If you're lucky, at this hotel, you fall asleep watching the A380s land: review Sheraton London Heathrow

There are two reasons for sleep near the airport. The location, i.e. easy and quick to reach, the view of the runway. All facilities, good or bad, have the former, but few have the latter, this hotel has it, but obviously you have to be shrewd or lucky to book a room with a view of the runway.

Not the first hotel in the area London Heathrow I try, but this is the one that has the best view of all the ones I've tried, too bad only that my room looked onto the inner garden.

Reservation

I had a strange problem with this reservation. Knowing that I had to attend the Farnborough Fair., I booked well in advance, too bad that the reservation for some strange reason never appeared in my app.

I had received the charge for the night and was also receiving all the various emails, but there was no way to see it appear. For a moment, one day in which I was particularly tired, I also forgot that I had made a reservation and was about to make a new reservation.

Strange because as usual I had done everything through the app.

To/from the airport

LHR hotels do not have a free shuttle service, but they make use of Hotelhoppa, a paid bus service that picks up guests and takes them to the various hotels and from there to the airport. There is a charge for the service and, If you are traveling with 2, it is definitely cheaper to use Uber (e maybe accumulate Avios).

The bus, which you have to wait for and which does not drop you off in front of departures (and does not pick you up at arrivals) in fact costs 6.8 pounds, Uber even though there is the absurd "drop off" fee costs less than 11.

Check-in

I arrived in the late afternoon after an intense day at the fair.. I point out the issue to the attendant, he clicks random buttons and says, "I don't see anything wrong." So I say, "How titanium what upgrade did you give me?" and there he says, "But I don't see that you are Elite, I don't see your Bonvoy card number at all."

Here is the arcane discovered. For some reason my card number had been lost and consequently my reservation was handled like any other without any privileges whatsoever.

Luckily we solved the problem because otherwise I would have gone crazy to get into the lounge, would have been charged for breakfast, and would not have had late check-out.

The room

This hotel is an immense six-story square cathedral. My room was on the top floor on the right side, the side facing the runway, but facing the wrong way.

The room was a classic non-new hotel room. Nothing wrong with it, just all very lived-in and not very modern. Starting with the bed that was not pulled "crossbow" as Barbieri likes to say in "4hotel," in fact it looked as if it had already been lived in.

Everything that needs to be there is in the room. King bed, armchair, mega screen, minibar (empty), But as mentioned, it lacks a little bit of freshness.

Even the bathroom is as per Sheraton specifications. Given that you come here not to vacation, but to sleep for a few hours is more than fine even though Marriott standards would be other.

The lounge

If I had not had access to the lounge, I would not have appreciated the view of the runway at all.

The planes will literally land in front of the window, and it is one of the runways used by Emirates and Qantas' A380s, but also by so many others.

Too bad the lounge is microscopic, really too small for a hotel of this size in an airport like LHR. There must be about 20 tables, maybe even less. And people even if there is no buffet stay as long as they want, making it complicated to find a seat.

Happy hour starts at 6 pm and ends at 7:30 pm, all with strict Swiss punctuality. The drink comes with a few canapés and little more; we certainly don't get out dinner here, but the view repays the wait, especially for an avgeek like me.

Breakfast

Mediocre is the comment I feel like giving this breakfast, like everything else about the hotel and the experience I had in the two nights I spent there.

Between "out of order" pieces and clutter, I can't say I had an epic breakfast as is the case in Asia, but this is also an endemic flaw of facilities like this where passengers pass through and never (almost) return.

Truly a sad and unappetizing offering in all respects.

In conclusion

The view is what sets this hotel apart, however, if you look at the indoor garden then everything has a different flavor. The crumpled bed, the tiny lounge with almost nothing to eat are not up to the expectation of a Sheraton. Other, worse located hotels are definitely better in London Heathrow.

• hotels near airport