How to save £20+ on the Sofitel Heathrow Terminal 5 as a ‘Top Secret’ hotel

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• Luckyjim says:

  6 Jan6 January 05:06

  Hotwire is much better than Lastminute.com for ‘secret’ hotels. It is easier to work out the actual hotel and there is much greater availability. I always find the sofitel on there.

• DANi says:

  6 Jan6 January 06:06

  CHECK AMEX… 50 BACK ON 200 AMEX TRAVEL ON MY GOLD

  • Alex says:

    6 Jan6 January 11:40

    Not on Plat or BAPP sadly.
    However, I do have a spend 350 get 50 back with Accor until end of Feb. That might move a few of my upcoming hotel stays their way!

    • Andrew says:

      6 Jan6 January 12:30

      Depending on the offer you have do be careful. The version I had included a *very* limited selection of participating hotels (mostly Sofitel and MGallery).

• Anna says:

  6 Jan6 January 06:52

  Slightly OT – Even with £20 off I baulk at paying for the Sofitel. Which hotel is the next easiest to get to and from T5? Additionally, which is the best Hilton for T5? Haven’t stayed there for a few years but after our 200 mile taxi dash last year when our connecting flight was cancelled I am going back to flying down to LHR the night before.

  • Harry T says:

    6 Jan6 January 07:16

    @Anna
    I think the Thistle is attached to T5 by pods – see Rob’s old review. Much much cheaper than the Sofitel, though I haven’t stayed at the Thistle (Sofitel is okay but you’re lying for convenience – it’s not amazing). The only Hilton I can think of is that’s nearby is the T3 Hilton Garden Inn that is usually quite expensive considering what it is.

    • Geoff says:

      6 Jan6 January 07:48

      Just stayed at the Thistle having got one of their cheap hotel plus parking deals. However, the place is somewhat dated and the rooms are fairly old. Showers over baths are very narrow, with shower curtains which you can’t help but get caught up in. There are no lifts, if that is an issue for you, and they charge an additional £5 per person, each way, for the POD. Good value though at £110 for one night and up to 8 days parking. Stayed the night on our return as well at £47 pre-paid with breakfast.

    • Unsavage gerbil says:

      6 Jan6 January 08:26

      If you can get the Sofitel for £109 its a no brainer, if you want to experience the pods ( my kids did) get on at terminal 5 get off at the car park and get back on again and return to terminal for free.

      The Thistle is a joke IMHO.

      The Gerbil.

      • Anna says:

        6 Jan6 January 09:24

        No way can you get the Sofitel for £109 in school holidays – you’re looking at nearer £300.

        • Spurs Debs says:

          6 Jan6 January 10:10

          I’ve got a twin room booked in April for £151.
          I’m ok with that price, it’s the convenience for me. I can go stay night before morning flight no rushing around at 5am. Then either get special assistance to get me with wheelchair or take a slow walk to terminal. It means I start my trip relaxed not stressing out. There’s other reasons as well but that’s to do with my family circumstances why I stay night before.

        • Anna says:

          6 Jan6 January 10:38

          This is interesting because lastminute only classes children as under 12 which means I have to search for 3 adults, which gives me a price of £299 for the night I’d want to stay. However, hotels.com counts children as up to 17, so if you search for 2 adults and a child, you get the option of paying £149, presumably because that would be a double room with a rollaway bed. Worth remembering and a bit sneaky of lastminute!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          6 Jan6 January 13:38

          just book it as a child, if the main accor site allows it.

          the hotel rules are what count not the booking portal you use.

  • Rob says:

    6 Jan6 January 07:40

    Hilton Garden In at Hatton Cross then jump on tube, or Hilton Paddington.

    • Oh! Matron! says:

      6 Jan6 January 08:26

      Seconded. Booked it for the end of the month for a mere £49!

  • Callum says:

    6 Jan6 January 09:19

    Not exactly what you asked for, but I normally stay at an Airbnb on Bath Road. It’s within the free London bus zone (the one I’ve been to a few times is around 1 minute from a bus stop) and, as long as you don’t need hotel amenities, much cheaper. You can often get a decent but no-frills room for not much more than £30.

  • Anna says:

    6 Jan6 January 09:30

    Thanks all, some good suggestions. This is where I can actually recommend MAN with its multiple hotels with free shuttle buses on site!

    • RussellH says:

      6 Jan6 January 10:15

      Doubltree at Newcastle is not bad either, 5 min walk (max) from checkout to checkin, prices reasonable – two nights in NCL for one at the Sofitel T5 – and generally friendly and helpful staff.

    • mvcvz says:

      6 Jan6 January 11:03

      I can’t think of a single reason to recommend MAN for anything. I live about 30minutes drive away and electively head to LHR for long haul rather than connect from MAN. Hideous overcrowded filthy place.

      • Anna says:

        6 Jan6 January 11:19

        Lol – the on site hotels are the ONLY thing which makes it better than T5! But you must really hate it to travel to LHR as a preference. I only generally do it when I’m going somewhere with no direct flight from MAN.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        6 Jan6 January 12:56

        Anna’s right, the hotels are actually quite good; and with two Hiltons an HI and an Ibis currently under construction, potentially about to get better (or at least add competition and drive down room rates). Radisson Blu family rooms (two rooms for price of one) connected to terminal and paid for by Amex points are one of the UK’s best rewards sweet spots.

