London Heathrow LHR : Sheraton Heathrow versus Sheraton Skyline [Master Thread]
 

Just noticed on SPG.com that both the Sheraton Skyline (55 quid) and the Sheraton Heathrow (47 quid) are insanely cheap as full valid SPG stays on spg.com for Friday night Feb 15.

We are just nipping in late afternoon for one night for a FT event - downtown SPG places run 3 times this.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...6&goto=newpost

And do not care which one really.

I am a SPG Gold but will be out at FT dinner, so any lounge access will not not bother us - which has better airport transport is probably my main question - and does their bus from LHR work after midnight? (We will likely take the N-9 night-bus from city to LHR.)

The Skyline wins hands down - lots of free buses from Heathrow Central bus station during the day while the Sheraton Heathrow only has the U3 bus. At night, the N9 stops on Bath Road just outside the property. You want to get off at "Harlington Corner". Beware - on Saturday nights, some buses only go as far as Hounslow Bus Station. AVOID THESE BUSES, Hounslow Bus Station is not a nice place to wait even 10 minutes for the next bus to Heathrow.
I think Piccadilly is the closest stop to where you guys will be - this is the timetable: http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/use...__000051d6.pdf
(nB the bus isn't non-stop between Hounslow and LHR, they just don't show all the stops near the end of the line on the timetable. Harlington Corner is, timewise, roughly halfway between the last two stops that figure on the timetable).

Tom

Indeed, there are lots of posts and threads already on this.

Just completed a stay at the Skyline. EASY to get to/from Heathrow and to/from Central London by public bus (FREE b/n Heathrow & the Skyline, FREE b/n Hatton Cross & the Skyline) & tube.

Late night Saturday night---easily caught either the last or second to last tube from central london (picadilly line), got off at the Hatton Cross tube stop, and took a bus to the corner near the hotel.


Yeah, it was a little more than the Sheraton Heathrow, but as been previously posted, the ease & convenience of public transportation access was worth it to me.

Just be aware that the journey between Central London and the Skyline by public transport will take over an hour, so may be stretching some folks definition of 'easy'.

True. One should plan for an hour each way. On my most recent trip, it was between 45-50 minutes going into town, & at night, 60 minutes (central london tube stop to/from bus stop near hotel).

In this thread's comparative context, compared to the Sheraton Heathrow, "easy"/"easier" in terms of minimal number of connections, larger number of bus lines, etc. etc. but possibly not as "fast' as taking the HEX or Heathrow Connect to/from the airport, then the public bus over to the hotel. Saves some time, esp. if one is going to Paddington, but def. much more expensive. For more transport comparisons & info., I'd direct someone over to the transport & airport threads in the London forum.

Tom (and others) .. SUPERB advice ... thanks! SKYLINE it shall be. :p

So looking at this official timetable it seems every SECOND bus on 'Friday night' (i.e. early am Sat) goes to LHR .. the alternate one goes to only Hounslow as you correctly mention:

http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/N009.htm

I am hopeless at reading timetables but it APPEARS that a 0021 from Piccadilly gets us to Harlington Corner at 1.20am? (0120)

And from that drop off it is a short walk to Hotel? (Lets pray it is not snowing!)

And I read somewhere the fare is only a pound or so per person .. seems near impossible to believe for London!

Note that these rates are not including VAT @ 17.5%, which you will be required to pay. I think it's very sneaky not to include it. Almost all other hotels do.

YGPM re BRG also...

Well don't take the 00:21 too literally ;) just go to the stop and whenever a bus called "Heathow Airport" shows up, try to get on.

The fare is GBP 2 for a cash single, or GBP .90 (yes that's 90 pence) on an Oyster (Oyster is an electronic "smartcard" ticket thingy) Pay-As-You-Go card. See www.tfl.gov.uk -> tickets for details. Oyster PAYG is price capped, so if you buy an Oyster and use it to travel around in the daytime, you will be charged the price of a one day travelcard at most (that includes London Underground, but NOT the Heathrow Express train) - that's GBP 7.00 per Person to/from Heathrow for unlimited tube & bus travel. You have to buy an Oyster card though. Costs GBP 2 deposit.

Tom

There is a bus stop on Bath Rd , to the right as you exit the Skyline and you can catch bus numbers 285, 555,556 to get to Hatton Cross. If you walk to the left to the light at Harlington Corner, then you have to go across diagonally to get to Harlington Corner stop, where a number of busses will take you to Hatton Cross.

When you return from town, you exit the tube up the stairs, go through the doors on the left. You then catch the busses going towards the Sheraton by walking out to the island out away from the curb.

Hope you have a great time!

I'm currently at the Skyline.

