feysul

I am returning the car to Budget @ approx 18:00...

DrAJ

And how early do you need to be back? If you are reliant on your own 2 feet/public transport the night you stay over, T2/3 HGI is probably the easiest - walk down to the Heathrow Express and get the free transfer to T5 in the morning.

feysul

I arrive Monday March 5th around 17:00 and i have flight the next morning from Terminal 5 at 09:15 AM,...

What do you think?

BTW...the hotel has a car service for 20 GBP from Hotel to Terminal 5 in the AM.

Thanks for your insight.

DrAJ

There's a fair few facilities still closed at the T5 Hilton I think, although it does have an exec lounge and bigger rooms. T2/3 has the sky bar.. it may come down to what you want to do with the evening and how you feel about the car service vs public train. I see the T5 is cheaper even with the extra £20

RallyNavvie

Points stay question: wife and 18 month old are going to be staying in London for 4 nights this summer and wanted to stay near Mayfair or St. James'. Points stays are 80k-90k/night at the properties around there for basic rooms, but when I include our 18 month old it only lets me select rooms that are 220k/night or higher (premium room rewards). I even looked at the cash rate for the "premium" room at one of the properties and it is the same price as the basic rooms. Options?

1. Suck it up and blow almost 1M points on the cheapest room for 2 adults and a 1 year old.
2. Suck it up and pay cash rate for the same room from option 1.
3. Get two adjoining rooms at the basic rate. This is still less points spent than option 1 but two rooms is arguably better. Would I just put myself on one room, my wife on the other, and our child with one or the other of us? Are cribs extra or should we bring our travel crib instead?
4. Get a basic room by claiming only 2 adults on the reservation. We usually do this with US hotel stays as they don't seem to care about the baby as long as we have room for the crib in the room we chose.

Also would like to hear how quiet the areas are around those properties or any to avoid with small children. We chose that area as it is closes to items on our itinerary and trying to stay at a more memorable property.

pauleeepaul

Given the circumstances I would stay at the HGI to keep it simple.

feysul

why is that more simple?

pauleeepaul

The Hilton T5 is an unwalkable 5-10 minute car ride from T5. The HGI is at Heathrow Central and walkable (with train) to T5. You are only there for one night. I have business in the Heathrow area, have stayed in all of the three main HH options, and would not stay in the HGI for a multi night stay. But for one night it is fine, especially should you want to pop into Paddington on the HEX for dinner/drinks.

:D!

As a Hilton member (no status required), you benefit from second guest stays free, therefore you can just book for 1 adult and 1 child. You can put your wife's name under "additional guest" and hopefully the hotel will understand.

Most Hiltons have a family policy where children stay free on the existing beds in the room. (When your child is 17 years old that may be a bit of a stretch, but at 18 months there won't be a problem.) If you do not require the hotel to provide a cot, there is no need to include the child on the reservation. If you do, you should speak to the hotel to find out if they charge extra.

As a Gold Hilton member, you are likely to get some sort of upgrade, which could be to a room which would be bookable for 3 people online (not that you need to book for 3 as mentioned above) - not sure why you would book 2 rooms if you only want 1 room, but if you need some reassurance you could speak to the hotel and confirm an upgrade in advance.

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Private Pyle

I know this is the Hilton forum, I'm Hilton gold myself but for T5 - Sofitel all day long.

feysul

Thanks. Great suggestion with respect to the HEX

hfly

I concur, as an HH member, never put a small child into your calculation. Also, as you do not seem to have a compelling business reason I would suggest that you perhaps stay at any property but these, get your rooms for 50k or so a night and save a bundle. I would not pay twice as much for the Conrad St. James (totally dead there, where are you going to buy whatever thing you will need for the 18 year old? The convenience shop at the tube station across the street) nor the Hilton Mayfair (the least charming building in London), and would prefer a number of other neighborhoods.

RallyNavvie

You make a good point about buying things for the baby when we get there, we took that for granted on the trip we just got back from. More likely one of us will make a run out to a shop to get those things once when we get there and we'll be set for the trip. The reason for staying in that area were the monuments and museums we're planning to visit are all easy walking distance from those hotels without the need for the tube. We were considering Park Lane, Trafalgar, or the LXR properties.

cargueiro

The Park Lane Hilton and LXR will be quieter as are in a residential area, Mayfair. Park Lane is always busy with traffic but never that busy with pedestrians. LXR is at Grosvenor Square. It will be reasonably busy Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm as Mayfair also has a lot of offices, but is pretty dead otherwise. The Trafalgar is right in the heart of London at Trafalgar Square and is busy all the time. The Trafalgar has more amenities nearby like supermarkets, buses, shops etc. The Park Lane doesn't have that much nearby. The LXR will just have high end stores nearby, fancy coffee shops and restaurants.

pauleeepaul

I have stayed with kids at the Park Lane. There is a Tesco Express on Curzon not a 5 minute walk. Out the back door, left at Shepard Market, and right on Curzon for a block. Easy squeezy.