London Heathrow for 8 hours - Need some sleep!
 

We will be arriving London Heathrow at 6:30am and departing at 4:40p to Istambul. Is it worth getting a hotel room? Does Heathrow have the sleepers?

Thanks in advance

Get a hotel room right at LHR. They are used to passengers coming in for a day nap and perhaps there is even a special rate (can live in hopes).
Certainly there are passengers lying around the seats and floor in departure lounges but I think mostly for flight delays - I can't say about an entire day.

There is a Yotel in terminal 4 designed specifically for this sort of thing. http://www.yotel.com/
Also a Sofitel in terminal 5 and a Hilton in terminal 4.

Asked a similar sort of thing a few months back, then did it myself, and here's what you need to know:

1. You'll have to go out of security and back in again regardless of whether you stay in a terminal hotel or not. Your checked bags will go on without you, but you'll still have to shuffle back around through security to check back in for your flight to Istanbul. Figure that in to your time.

2. IN the terminals there are (as hetismij wrote) three hotels BUT
A. They're not cheap, particularly the Sofitel and the Hilton.

B. The Hilton is in terminal 4, not terribly far from Term. 4 check-in and where you get the Terminal Connect trains, but it's cumbersomely distant from the other terminals. You have to take the "Terminal connect" trains around from/to Term. 1, 2, or 3; and the Hilton itself ONLY provides van service to Term. 5. If you are bright-eyed and have energy, the terminal connect isn't all that bad, but if you either arrive or depart from Term. 1, 2, or 3, you do have to figure added time and dithering if you use the Hilton.

3. There are several hotels "outside" the airport that are, functionally no more difficult to get to than the Hilton (they will provide direct van service) and a lot cheaper - it's more of a psychological barrier to think you aren't, supposedly, "at" the airport. You do have to rely on the vans' drivers for punctuality, and I'd check a map if you're looking at one of them for a day rate to make sure it actually IS on the periphery of the airport and not in the next town. ALSO: communicate directly with the hotel to make sure you can get a day rate and day service. ALSO: Some (including the Sofitel and Hilton) theoretically don't begin day-rates until 9 am.

Side review comments: The Sofitel is LOVELY and we were very glad we stayed there at the end of a long, bumpy overnight flight, despite how expensive it was to do that. It was in "our" terminal, and I could have stayed several more days to enjoy the amenities. The Hilton is a bizarre place, and despite the implication that it was high-end, luxury, there were several glitches and limitations in services, attitude, amenities, etc. I wouldn't stay there again unless both incoming and outgoing flights were in Term. 4.... and even then.

" I wouldn't stay there again unless both incoming and outgoing flights were in Term. 4.... and even then...., I'd hesitate."

Also want to say I thought about the Yotel, but would have had to have 2 pods/rooms to make it work -- DH said it looked just too claustrophobic. It would have been cheaper, though.

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...-for-a-nap.cfm Here's the other discussion