Help?
I've finally accrued enough points to say at a nice hotel in London. I'll be flying in from Ireland at 9AM and would like to spend the day in London then the night at either the Sheraton Heathrow or the Hilton London Airport before returning home on an 11AM flight the next day. Is one more convenient to the airport & to transportation to and from the city than the other? I'd like to drop my bags at the hotel before venturing into the city. Anyone stayed at either one and able give a reccommendation?

Haven't stayed at either one, but did stay at the Sheraton Skyline (the other Sheraton near Heathrow) many years ago and it was fine.

The Heathrow Hilton is ONLY convenient if both flights you are taking arrive and leave at terminal 4. It is quite inconvenient to reach from terminals 1-3. The Sheraton can be reached by taking the Hotel Hopps shuttle bus which serves most of the airport hotels for a small fee.

Could you also use your points for the Hilton at Paddington Station in London? Never stayed there, but it's new and right in the same building as the train terminal for the Heathrow Express. If you're flying BA (or several other carriers, check with the hotel for details), you can check in for your flight at Paddington without leaving the building - no airport hotel can offer you that!

Hope this helps,
Andre

You may want to save those hard-earned points for something really special. If you bid on Priceline for a 4-star hotel at Heathrow, you'll get one of the following hotels:

Sheraton Skyline
Crowne Plaza
Marriott Heathrow

According to the www.biddingfortravel.com site, someone got the Marriott recently for $58/night. Go to BFT and scroll down to Europe hotels, open England/London Hotels and check it out. There is a link to a review of the Sheraton (I don't work for BFT or PL).

Betsy,
I have never bid on a hotel room. Do you end up with the broom closet or a decent room? It sounds like a good idea if you are able to get a good room.

Lyn, every time I've used PL, I've gotten a good room. I don't think the hotel knows or even cares that you bid through PL. In fact, someone posted that they saw the hotel's paperwork, and it only said that it was an internet reservation and didn't mention PL. I even got an upgrade once because my street address was the same name as the hotel. So, based on my experience, you don't face discrimination because of your PL reservation.

For Betsy,
We are scheduled for a night at the Crowne Plaza. Is this hotel on par with the other two you listed. We'd like to stay in a good accommodation that is conveniently located close to the airport.

I have stayed at the Crowne Plaza a couple of times. It is convenient to the airport with shuttle buses that cost y3 each way (if I remember correctly) per person when we stayed last summer (I remember when they were free!!). We walked up the road to a pub to have dinner and a few pints. There are a few places locally.
I have also stayed at the Sheraton and whilst the comfort is good I found the food way too expensive and were unable to leave the hotel in our car to eat somewhere else as we would have had to pay to get out then and again the next day! I suppose we could have got a taxi but we were tired. Like most UK hotels the value for money was not very good.

I have no idea, DE. I went to the Bidding for Travel site and copied the 4-star hotel list for Heathrow. I haven't stayed in any of them. BUT if I wanted to spend a night near Heathrow, I'd bid on a 4-star there without thinking twice. If you decide to do this, be sure to learn how to bid by studying the FAQ at www.biddingfortravel.com. The time you spend doing this will be well worth it, IMHO.

The moderators at BFT will even help you construct your bid, but you have to do your homework first. For example, during the bidding process you may see a screen that says you've bid too low and your chances for success are slim. You'll learn on the BFT site, to just blast right on through that message and use the bid you've constructed, which is usually LOTS lower than their recommendation.

Betsy & AR,
Thank you very much for your responses and info provided. Others experiences and suggestions are always helpful and appreciated. DE

We just got back yesterday from London/Ireland. Our last night we stayed at the LHR Hilton. We flew from DUB into terminal 1 and had NO trouble getting to the Hilton--you hop on the free Heathrow express train to terminal 4 and walk(a long walkway)to the hotel. My husband and 16yo wanted different food than at the hotel and they walked back to term.4 and grabed something. We needed another bed and one was brought to us in about 10 min. Staff was very friendly. We're glad we chose that hotel.

Thank you all for your input. As I have more Hilton points than SPG points, I think I'll stay at the Hilton. MEtrvlr, do you know if it's easy to get into the city from the Hilton?

If you can use your points for something else, do it. We had to stay at the Hilton when our flight was cancelled, and got a walk-up rate of 99 pounds, so using your points may not be worth it.

The hotel was fine, staff was good--provided us with toothbrushes, etc., since our luggage was being held hostage. But I would advise against eating in the Asian restaurant at the hotel--food was expensive, and not good.

We stayed at the Sheraton Skyline coming back from Italy. It was just fine..with a great bar, good room service and quiet,quiet,quiet. We had planned to go into the West End but got in from Gatwick way too late so opted to stay put. We took an easy cab ride back to Heathrow the next day for our flight back to the US. BTW..without points,bidding etc. our room was only $130 US. I'm with the others who suggest bidding/priceline and save those points for some of the more upscale properties.

It would be the same from the Hilton as any other hotel--taxi. In addition you can get transportation from the airport. London Heathrowexpress and the tube(which we took) are all right there in terminal 4.