Marriott London Heathrow, Hayes

...over-run with hotels, but the Marriott stands out, looking, at first glance, like a modern set of offices on a thrown together industrial estate. On this note I just had to share some comments from an article written in the observer

“Bath Road is a soulless strip of dual carriageway en route to Heathrow lined with airport hotels which look like they have been constructed from Duplo by an unimaginative five-year-old. The Heathrow Marriott ...
...only giving it 4 thanks to Ciao’s limitations.

CONTACT DETAILS
London Heathrow Marriott Hotel
Bath Road, Hayes, Middlesex, UB3 5AN

Telephone: 0208 990 1100

Website: www.marriott.com

For good discounts try: www.superbreak.com
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A rare opportunity, to review a hotel the day or so after staying there, thanks to Ciao listing it first time from a late Sunday night request.

An early Monday morning meeting in central London meant my options were a 3.30am start, or a stopover somewhere closer. Travelling from the West, Heathrow seemed like the obvious choice and the offerings on Bath Road are broad; from the Renaissance to the Novotel, the Sheraton Skyline and many luxury and budget outlets in-between, to my ultimate choice, the Marriott. Why, you may well ask.

It met my criteria, offering high speed internet access and a swimming pool, plus on site parking. A check on their website showed a rate of £139 plus tax for room only, far outside my subsistence level. Laterooms and activehotels offered nothing inspiring, but Superbreak came up trumps, £60 for the room, consisting of a mere £30 charge for me and a £30 single supplement, so I am guessing £60 would cover two people in these circumstances.

ARRIVAL
The hotel is on Bath Road, a stones throw from one of the main Heathrow runways. Access is really straightforward, leave the M4 at Junction 4, onto a small exit road Jctn 4a, and then onto the A4 towards central London, the hotel is a few hundred metres up on the left hand side.

As you may have gathered, this strip of road is over-run with hotels, but the Marriott stands out, looking, at first glance, like a modern set of offices on a thrown together industrial estate. On this note I just had to share some comments from an article written in the observer

“Bath Road is a soulless strip of dual carriageway en route to Heathrow lined with airport hotels which look like they have been constructed from Duplo by an unimaginative five-year-old. The Heathrow Marriott stands out because it looks like it has been constructed from Meccano by an inspired 14-year-old

(Source: http://travel.guardian.co.uk/hotels/story/0,11327,638888,00.html)

RECEPTION AND CHECK-IN
Reception is a large affair with the concierge eager to assist. Adjacent to the check in desk there is Costa Coffee, a couple of bars, restaurants, a business centre and an executive lounge. There is also a stand alone cash-point, and unlike many of its counterparts in shops and other hotels, this one is free. There was also a small shop selecting a range of refreshments, cigarettes and newspapers.

Check in was swift, requiring completion of a records card, and a swipe of the credit card for extras, the room charge itself was paid for through Superbreak (this will become important later). Unlike any other hotel I’ve used, I was asked how many room keys I would like, bizarre considering I was staying alone. I wasn’t however, offered an early morning call or a newspaper, and had to ask, this is definitely a new one on me from those hotels that offer the facility.

All the staff were very friendly, although I notice few of them were English. What was interesting was that each member wore a badge with their name on, and underneath it their country of origin, quite a novel idea for a hotel that, because of its location, must get far more than its fair share of overseas visitors. I also noticed that many of the airline staff, pilots and cabin crew stayed here.

My room was on the 2nd floor, accessed via stairs, or one of four lifts, it was quite a fair trek from reception, although I was offered assistance with my luggage.

THE ROOM
On initially opening the doors, I have to say I was disappointed. It was little different in style or décor to many cheaper chains I have used. There was a double bed, cupboard area, working desk with swivel chair (now that was unique), small round table with two comfortable chairs, bedside table, a TV cabinet and mini-bar.

The mini bar (which has sensors to detect movement) was empty, and it took me ages to find the lamp switches. There were no overhead lights in the room, but the power of the 4 standard lamps provided more than enough light to work comfortably.

Air conditioning was provided, although, despite following the on wall instructions, did not work particularly well. The windows didn’t open, probably something to do with the potential noise pollution of being so close to one of the Heathrow runways, but the room was not what I would consider uncomfortably warm so it wasn’t too much of a problem.

