Originally Posted by
2035
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.