It’s not the hotels’ choice - the introduction of the Hoppa service was an attempt to reduce traffic around Heathrow as an environmental improvement, although subsequently it’s become too commercial. Hotel shuttles would not now be allowed access to the Central Bus Station. In addition to the Hoppa network, Heathrow is required to pay TfL a sum of money each year as a condition of its operating licence which funds the free travel zone around the airport. Once you work it out - and probably 100s of thousands do every year - it’s actually a much quicker and more efficient system than the US method of individual hotel shuttles.

As for cost - the Premier Inn at T4 will ordinarily be as cheap as any hotel around the airport. All the Bath Road hotels will be reasonable, and the quickest trip to T3 by bus. The Sofitel at T5 will be the most expensive by dint of its 5* status, and you’ll need to get on a Tube train or Heathrow Express the following day to get to T3 - so any advantage of staying at the terminal will be lost.

It's more geography than disorganisation, tbh. Heathrow is hemmed in on all sides and the original airport is an island in the centre of the airfield, accessed by tunnel. Pretty much all available space is used.

Are you planning on being around Heathrow itself during your stay? If not, there may be better connected parts of London that will give you similar value.

Yes I’m mostly just overnighting, except for one flight where I have will be in London for three days.

Check the Hilton which is connected and it’s about double the price of the other hotels. The ibis is very cheap at about $55 a night and I’ve never had a bad stay at an ibis.

I have stayed at the Ibis a few times and paid much more than $55. It is adequate but that's about all I can say. Since it is just beyond the last bus stop within the free travel zone, you will have to walk a few hundred yards to get there and a little further on the way back to the airport.

As most of my stays are just overnights I’m not looking for anything too glitzy.

Premier inn T4 is connected to the terminal? Correct? That hotel is only going for $50 a night.

I switched all my stays to the premier inn T4. This one is just a walk out of terminal 4, right?

If you're flying from T5 then the Sofitel is massively convenient... you can walk from bed to terminal in about 7mins, perhaps less.

Yes but too expensive for just a quick night over. From what I understand, the premier inn T4 is also a quick 5-10 minute walk and only $59.

I've never stayed there, but the site does say "Direct access from Terminal 4 through a covered walkway" - so appears true.

Do note that T4 isn't then walkable to T2, T3 or T5, however. You'll need to use transport from T4.

Yup, you'll need to get from T3 to T4. That's a train that runs every 15 minutes or a Tube that runs every 10 (you'll need a contactless credit card for this last option but it's free).

On the plus side, the Premier Inn model works (IMO) very well. The beds, in particular, are excellent, paarticularly given the price point.

As the Premier Inn T4 was so cheap ($59 a night), and walkable from the terminal, I transferred all my bookings to that property. If I could get confirmation BA won’t cancel these F fares from LHR-GYE, it would be only 29.50Ł a night non-refundable. That’s one helluva deal for a new hotel that’s walkable from the terminal.

I use Uber when staying at LHR hotels. Much faster than the Hoppa (unless you're at a lucky end of a route) and about 1/3rd of the cost of a local minicab.

It is a good deal at the Premier Inn, no question, and they’re a decent hotel chain - the beds are a step up from the Ibis, IMO - but I’m not sure you’ve quite understood the layout of Heathrow’s terminals, which are in no way walkable from each other (with the exception of T2/T3) - think SFO but spaced much, much further apart and with a less integrated transit system. LAX, with terminals adjacent to each other, it most certainly is not.

It will take considerably longer to get from the PI T4 to T3 than it will from the Ibis on Bath Road. From the PI you need to walk to T4 (10 minutes), wait for a Heathrow Connect train (average 7 minutes), travel to T2/T3 station (6 minutes) then walk from the platform to T3 (5 minutes) - 28 minutes all told. The tube option is similar, but has the added complication that a US issued credit/debit card may not work on the readers.

From the Ibis you’d walk 150 yards and cross the road to the Harlington Corner bus stop (3 minutes), wait for a bus (2 minutes - they mostly go to Heathrow Central Bus Station, look for numbers N9, 105, 111, 140, 285), travel to Heathrow (5 minutes), walk to T3 (6 minutes) - total 16 minutes.

I fully understand the comfort factor of believing you’re already at the airport, but the reality is that you’re really not - you’re at an entirely separate building that’s further away from your destination in the case of T4. The Ibis also has the advantage of effectively multiple options to get to T3 - there is no way whatsoever that multiple bus routes will not run, but if something goes wrong with the Heathrow Connect you only have the tube of the free transit options, with the difficulty of not knowing if your card will work.

I’ve been to LHR about 4 times, but never outside.

I always thought they had a bus system connecting each terminal. Couldn’t I just take a bus to terminal 4, then walk 10 minutes?

You may be thinking of the airside transfer buses. These aren’t an option for you because you won’t be able to enter T4 airside with a T3 boarding pass. The only viable transfer options for you the following morning are those that particularly stut has laid out.

I guess it might be possible to do that transfer on arrival provided no-one asks for proof of departure from T4 before you get on the bus, but there’s no real advantage - the wait for the transfer buses can be lengthy, and you’d arguably have a more complex exit from T4 through immigration and customs once you got there.

A bus from where? Do you mean from one of the other terminals. Or from somewhere else in London?