We’re traveling to London in a few weeks and on our way back, our flight out of Heathrow is at 6:00am. Since we want to be at the airport early, it seems a waste of money to get a hotel for Wednesday night, not to mention the problem of public transportation getting to the airport at 4:00am. We plan to check out of our hotel Wednesday morning, and spend the day wandering around London, meet with some friends and go to an important (for us) exhibition, then wander around some more before heading out to Heathrow before the busses or tube stops running and wait until check-in time.
The thought of spending hours in hard plastic seats, not to mention badly wanting a shower after a day’s trekking and the long flight home is not pleasant. I discovered Yotel and though it’s pricy and we’re on a budget, it would take the place of the hotel we had originally planned for, and it’s more than a pod. It’s private, right at the airport, has a TV, free WiFi and complementary drinks, has a toilet and shower, for £67 (£85 for a slightly bigger room). That’s approximately $113 or $144. Expensive (for us) but not as expensive as a hotel would be, and definitely not as stressful as the thought of getting to the airport that early.
I’ve read some reviews but I thought I’d ask here. Any personal experiences?
We’ll be flying Lufthansa from O’Hare to Dusseldorf, Germany, then on to London. We’ll be there 4 days, then fly SWISS to Zurich, then to Chicago.
We’re thrilled to be going, it’s a dream trip for us.
I just have to figure out what the deal is with an Oyster card.
We’re still looking for a budget hotel for the first two nights we’re there. We’ve already paid for a hotel on the 3rd night, and realized that with that early flight, it’d be silly to get one for the 4th night.
I can’t help with Yotel, but you can get an Oyster card easily before you travel from the VisitBritain shop online.
After a long flight to London (24 hours for us), and the hassle of the immigration queues, it’s nice not to have to queue again at the underground station at Heathrow, but just be able to get straight onto the train.
Not a Yotel, but I once stayed a night in the (now gone?) “Cocoon” at CDG airport at the end of my stay in Paris, before catching an early flight out. It was pod-like: a single bed, step out of bed and you’re standing at the sink, one step to the left was the toilet, one more step to the left was the shower. No TV. The whole thing was about the size of the hall bathroom in my house.
But it was private, clean, quiet, and very, very convenient. Exactly what I needed.
Also, in case you don’t know what an Oyster card even is…
It’s a reloadable card that grants you access to busses and the tube. So instead of having to buy tickets every time you just shove 30 or whatever pounds on your card and ride without worry.
…until your money runs out, but reloading it is super easy.
I’ve stayed at the Yotel at Heathrow. Quiet, convenient, enough space for what you want it for, clean and reasonably comfortable. Don’t remember any free drinks, mind you. Also everything in that area of the airport closes pretty early, if I recall, so don’t expect to be able to find anything to eat late at night. But I’d go for it again - it certainly beat getting up and out to Heathrow at 4 in the morning, for me.
I stayed at the Yotel at Gatwick. It was very efficient. The bed was like a bunk on a boat, then a small empty walk space maybe 2 meters wide with a flip-up table, then the toilet/shower behind a glass wall Though small the room wasn’t claustrophobic. I think you could stow your baggage at the front desk if it’s too big for the room. I think the lobby had a few vending machines if you get peckish.
One thing that surprised me was how quiet it it considering how densely the rooms are packed. The halls were quiet too. They had no windows and dim blue light. It felt like being in a church but not in a bad way.
I’d stay in one again should the opportunity rise. The convenience of being right inside the airport is worth the price.
Can I suggest the Premier Inn instead? You get a decent-sized room with ensuite and a full-sized bed. At Gatwick the one not adjacent to the airport has a courtesy bus service to the airport.
I’m not so sure wandering around London lugging all your luggage around is a good idea. Try asking your hotel if you can leave your luggage there until the evening, after the exhibition.
The Heathrow Premier Inns are cheaper for the room, but they don’t seem to have the shuttle to the airport. Unless I’m being an idiot, which is entirely possible. Without a shuttle, it’s just a load of hassle, and even with one it’s an extra step with associated possible delays/cancellations to factor in, early in the morning with a long journey ahead.
Personally, depending on how important £20 is to you, I’d still go for the convenience of being right there in the terminal at the Yotel. Premier Inns are perfectly reasonable hotels, but then again I’ve had no problems and slept fine at the Yotel (and the boss now reminds me that we’ve actually stayed there three times. Who knew?).
Hmmm, I stayed at the one in NYC but had no idea that it’s a concept. To me, it was just your normal midtown hotel room, except more modern. And the price was a lot higher than the London prices being quoted here. Some of it was self-serve, like the automated baggage storage. But inside it was large with a restaurant and a night club. The bed was large and folded into a couch.
Hi, I’ve been gone all day and I’m just reading the responses. Thank you everyone, Cunctator, Sir T-Cups and peedin (for the Oyster Card information), Tangent, Teacake, Caractacus Pott, and Jackknifed Juggernaut. We still haven’t decided, that should happen this weekend. I’m wanting to stay there just because of the convenience, but it’s nice to have a backup name, Premiere Inn, if it should come to that. Thank you Quartz. I do think we’d rather be at the airport. We’d happily miss our plane on the way back if we were bumped (we’d volunteer!) but to risk missing it because of traffic or whatever may happen, would be bad.
We’re only going to have backpacks so hauling around luggage is not going to be much of a problem. I did look into storing them at the Excess Baggare storage at Paddington Station though, in case we decide to do that.
We’d pay to take a shower in one of the clubs if we could stay there until we have to go check in, but you can only stay there 3 hours and they close at 11, so we’d still be in plastic chairs for a few hours. We only have an hour layover in Zurich so there’s no chance to take a shower there.
Caractacus Pott, I saw the pictures on the web site of the bunk bed-type layout in the cheaper room. I’m very short. How do you get up into the bed? Is there a stepstool? I think if we’re going to do it I’d prefer the larger room because of the couch/bed arrangement.
Teacake, it says “We also offer complimentary hot drinks; coffee, tea and hot chocolate” on their web site about the Heathrow Yotel, so not all beverages, just hot, which sounds lovely.
Thank you again for the responses, they’re much appreciated.
Alright, we booked our Yotel! For our first two nights in London we found an awesome B&B on the east side of London, with a private bathroom, in an amazing house, with really friendly and interesting hosts (hey, they have Zappa poster on their wall!) and close to public transportation. It was only $147.00 for two nights, which is not that much compared to one night at a regular hotel.
Since we saved money there, we splurged on the midsized Yotel room with the bed that can also be a couch, and set a check-in time of 6:00pm. We don’t plan to be there that early, but it’s nice to know that we can. Check-out time of 4:00am, though we might leave a bit earlier.
We’ll have all day and evening on a Monday to roam around London. We’re thinking about a London Walk out to Greenwich. Anyone have experience with either the Walks or Greenwich?