Having to spend a night in London between two flights, one arriving in the evening and the other leaving in the morning, I decided to stay at the Sheraton Skyline Heathrow, one of the airport Sheratons.
Arrival at the hotel
The Sheraton Skyline Heathrow is served by a shuttle bus from the airport, the “Hotel Hoppa”. Just buy a ticket and board. Be careful though: there are several shuttles that make different circuits and be careful to take the one that goes to your hotel.
Please note: because the Heathrow airport area is so spread out, the journey is not particularly short. Depending on your terminal and the traffic, it can take more than 30 minutes. This still makes the choice to sleep at the airport logical since the metro takes 50 minutes to get to the city center but it’s not close either. Beware if you leave early in the morning.
Very large and composed of 4 wings organized in a square, the hotel dates back to that time when the Sheraton brand was totally abandoned and limited to piles of rooms without any charm on the edge of the airport.
Not particularly beautiful from the outside and cold impersonal and charmless as soon as you walk through the front door. Anyway, you’ re only here for a short time and rarely for more than one night.
The time at the reception is short.
The staff is courteous and efficient. By applying the loyalty program my “classic room” is transformed into a “Club room” that is to say a little bit bigger but with an access to the lounge. The hotel didn’t seem to be full but as I didn’t check before if there were any junior suites available, I won’t point out what seems to me to be an imperfect application of the loyalty program.
A generally old-fashioned hotel
The long corridors that lead me to my room confirm my impression: the hotel needs a little refurbishment. If they are clean, carpets and wallpapers seem to come from another time.
The room is very decent.
But the decoration is a bit old-fashioned and it is especially in the bathroom that we see that the hotel is a bit old. Especially the bathtub.
In short, there is real room for improvement for a property that could look quite different with some effort.
The bedding on the other hand is pleasant and for one night only it remains very suitable even if the competition of more recent hotels must start to be perceived.
To finish a little video tour.
I note, however, that the hotel is not as well soundproofed as the Sheraton Roissy Charles de Gaulle which is an example in this regard. We are close to the runways and this can be heard. Not enough to disturb my sleep but I’m not sure if lighter sleepers will say the same
A cosy but minimalist lounge
In terms of catering I only tried the lounge for breakfast the next morning.
A little less old-fashioned than the rest but quite cosy. On the other hand, I find its size oddly small for a hotel that has to accommodate a lot of frequent travelers and therefore people who are likely to be entitled to access the lounge because of their status on the loyalty program.
The restaurant area is really small.
And the offer reduced to its minimum.
I have already seen much better.
A huge and very unexpected pool.
In terms of facilities I tested the fitness center before my departure. It is of a very decent size but also shows its age.
Not very richly equipped either, it will confine those who do something other than cardio to a small corner quickly filled as soon as 3 people use it.
More surprisingly, the hotel has a huge swimming pool with bar and deckchairs under a glass roof in the heart of the hotel.
Surprising because it is not the kind of hotel where one imagines that the customers have enough time to go bask in it. However, it must be a very pleasant place when it is operational. Given my departure time it was still closed and not accessible so I had to settle for pictures through the window.
But you can see that the facilities and the floor are also showing their age.
Conclusion: yes, but not great
The Sheraton Skyline Heathrow “does the job” for an airport hotel. But not much more. Without being unpleasant it does nothing to be pleasant and a good refreshment would do him a lot of good
The grades
Hotel (location etc…): at an acceptable distance from the airport but without much charm and globally a bit old fashioned. 6,5
Check-out: efficient and courteous. 10
Room: good size for this category, clean but a decoration which starts to make its age as well as the bath-tub. 7
Restaurant/bar:I only tried the lounge. Not very large, very poor offer, standard quality without more. 6,5
Facilities (gym, pool, spa…) : good size gym but poorly equipped, superb pool even if here again some renovation would be welcome. 7, mainly for the pool.
Service and attention: not rated because my interactions with the staff were limited to the arrival and departure process.
Loyalty program application: no problem with customer recognition but I am still convinced that given the hotel’s occupancy the upgrade could have been better. 7
Experience for money : at a little more than 150 euros per night it does the job without more and without making dream. 7
The pictures are available here.
Articles similaires
