Born to Travel

I am traveling to Scandanavia and the Baltic in Sep and Oct, and since I was routed through Heathrow on the way back, I decided to stop over for
a few days.

This is my first trip to London, and planned to stay at either the Metropole or Paddington locations. I am a Lifetime Diamond member, and am reaching out for some advise on which of these properties to stay arriving on Thursday for 4 nights.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi Borntotravel,

Welcome to flyertalk and the hilton forum.

Assuming that the Thursday is in Sept and Oct and quarantine restrictions are lifted ( so you can actually look around) both are in a good position being just above a number of underground lines ( they are both virtually on the same Praed street. The metropole is a very large hotel and can be crowded at times. The metropole does has a swimming pool.

The Paddington is a nicer hotel and is has a corridor to the station concourse so easy to catch trains and the heathow express. It is slightly closer to Hyde park and the central line.
Both have lounges but not sure what would be the situation post covid.
I have stayed in both hotels generally for 1 night and both are ok with a preference for the paddington for the location to the heathrow express.
I would probably pick the Paddington hotel ( assuming reasonably close prices between them) but if staying for 4 nights possibly consider more central london hotels ( Conrad St James or Bankside - details in the Hilton London hotels thread)

Regards

TBS

kilo

Over the last 6 months rates for Hilton Paddington have been low relative to the Metropole. This might be in part because if the lack of an open restaurant including for breakfast. Obviously this might have changed by September.

Cymro

I assume you're choosing these for ease of access to the Heathrow Express.

It will depend on your dates, and also you're assuming there will be no quarantine in the UK by then (frankly, that's a big risk, although entirely possible) — but I'm sure you can find a much nicer Hilton property in London for a better rate than either of these two. It just won't be quite as close to the rail link.

Raffles

Worth noting that the Metropole is coming to the end of a massive refurbishment.

I simply don't see any logic in staying here, however, if you're getting a Heathrow Express train into Paddington. The Paddington property is literally in the railway station.

That said, if you're staying for 4 nights, there are nice Hilton properties in London. No need to literally live in a railway station unless it's a quick overnight.

Freetotravel

Paddington is the better hotel. As per previous poster it is part of the structure of the railway station. Old railway hotel which is quirky because of its odd U shape layout with the station inside the U.

I stayed there on business many, many times and always enjoyed.

For a tourist visit I agree that London has many great Hilton options at a whole range of prices (there’s a whole thread about it) but this isn’t a bad option as such.

hbtr

I have stayed at both several times, although not for the past couple of years. Both are pretty reasonable. I generally preferred the Paddington Hilton, partly because In addition to a completely covered walk from HEX to my room I usually needed to go somewhere on GWR on every trip. I also preferred the surrounding area at Paddington, there were a couple of Indian restaurants and pubs that I liked. I did prefer the Metropole bar to the Paddington although it was under renovation the last time I was there so no idea what it is like now. My main reason for staying at the Metropole was that it was often a lot cheaper and easier on the expense report.

Born to Travel

Many thanks for the travel advice!

andimilk

I should note by the way that the Hilton London Metropole appears to have done away with its pool in the ongoing refurb. I am due to stay next week and received an email with the following info:

The pool icon has also been removed from the amenities list on the website and app.

djsflynn

Having stayed in both, I'd definitely go for the Paddington. Super convenient for jumping off the Heathrow Express (or the slower-less-frequent-but-cheaper TfL service which replaced Heathrow Connect) as it's just up the ramp and turn right, and so many Tube lines right there as well – or hop a bus into the city, which is what I like to do, by memory (although it's been a while) the 7 and 23 are great for this.

Interested to read Raffles' note on the Metropole being refurbished. Ye Gods but it needed it. What struck me is that the Metropole was very much a 'conference' hotel – vast, soulless, totally without character or any sense of style or a pretence at being welcoming (at least pre-refurb) and the club lounge I visited was the most cramped and dire little shoebox with shite 'snacks' of an evening.