BotB

Thanks for the info Land-of-Miles ^ good to know.

I'm guessing that bathrobes and slippers would be in the exec rooms and a bottle of water or two as well?

anwan

I have been there 4 times already. Twice as Diamond and twice as Gold. I have received upgrade each time without asking for it

evapor8

Yes, and a special bar of chocolate and a bottle of wine (I'm a Gold.)

I've been twice now and was also upgraded on both occasions without asking.

Chris

harryhv

Ha, ha. By that token, the Terminal 4 Hilton should be renamed the Terminal 1 Hilton, it's closer to T1 than the T5 Hilton is to T5

Better still, why not rename both the airport Hiltons to "Terminal 1 Hilton"

Andriyko

Wow BotB,

thank you for such a detailed report!
Did you get to eat lunch/dinner in any of the restaurants?

BotB

Or Terminal 2 (as it is currently being rebuilt!)...I take your point...I was trying to find a way to indicate that it is not at Terminal 5 or anywhere on airport property...and expressing that it was outside the M25, a few miles from the airport property and under the glide path was my (obviously poor! ) way of trying to communicate this! I'll try better next time...

Thanks. Unfortunately not...I can imagine that they would be great though. The restaurants have been praised up thread and any of them looked good...however, I arrived too late in the evening and left just before lunch time so only had Brekkie...which as mentioned was brilliant. ^

Glad to hear of others having had success as Gold or Diamond getting upgrades...maybe my experience was an exception. The standard room, service and food were brilliant even without the upgrade.

hingethunder

Currently here before an early morning flight. Lovely room and was greeted as silver by very helpful reception person - no water in room though

Ate in galleries bar - ok food, terrible service from an incredibly rude manager who told me to take a seat then got stroppy when I went to him again having been sitting there for 8 minutes without a menu while he chatted to someone at the bar

wildthing271

I stayed at this property a week or so ago. I was generally impressed and this is certainly one of the better Hilton properties in the UK. But a couple of little things niggled me.

1. The receptionist at check in insisted that I was pronouncing my own name incorrectly. It is MY name and I know how it should be pronouned. Occassionally people mis-pronounce it, but then accept my correction. But on this occasion I was told, albeit politely, that I was pronouncing it incorrectly. Hrmph.

2. Stupid coffee bags in the room instead of simple sachets of instant. I know the coffee is better quality, but I want to quickly make a cup of coffee, not fart about with the origami of trying to rip the cardboard seal so it sits on top of the mug. Too complicated and very irritating when in a hurry.

3. Air-con. One of my pet hates in hotels the world over, and here it would not go below 19' - I like my room very cool and this was too warm.

4. Too many trendy lights in the room with too many different switches controlling them - very confusing

That said, the hotel was very nice with a nice Exec lounge which I had access to as a Diamond. I was also upgraded and also received two bottles of water, a half bottle of wine and a bar of chocolate as a welcome gift. I know LHR very well and found the hotel very easily - everyone was friendly even when telling me how to say my name correctly, and I would stay here again.

anabolism

I ate dinner in the restaurant on my last stay, and it was *s*l*o*w* -- I had to stand around for ages before anyone would ask if I'd like to be seated. Lots of staff going to and fro, mostly setting up tables, but no one could be bothered. Then I couldn't get anyone to take my order. I gave up, walked out, thought about room service, decided that was a bad idea, went back, and still couldn't get anyone's attention. After finally going up to someone, who promised to send someone round, I was able to actually place an order and get some food, which sounded great from the menu but was really disappointing. I have to say the Hilton T4 has much better restaurants and food.

I had breakfast in the lounge, not a restaurant, and it was fine. Completely unstaffed, but I didn't care as it was well stocked.

Sounds like it's a more widespread problem than I thought.

That is unbelievable!

(I don't suppose your name is spelled "b-u-c-k-e-t" and you insist "'tis 'boo-kay'"?)

I find this annoying at many properties, but this is one of the worst for this particular peeve.

anabolism

Maybe I've been lucky, but they've always upgraded me to an executive room.

All I know is the Hoppa bus takes a long time to get there (plus you have to pay for it).

Just a note of caution: not everything charged to your room earns points. The hotel codes each charge as either earning points or not. E.g., transportation or taxi charges usually don't earn points, like taxes, although sometimes they do. So, having a charge on your folio may be necessary to earn points but isn't sufficient.