The bed, an easy 6 footer, looked deliciously inviting, however, erring on the side of caution, I decided to check it first, good thing I did. The pillows were feather and the quilt duck down, eek, not a healthy night for me.

In addition to the evident problems with the bed, I switched the TV on, and it started changing channels on its own, and then turned itself off. The volume would only rise to about 40% of its full potential; this was beginning to feel more like fawlty towers than a 4 star classy outlet.

However, I am gracious enough to recognise that problems can occur, and that how they are dealt with provides an indication of an outlet's quality. Within 5 minutes of calling reception, two workmen appeared to ‘fix’ the TV, and also rang housekeeping to get my bedding changed.

On realising they were not going to be able to fix the TV, which was apparently brand new, they replaced it. This caused another problem, as the very neat storage cabinet that enabled the TV angle to be changed, didn’t work because the replacement was too big, resulting in limited movement capability, still I don’t suppose you can have everything. TV channels available include all the terrestrial offerings, free movies and additional movie channels at £7.50 a time.

The room also had a double built in wardrobe with mirrors on both sides. Numerous hangers were supplied, and also on offer were a trouser press, iron and board.

The room provided a travel kettle, cups and Kenco coffee sachets which were just about palatable. There was also a free bottle of water supplied (not bad considering one would set you back £1.60 in the bar).

As expected the room was en-suite with numerous large towels, bath, overhead movable shower and Neutrogena shower gel and shampoo, there was also facial soap and a full sewing kit.

The bath looked incredibly inviting, however, was actually rather shallow, not really encouraging a long drawn out soak, it was also rather short, which although ideal for me, would probably mean hell for someone over about 5 foot 5”.

The internet facilities in the room were various. Aa modem docking station was supplied, and customers could either use the dial up facility (99p per minute) or £1.49 fixed charge for freephone numbers (per call), or, for £15 you could take advantage of 24 hours of high speed connection using either an Ethernet or USB cable.

Even with my firewall which often causes problems, I had no problem in getting connected. Unlike other places I’ve stayed, the charge is made directly to the room bill, rather than on a separate credit card. You should note, if staying here for more than 1 day, that 24 hour time stamp is not strictly correct, all connection times run from midday to mid-day, hence if you buy at 8pm you still pay £15, and you must also leave your room by 11am on the day of check-out, so a little misleading, nevertheless, a very good deal offering reasonable speed (my Bandwidth test threw it up at 100K, although it did seem faster. All cables were also supplied by the hotel, although I chose to use my own.

REMEMBER I mentioned I had already paid for my room? Around 1130pm, I received a copy of my bill through the door indicating I was to again pay for my accommodation, a swift call to reception corrected this immediately.

All live bill updates can be checked through the TV system.

FOOD
In normal style, I ordered room service. It took me around 10 minutes to get an answer on the phone from either room service or reception, which I consider somewhat excessive.
I found the menu rather limited ranging from one curry style to burger, steak, sandwiches or a few pastas.

They did state you could also order anything not listed, I tried with Spaghetti Carbonara, but the restaurant that made it was closed for the day. I plumped for Lasagne Al Forno accompanied by Green salad and Garlic dough balls, accompanied by a pint of Carlsberg; it set me back £15, which included a £2.50 room charge, easily comparable with far lowlier hotels I’ve used.

I did not particularly enjoy the meal, however, the presentation and style were good, and I suspect it was more my fault for plumping for a meal which didn’t actually sit well on my list of favourite foods. There is also a clause on the menu that if your food is not delivered within 30 minutes of ordering you will receive no charge. Breakfast can also be ordered in the room, providing forms are placed outside the door before 3am, windows for delivery range between 6 and 11am, which is quite generous if you fancy a lie in.

Drinks were a little above average in price, but certainly not too bad considering this was the London outskirts, and a four star hotel. ½ a lager was £1.70, a pint £3.20 and a double Gordons G&T £7.60. The hotel bar shuts around 12 midnight for residents, and unlike many other places I’ve stayed, they do not stop taking cash payments at 11pm.

BREAKFAST
Served from 6am and priced at £14.95 was buffet style. (This was with the exception of tea/coffee and orange juice which the staff insisted on serving to your table).