  • Doug M says:

    6 Jan6 January 10:22

    T5 has a perfectly fine Premier Inn. Bus stop outside takes you to T5, not a Hoppa, regular bus which is free, number 423.

    • Anna says:

      6 Jan6 January 10:40

      We stayed there about 8 years ago for something ridiculous like £25! I couldn’t remember how we got to the terminal though.

      • PJJ says:

        6 Jan6 January 23:24

        If you travel by car, next door to the Premier Inn is a Purple Parking. Leave you car there during the evening and take their shuttle bus free of charge to the terminal and back

    • Roy says:

      6 Jan6 January 21:40

      A number of people recommend the Premier Inn *T4* for T5. Although directly connected to T4, it also has a frequent free local TfL bus to T5 that leaves from the stops on the street outside the hotel (i.e. *don’t* go into T4 at all).

      There’s an FT post with a map that shows exactly where the nearest bus stops are – I’ve posted the link here before. But the hotel is now promoting the convenient bus link to T5 as a selling point, so hopefully the staff should be able to point you in the right direction….

      I’m trying it for the first time in a few weeks – I got it forr £31.

      roy

  • Lady London says:

    6 Jan6 January 20:15

    HGI hatton cross has its fans. Nearish but not outstandingly close to T4 so a bit fiddly to get to other terminals but considerably better value than hgi T2 (location better by far but it costs). Not the other hilton owned one over by the moxy.

    • Roy says:

      6 Jan6 January 22:10

      I think for most people the main attraction of the HGI Heathrow is the short walk to Hatton Cross tube station (the stop on the Piccadilly line immediately before Heathrow). From which, of course, all terminals are very conveniently accessible by tube (although not fit free). Unless you have a flight at a time when the tube isn’t running, of course.

• mutley says:

  6 Jan6 January 08:30

  Hilton at Paddington Station Ok, but walk up Praed Street 500 metres to Edgware Road and the Hilton Metropole a whole lot better.

• Matt says:

  6 Jan6 January 08:54

  O/T Two of us flying BA F to Sydney next month. Hoping for a quick shower during Singapore stop over. Any advice on whether the new Qantas first lounge or the BA/Qantas business lounges are best? Clearly on a niceness front it’s QF First, but I was thinking more likelihood of getting a shower and practicality of getting to/from lounge from BA gate? Advice is appreciated.

  • Chris says:

    6 Jan6 January 11:18

    If your priority is just getting a shower; the BA flights generally park closer to the BA lounge than the qf first lounge. So off the plane you will get to the BA lounge first; its 5- 10 mins further down the terminal to the QF First lounge.

    The food/ showers @ the QF lounge are much nicer though than the Concorde cupboard.

    Remember time wise you have to queue with the masses to get back on the plane as there isn’t a significant priority screening back into the gate lounge @ Changi.

    • Matt says:

      6 Jan6 January 17:22

      Thanks for the advice Chris

• Gerry says:

  6 Jan6 January 09:36

  Stayed at Sofitel in October connecting EDI through LHR T5. Saw advice on previous HfP article (thanks Rob) and saved just under £40 on advertised rate.

  I have an O/T question, though Accor related: 3.2k Accor points are about to disappear without action. Any advice as they won’t be used/prolonged for/from a stay? My understanding is the minimum 4k points minimum needed to move to airline points?

  Thanks in advance.

• EwanG says:

  6 Jan6 January 09:48

  There is a workaround which means you can move any amount of points to a partner, avoiding the minimum. If moving to Avios, move them to an Iberia account and not BAEC as the rate is better. Rob has done articles on how to do this in the past, so search on the site. Never tried it myself so cannot vouch that it still works.
  The other relatively-easy option, if you want to keep the points, sign up for the ClubOpinions, go through the minimum profile questions and complete your first survey. You get 25 points for that plus 250 signup points, resetting expiry.

  • EwanG says:

    6 Jan6 January 09:49

    This was a reply to Gerry!

    • Gerry says:

      6 Jan6 January 10:51

      Cheers EwanG.

  • RussellH says:

    6 Jan6 January 10:58

    I do not think that Club Opinions points reset expiry – they did not for me.

    Thios is a quote form my own ALL account “Your points have lifetime eligibility under the condition that you stay in one of our participating hotels at least once a year.”

    AFAIK, the operative word is “Stay”.

    • EwanG says:

      6 Jan6 January 11:33

      Club Opinions points have reset expiry on my account in the past, and with my wife’s points (accrued without stays) due to expire tomorrow I set her up with a CO account a month ago, expiry has been pushed out by 12 months.

      • RussellH says:

        6 Jan6 January 13:17

        I suspect that the answer then is down to ALL’s no doubt dodgy IT. I have just had to submit a missing points claim – for a hotel that has given me the points OK twice in the past.
        Obviously signing up for Club Opinions will do no harm, and if it does the job, fine.

• Raj says:

  6 Jan6 January 17:06

  Thanks for the heads-up on this, Rob. Really helpful. Just booked a night via lastminute – this will be great before taking an early morning flight. Happy New Year to everyone!

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