Doubletree by Hilton Hotel London Heathrow Airport
Hotels in London have one consistent attribute – they’re extremely expensive! As this visit to London included us spending half of our time outside of the city proper, I didn’t see the need to stay in the middle of the city. This hotel offered a fair trade in its value proposition, affordable and close to what we needed.
To be fair, the bus stop to the underground is literally in front of the hotel. It is easy to get downtown as the bus connects to the Piccadilly line and the line stops near many of the highlights of London. The underground is also useful if heading to Heathrow as it is only a couple of stops away. With the hotel being close to Heathrow, it is almost parallel to the runway. 
I noticed aircraft noise twice: when in the business centre, as it was completely quiet, and downstairs in the dining area during a quiet period during breakfast. Both of these areas are in the older section of the hotel and might explain the ability to hear the planes. Hotels rooms though are in a newer building and we didn’t hear any noise, as our room faced away from the planes’ approach.
For amenities, the hotel had everything we needed for this stay: a good buffet breakfast, parking for the rental car, close to public transit, and a business centre. I needed the business centre in order to print out tickets, as North America doesn’t use A4 sized paper. The hotel is next door to a low-rise office tower and a few shops including a Tesco Express. A benefit we didn’t plan was that one of the bus routes that stopped in front of our hotel took us to Hampton Court Palace.
When we arrived at the hotel by car we were quickly checked in and Amber was happy for warm cookies. I accepted the offer to have the overnight parking charges put on our hotel bill instead of paying via the machine by the parking lot. After depositing our suitcases in the room, we went to the bar to have an evening snack, tomato soup and garlic bread. My concept of garlic bread must be a little different, as I couldn’t taste any garlic, however melted cheese on bread worked fine.
The layout of the ground floor reflects that the building is two parts. The older part of the building has been renovated to hold the bar and restaurant on the main floor, and upstairs there are meeting rooms and the business centre.
We had a king room, that was clean with a functional layout. The bathroom had a deep tub that almost claimed a couple of my toes by forgetting how much to step in & out. The ledge behind the toilet became valuable property as there was minimal space beside the sink on the counter for anything beyond the hotel supplied glasses and soaps.
For this stay our rate included the daily buffet breakfast. On our second day we learnt that made-to-order omelettes are available. 
They will be prepared so long as you request it from one of the wait staff. The buffet breakfast had a well-rounded selection of hot and cold items. One day you could easily have an English style breakfast complete with beans, or you could have a continental style with bread and a selection of cheese and cold cuts. For us, breakfast is essential if you are going to start your day off well and filled with energy to explore.
Finally, Wi-Fi! As everybody stays connected during trips, this is now a necessity. I didn’t attempt to test the connection speed, as it was fast enough for everything we did during our stay. The connection seemed as fast in our room as it was in the bar and dining area.
Overall, it’s a decent property. Based on reviews online it seems to be a popular choice for travellers bound for Heathrow. Given its proximity and fair price I was surprised the hotel wasn’t busier.
Permalinks to other parts of our trip:
- Overview
- Toronto: To the Gate
- Flight Toronto to London
- Doubletree by Hilton Hotels London Heathrow
- London-ish
- Day in London
- Hampton Court Palace
- Day 2 in London
- Train London to Paris
- AccorHotels in France
- Palace of Versailles
- Around Paris, and listening to a Canadian
- Louvre
- Le Mans – Friday
- Le Mans – Race Start
- Le Mans – Sunday Finish
- Mont Saint Michel
- Normandy to Paris
- Paris to Toronto