ONLY, then why not book a regular overnight stay. You can get a good rate for Heathrow hotels on Priceline.com. It will probably be cheaper than a day rate offered by the hotel. Most hotels have either 11 or 12 checkout, but I'm sure you could arrange somewhat later (1pm) if necessary once you are there. Just make sure you notify the hotel of your late(early morning) arrival once you get a winning bid processed by priceline.com.

FYI, I don't know of any Heathrow hotel that runs a free shuttle. You can either catch a Hopper(?) shuttle bus(don't know the fare), a taxi or a public bus(free) as long as it's within the airport zone(most hotels are included in the zone). The Hopper and taxi will get you and your luggage to the front door, the public bus will only get you to the nearest corner or so.

I just checked biddingfortravel.com and it seems like you could get a 4* LHR hotel for ~$60 and a 3* for ~$50 (taxes and fees excluded) through priceline.com. There is no way a hotel's own day rate would be cheaper.

I just remembered that London Heathrow Hilton is the only airport hotel that you could walk to. It's connected to terminal 4, so if you arrive and/or leave from the other 3 terminals, it's possible to take a free train to 4 and then walk.

Again, for a day rate inquiry, you will have to call the hotel directly.

Thank you! Priceline is a great idea..I didn't think of that.
If we arrive at 6:30 am, how long do you think it will take till we have luggage, clear passport control/customs etc.? BTW, we are flying AA (coach) on freq flyer miles, so any advice on that is welcome as well....

The trouble with PL at LHR is that sometimes the rooms aren't available first thing in the morning. It might be worth emailing a couple of the Bath Rd hotels (Sheraton Skyline, Marriott etc.) to see if they offer a day rate. You might also contact the Hilton at T4 to see if they have any availability. I don't know if they will hold a res overnight, even with "late arrival" - again worth mentioning in the email.

If you're connecting beyond the UK you shouldn't need to reclaim your bags at Heathrow, so the bag schlep issue should be minimal.

Note too that the airport hotels at Heathrow don't offer their own shuttles. Instead you need to take the "Hotel Hoppa" bus (£3 pp each way) and it's not terribly convenient.

Predicting what will happen with LHR Img. & customs is impossible. It could be a cake walk or could be a mess. I would say to allot at least 1/2 and up to 1 hour.

At the airport, try to get row 31 A,B, or H,J seats. You may have a problem with that as your daugher is only 12 and these are emergency row seats. If the agent would not agree to assign one of these seats to your daugther than try to get the ailse seat for yourself in row 31 B or H and row 30 aisle seat for our daughter. If you are in B then ask for row 30 C seat for your daugther or if you are in H then G for your daugther. You will have tons of room and she will be just across the aisle and also have little more room but not as much.

If you will have a laptop or DVD player and want to use DC power make sure you get a row that has he plugs. Not all rows in coach have plugs. BTW, it's the cigarette lighter style plugs.

Check seatguru.com for a great information on airplane seats. They have a special section for American and then you could look at either 1 of the 2 layouts for the 777. Coach section is the same on both.

Have a great trip!

<b>Gardyloo</b>

I suggested getting the pricelne room for the night. That way the OP will have a room upon arrival and according to the OP s/he only needs the room until noon, so no problems there.

I also sugested contacting the hotel after a succesful priceline bid and informing them of the late (erly morning arrival). Priceline reservetion is pre-paid and the room is yours until checkout regardless when you checkin, but it's good to have them know of your arrival time so they don't assume that you just gave up the room and they might try to sell it.

I meant - for the night before......

No I followed you AAFF. I'm just not sure how long the hotels will hold rooms reserved for the night before. My last couple of PL rooms at LHR (both at the Crowne Plaza - a long way from the airport) featured people behind the counter that raised the term &quot;clueless&quot; to a new height. The last thing (I assume) the OP would want is hotel hassle on top of everything else.

Sorry but I don't understand your concern. As I said, Priceline is pre-paid, the room is yours until check-out time. I could show up 1 hour before check out and they would have to give me the key.

and finally to avoid any possible problems, just inform the hotel of your arrival time.

I just made a pre-paid reservation in Lima for 1 night at a Doubletree hotel. Knowing that I will arrive ~2am I e-mailed the hotel and informed them of that fact. They e-mailed and thanked me, but assured me that the e-mail wasn't necessary because the room is mine until 11am next morning.

My &quot;concern&quot; is that I have experienced people at LHR hotels obtained on PL who are not very competent with the rules. For instance at the CP at LHR a couple of months ago I had a desk clerk demand to see the confirming email from PL that I had won the room, rather than just the confirmation no. Was I supposed to pull out my laptop and boot it up right there? This is in the context of (I'm guessing here) 50% of the rooms at that hotel that night having been sold on PL. I've had similar foulups in other PL experiences (Grand Hyatt in NYC kept us waiting from 8 pm to after midnight because our room &quot;wasn't ready&quot;... things like that.) Not deal killers, but not a pleasant experience when one is really tired and/or with tired kids.

My only concern is that the OP trust but verify that it's the best thing for their family before shelling out $100 or so (after tax and Hoppa) for a 3- or 4-hour hotel room.

We have a 12 hour layover at Heathrow. I did a lot of web searching and found that the Hilton, which on site has day room rates posted on the Hilton website. Also, the Ibis which is off site has the same. Both allowed for a 7:00 am check in.

That is very good advice for anybody else that needs an all day room.

I did not check the IBIS site, but the Hilton LHR does show a day rate of 119BP(~$200) and it does say the day room is guaranteed from 9am to 6pm, not 7am. You may very well get the room at 7am but it's not a guarantee. If you are coming in at 7am and leaving at 7pm than Priceline is not a good idea, although bidding for 2 nights may still be cheaper than 1 night through the hotel.

For the OP that's not a good proposition as s/he only need the room until <b>noon</b> only and s/he would probably not want to take a chance waiting until 9am to check in.

So again, Priceline for a regular full night at ~$50 per is probably the way to go in this particular instance. S/he will be able to check in as soon as they get there and it will be a lot cheaper. It's also quite possible to get the Hilton through priceline if you choose 4* and Heatrow location. As you could see, the OP can save a great deal of money.