I like the hotel quite a bit actually. I mean, it's an airport hotel, but the sleigh bed in my room is kinda cool. I'm a nothing at the moment (this stay puts me to Gold) so I had no upgrade, etc. to worry about.

Ate an early dinner in the Sports Bar, had a couple of Boddingtons, now I'll try to stay awake for another 3 hours or so, although I'd love to sleep.

Hotel Hoppa from Terminal 3 (if you arrive Terminal 4, take the free Heathrow Express train to Heathrow Central). Go outside, wait for the bus. To get back to London, take the Hoppa back and take the tube into the city.

EDITED TO ADD:

Make sure you don't buy two single Hoppa tickets from the machine. The tickets are dated (and torn in half when used), and I had a devil of a time this morning trying to use the second single ticket I purchased as an afterthought last night because it had yesterday's date on it. If you buy from reception, they aren't dated at all. And the driver was trying to sound knowledgeable and that he was giving me a break by taking the dated ("expired") ticket, but he just sounded worse than when he started.

If you take the Hoppa back to go into the city, get off at Terminal 2 and take the Piccadilly line from there. Zone 6. Easy peasy.

Few updates
 

Re Skyline
1. Note that Exec lounge is closed for renovations for 3-4 months. They gave me a voucher for free full breakfast in the restaurant, and free drinks at the bar between 6-8pm - nothing at any other time.
2. Parking has gone up again, and is 15 pounds - which I think is a rip-off. Sheraton still charges 10, which is fair.
I don't particularly like this place.

Re Sheraton
1. Lounge is open 24 hours a day for drinks and snacks, accessed with room key.
2. I found staff pretty good - better than Skyline
3. If you are returning or renting a car from Thrifty, Hertz or Alamo\National, Sheraton is convineint. Thrifty is in the hotel, others are 5 minutes walk away via a useful shortcut. Which brings me to ...
4. To get to hotel, may be worth taking free car rental buses every few minutes, and walking from there, instead of Hoppa or bus. I don't think anyone would notice if you slipped off....Alamo is slightly closer than Hertz.

Hmm this seems rather odd, I thought the Skyline lounge was refurbished very recently and I don't really see what could be done to it to improve things, it is certainly MUCH nicer than the newer lounge at the Sheraton Heathrow.

Other key points of difference, the rooms at the Skyline are MUCH nicer than the equivalent rooms at the Heathrow. The Sheraton Heathrow rooms feel quite a bit smaller, the beds are smaller and less comfortable, the rooms are hotter (the AC design is not very well thought through), the windows are tiny making the room seem darker in daylight.

Some rooms at the Heathrow have nice LCD TV's and all rooms have Video On Demand movies (albeit the movies are very expensive). The Skyline has free wi-fi in the lounge whereas the Heathrow only has a few laptops bolted to a desk for slowish internet access.

The bathrooms at the Sheraton Heathrow are tired and nowhere near as pleasant as the much fresher and larger bathrooms at the Skyline.

Unlike at the Skyline it is possible to check in and out from the Lounge at the Heathrow, this can save a considerable amount of time at busy periods.

The restaurant at the Skyline is MUCH better than the equivalent at the HEathrow. The Italian food is really rather nice and much better than you would expect from a hotel restaurant. The breakfast there is also very nice (and available as an alternative to a lounge breakfast for those with access to the club lounge). The breakfast at the Heathrow is really rather poor in comparison (I have not eaten breakfast in the lounge at the Heathrow only the restaurant which serves all breakfasts at the weekend).

The lounge food and drink selection is MUCH better at the Skyline.

The whole ambience of the Sheraton Heathrow just feels several notches below that of the Skyline.

FWIIW The Sheraton Heathrow will also rent you a room for a day stay.. This is very nice if you have a long layover going to someplace in Europe connecting at LHR

As someone else mentioned, you take the bus at the airport to the airport hotels.

--g

In a recently refurbished room on the third floor of the Skyline. Very nice. Surprised they haven't invested in some new TVs, but the room is quite nice.

I was coming from central London today and didn't much feel like sitting on the tube for every stop from King's Cross to Heathrow, so I took the Circle Line to Paddington and the Express to terminal 3 and then the Hoppa. I know it cost me £21 to do this, but I really didn't much care as it's been a long week.

Interesting, the third floor of the skyline does not have any club rooms AFAIK. In around 15 stays at the property I have never been given a room on the third floor, which I understood were mainly family rooms with a queen bed and sofa bed. Club rooms seem to be situated on the first and 2nd floors, although I am not sure that there is any significant difference between club and ordinary rooms aprt perhaps from a bathrobe and free water. Even the old (non LCD) TV's at the Sheraton Heathrow were better than the TV's in the Skyline, everything else about the skyline is definitely better though.

Is the lounge really being refurbished? It is on the third floor, is there any evidence of work being carried out there?