Just been told that they will remain a quarantine hotel until end of August.

Talked to their second in command and it will be under quarantine through the end of October (at least). They are reaccommodating at HGI T2 or Hilton T4 but the rates are not that attractive. I went with Hyatt Place myself at about a half of what they want.

Absolutely pathetic by Sofitel....... They are meant to be a premium brand for crying out loud. Punters who live in the sticks like i do want easy access to T5 for early morning departures. Sofitel has a decent French restaurant or did have. The Club Millesmie Lounge was nice too to stock on on Drinks!

Airport Hotel choices now in June are bland bland bland...... and so Corporate boring and not even on Site close to T5 even!.....

Best premium option ( thinking better hotel with a proper restaurant to romance your Lady ) is either the Runnymede or Great Fosters in Egham. 10/15 mins then max from there round to T5 Car Park. BTW I miss those pods!

Any hotels in Windsor you might consider as there will be decent restaurants there the night before.

I know i shouldnt be going away to amber countries but TUI cancelled me yesterday from Brum after telling me I was going to Madeira, so pissed off with them. They frankly waited to see how many would take the booked flight rather than be brave like Jet2 and cancel their programme up front. Twice TUI have done this to me and not impressed, although BHX is so much easier for me to get in & out of.

Anyhow BA Club not much more than what I paid for from Brum on TUI so end result positive except for the trek down to Heathrow!

Having been cancelled by the Holiday Inn on Friday, we finally found the Crowne Plaza, Beaconsfield available and settled for that - travelling down from the Midlands we would have dropped the bags the night before so it looks like we'll be doing so on the morning of our FNC fight.

Agree about BHX - BA Club is (or has been) usually cheaper than flying economy from Brum which usually only offered a Monday departure.

Regarding the bit about you 'shouldn't be flying to Amber countries'. That's an interesting assertion. The original concept of RAG ratings was that Red was essentially a 'No', but amber was basically, 'proceed with caution', with additional safeguards put in place for both passengers and the public by way of testing and limited quarantine. It's interesting that the mood seems to have change from this, to what Minister Jenrick said in the week - 'you should not travel - you wouldn't drive past an amber traffic light'. There are many now in government, opposition, or advisers, keen to see international travel stopped. I won't be joining in.

I can see from a business point of view why the Sofitel are taking the money for red list passengers, its a guaranteed income at the moment where as if they opened up as normal they are at the mercy of the ever changing Government travel lists, which at the moment will mean very few people staying there.

Given how often I used to see Sofitel LHR dump distressed inventory even when travel volumes were far higher than they are now — back when they would get busy at times with providing F&B service too — I would be surprised if they didn’t want to grab as much hotel quarantine captive business as they could get at this point.

I have booking for July 2nd, I'll wait for the phone call on Monday. :rolleyes:

Quite surprised there's nothing contractual obliging them to offer a service to T5 passengers. You'd have thought that was part of the agreement when they got the site. Can understand the business decision but it's a real loss of amenity at T5 - I've stayed there a few times over lockdown as I've had more overnight connections than usual and they were doing a really good job.

On the flipside, it's a much nicer quarantine option than some of the Britannia-type places I've heard people being shipped to!

I suspect there were very few T5 passengers to look after tbh.

This was usually limited to dates where BA had minimal IRROPs.

Given that they were running at <10% occupancy (it was steadily getting worse when I asked in March), I’m not at all surprised with their decision.

Even if they had an agreement to provide irrops rooms, there’s plenty of capacity at other hotels given the travel restrictions remaining in place.

I have been through the hotel quarantine experience returning from CPT and lucked out with a Sofitel allocation. Would do again. I would go so far as to say book and cancel as many times as necessary until allocated Sofitel T5.

We’re booked for late September so, given the suggestion that it’ll still be shut then we’ve made a back-up reservation at the Terminal 2 HGI. Is there a better option? We’ll be arriving by public transport or a cab (still TBD) on the Friday afternoon and then flying (from T5) the following morning. We’ve stayed at T4 and flown from T3 before so fairly happy with moving between the terminals on the morning of the flight, just wondering if there’s a better (and likely to be open...) option.

Just had my reservation for late September cancelled. No reason given but I assume it will be down to them still being used as a quarantine hotel. Time to try and find a decent hotel which isnt being used for that now I guess!

Hi,

I think that is probably the best with easy access to the Tube at Heathrow central to T5 ( assuming you do nor have a very early start at T5 , i think just now the first tubes arrive at t5 @ 0548)
I was going to suggest the Thistle t5 and take the driverless pods to T5 but they are not running.
There are more choices along bath road ( ie Sheraton/Premier Inn/Marriott ) which will need a bus ( no more free transport zone ) or a taxi.

Regards

TBS

I have this dilemma with a group of about eight of us who were going to enjoy the Sofitel and its lovely restaurant in late September. But we have an 8am departure the next morning out of T5, and I'd be scared of the Runnymede because of needing to use the M25 to get back to Heathrow at that time in the morning...