There was a cold buffet, consisting of a wide range of juices, cereals, fruits and pastries, cold meats, cheese, smoked salmon, pastries, and a wonderful array of hot foods including:

Bacon (smoked and unsmoked), Sausages (Irish or Lincoln), scrambled egg, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes, fried bread, egg potato and onion patties, and potato rostis (posh hash browns to the rest of us. You could also enjoy pancakes and maple syrup, or there was a chef area for freshly cooked fried eggs, omelettes or anything else that took your fancy. My only gripe was there was no un-smoked bacon out when I arrived, and it wasn’t refilled for about 10 minutes. Other than this, it was evident that all the food was freshly cooked and extremely tasty. There was plenty of variety and my only gripe was that I didn’t have more time to enjoy it, because I was rushing for my meeting.

LEISURE FACILITIES
My second reason for staying, and I wasn’t to be disappointed. These facilities are free to hotel guests.

There was a sizeable swimming pool (I would guess around 18/20m) with stepped in access, a hot spa, sauna, steam room, plus massage facilities (extra charge). The communal changing rooms were large with numerous substantially sized lockers requiring a £1 refundable deposit.

The showers were large overhead sprays with measured thermostatic controls; shampoo, shower gel and conditioner were provided. There was also two hairdryers in front of large mirrors. The leisure club is open to clients from 7 till 11 daily, and children under 14 must be supervised, rather than banned as I have seen in several other outlets.

GETTING AROUND
Many might think it a good idea to stay here the night before the flight, and I can assure you, you won’t be disappointed. However, if you think it might be a good idea to leave the car here for your holiday, you might be disappointed, the daily charge is £18, and the bus to the Heathrow terminals costs £3 single and £5 return, tickets can be purchased from a machine in front of the hotel. I was also informed that there would be a £9 charge for leaving my car at the hotel, but this was never forthcoming.

My original intention was to take the bus to Heathrow and then get the tube from there. However, reception kindly advised me that I could take a service bus (numbers 556 or 285) to Hatton Cross tube station free of charge, where I could pick up the Piccadilly line to central London.

The bus journey took about 15 minutes (not bad in rush hour) and the tube journey into Leicester Square about 40 minutes. The fare was £7 return, although had I been able to wait until 9.30am, I could have picked up an all day travel card for £5.40.

On the return journey I was desperate to get away from Heathrow before rush hour, and took a taxi back to the hotel from Hatton cross, which set me back around £7. Yyes I did beat the rush hour, shortening my overall journey somewhat and making Swansea in around 3-1/2 hours, despite hold ups in Bristol, Newport and the Swansea outskirts.

RATES
As I have already mentioned, standard rates start from £139 for a basic room up to £270 for a suite. Discounted rates seem hard to find, although it was a Sunday night (typically when cheap rooms are two a penny) and I got a discounted rate of £60 room only through www.superbreak.com.

Interestingly, you can book rooms for day periods only, presumably to recover from your Jet Lag, however, I did notice several rooms with DND notices which were cleaned around 7pm, makes you wonder the actual purposes of the room hire, Mr and Mrs Smith!!

OTHER INFO
This hotel is ideally situated for Heathrow, central London and many other local attractions such as Windsor, Chessington and Thorpe Park, and is well within easy reach of the M4/M25 motorways and the tube and rail networks.

The hotel has 13 meeting rooms, and also a dedicated area of stand alone computers for those travelling without laptops.

IN SUMMARY
A nice hotel with excellent facilities and first class service, although I felt that around 400 rooms, it was a little too large to be able to add that personal touch.

The room was comfortable, and thanks to the "double" double glazing you would have been hard pushed to realise you were so close to one of the busiest airports in the world

Would I stay there again? Without a shadow of a doubt, although not at £139 per room, much as I would be tempted, this is way over my subsistence rates and overpayment has to be kept for those occasions when there are no alternatives.

I should imagine that many corporate organisations have discounted rates with this chain, unfortunately, most education establishments are unlikely to fall into this category.

Next time I stay in this area, my mission will be to find a deal with the Sheraton Skyline next door, which looks fabulous from its website and outside.

In reality, I believe the hotel deserves 4½ stars, but only giving it 4 thanks to Ciao’s limitations.

CONTACT DETAILS
London Heathrow Marriott Hotel
Bath Road, Hayes, Middlesex, UB3 5AN

Telephone: 0208 990 1100

Website: www.marriott.com

For good discounts try: www.superbreak.com
 

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