The rooms are larger and less cramped than at the T4 Hilton. I'm not a fan of tub/shower combos in general, and would be happier with the stall-only option except that at the T4 Hilton, I've never been able to take a shower without completely soaking the bathroom.

Aren't they made of that weird plasticy material? That stuff creeps me out. Maybe I'm thinking of a different hotel. I'm a fan of either the thick terry cotton robes or the thinner checkerboard cotton ones.

Those are far too common. I call them "booby-trapped mini-bars" because if you try to see what something is, or carefully slide something of your own in their, you get charged.

Wow! When I was there they insisted I was only entitled to breakfast in the lounge, but they also said that smoked salmon was only available in the lounge, not the restaurant.

terminalfive

Ok stay when I was there
Room very good - exec Lounge OK and gym one of the better hotel gyms

Negative? Location. it's 10 mins by bus which for me makes it OK for overnight flights but you can't really use it as a 2 day base to visit London..

A steal at under 80£

BotB

Wow, that is terrible, sorry to hear that...maybe it was just a one off bad experience (one hopes). I know what you mean about the T4 restaurants, I am a big fan of Oscar's at the the T4 Hilton...clean, excellent and friendly service, and importantly good food.

Good to hear, maybe I just had bad luck...although after check in completed,, I asked about whether I was upgraded or if there were any exec rooms...they said no. When I queried this further (as I had seen plenty of availability on the website as mentioned) the desk clerk simply stated: you have booked a double bed, we only have twin single bed exec rooms...but she still didn't offer it to me...so I simply left it there...however, when I phoned the manager, she stated quite quickly...'I see you have declined our twin exec room'...WHAT?

I write my stay off as a bad experience...I won't bother trying to stay at T5 Hilton unless I have to now...simply because there is enough choice and the T4 Hilton or Sofitel are better IMO and are far more convenient without the variable quality of service. YMMV.

Good to know, thanks, I wasn't aware of this.^

Agreed, separate shower and tub are best, shower only if push comes to shove over a combined shower / tub combo but due to space a lot of European hotels are like this unfortunately. Completely agree about the T4 shower spraying well outside the shower area...only pet peeve about that bathroom really.

No, the bathrobes were quite thick and extremely soft (I think they had just been washed and dried which may have helped) but they were definitely thick terry cloth cotton robes...


Hummm, interesting...not sure what is correct then...maybe I just was given the ability to eat there due to my blow-up the night before with the manager? In any case, it was free and excellent...as a matter of fact, the breakfast was so good I seriously consider going back to the T5 Hilton and putting up with the other issues simply for the breakfast in the that restaurant...I have never had a better, fresher, breakfast, bar none. (and I do spend about 150 nights a year in hotels on average over the last 12 years)....from the fresh pastries and breads, made to order egg station to the brilliant smoothies....and a proper cappuccino, everything was excellent.

Just seems to show that if anything the experiences at T5 Hilton vary far too much IMO. Personally, I'll stick to the T4 or Sofitel. The T5 is nice and new, rooms are great (even standard rooms) BUT the soft product is too variable throughout.

Andriyko

I stayed at Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 5, and had a wonderful experience. Was upgraded to an Executive room (which was spacious and modern). Had a drink at the bar and then dinner at the restaurant. The food was fantastic - certainly better than I expected at an airport hotel. The service was good and very attentine; in fact, the restaurant's manager, Will, was a true star!
Even though the hotel is not very convenient I will choose it over Sofitel and Hilton T4.

BotB

Great to hear Andriyko ^

It seems the T5 Hilton is excellent 98 % of the time...One or two of us must have hit them on a bad day.

B747-437B

I stayed here for a few days during the Olympics.

Arrived at 10am and was offered an upgrade to Executive Room if I was willing to wait a couple of hours for it to be cleaned, or else a regular room immediately. I took the regular room and was given access to the Executive Lounge in addition. They also sent up bathrobes and a welcome gift (chocolates and water) to the regular room.

Exec Lounge was nothing fancy but had decent spreads for breakfast. Staff could not have been more friendly or helpful.

Definitely one of the better Hilton properties out there. I prefer it to the Hilton T4, despite the need for the Hoppa to/from the Terminals.