Review: the new Courtyard London Heathrow Airport hotel, part of Marriott Bonvoy

This is our review of the new Courtyard London Heathrow Airport hotel, which is part of Marriott Bonvoy.

After multiple covid-related delays, the new-build Courtyard hotel at Heathrow is finally open.  Regular readers will know Courtyard has been opening aggressively at UK airports over the last few years, and we are currently trying to catch up on our reviews.

We have recently covered the excellent new Courtyard London City Airport, reviewed here, the fairly new Courtyard Luton Airport, reviewed here, and Courtyard Inverness Airport, which I reviewed here. There is a review of Courtyard Gatwick coming up later this month which should get us up to date.

I decided to give the new Heathrow hotel a visit. HfP paid for its own stay.

The hotel website is here.

Getting to Courtyard London Heathrow Airport

If it helps you get your bearings, Courtyard London Heathrow is situated directly next to the Best Western Ariel hotel, formerly a Holiday Inn. The Ariel is easy to recognise because it is circular.

The Courtyard is a new build hotel which fills a spot between the Ariel and, oddly, a bowling alley.

To get there, the easiest option is a bus from the Central Bus Station at Heathrow Terminal 2/3. This bus map (PDF) doesn’t show the Courtyard but does show the Ariel. There is a stop literally outside the hotel and you want a 105 or 111 bus.

If you are coming by Piccadilly Line to Heathrow, it is quicker to jump off at Hounslow West station, cross the road and get any bus heading to the airport.

You can also, of course, pay £6 each way for the Hotel Hoppa bus service, but this is currently running just once per hour on most routes.

Inside Courtyard London Heathrow Airport

Courtyard hotels follow a very similar template, although I was surprised by the large amount of public space on the ground floor.

The Heathrow hotel feels a lot bigger than the one at City Airport. Oddly, this isn’t the case – there are only 30% more rooms (180 vs 240).

With occupancy exceptionally low on my visit, the hotel felt a bit cavernous. That said, when guest numbers start to pick up, I think the huge amount of space and seating will be appreciated. There is a particularly pleasant area opposite check-in which looks like an airport lounge:

This is just one of the areas where the hotel has spent money unnecessarily in order to create a pleasant environment. The other is the impressive top floor Sky Bar, which hadn’t opened when I stayed but should be open by now. Here is what I could see through the locked door:

The staff told me that there is an outdoor terrace as part of the Sky Bar.

Rooms at Courtyard London Heathrow Airport

Oddly, I want to start off by mentioning the view from the lift lobby. When you arrive in the hotel, you can’t see the airport because of the buildings on the other side of Bath Road. It is therefore a surprise to come out of the lift and be faced with a glass wall with this view:

My room was at the back of the hotel, overlooking fields:

I think I got this because my Bonvoy profile requests a quiet room. I don’t know how good the sound proofing is in the rooms overlooking the runways, but you could certainly hear the aircraft through the glass in the lift lobby.

My room looked familiar

Here was a surprise. My room was the same as the one I had at Courtyard London City.

When I say ‘the same’, I don’t mean ‘the same size’, ‘the same shape’, ‘the same colour’. I mean it was EXACTLY the same. Even the desk chair was identical.

The rooms were, clearly, prefabricated elsewhere and dropped onto the site fully furnished. It was a little weird although clearly you wouldn’t notice unless you had stayed in both hotels in a short period.

The positive news is that I liked my room at London City and I still liked it when I found it copied at Courtyard Heathrow:

and

and

The bathroom is a little small but looks good. Toiletries were branded ‘Geneva Guild’ which was a difference to London City.

You also get the usual tea and coffee tray, safe etc. There were no elite amenities in the room (I have Titanium status with Marriott Bonvoy) but I did get a voucher at check-in for a free drink.

Food and drink

There is no formal evening restaurant, at least at the moment. I presume the main breakfast room will open at some point in the evenings since the eating area in the attractive bar can’t handle 240 rooms-worth of guests – it couldn’t really handle more than 15:

The menu was very similar to the one I ate from at Courtyard City. There is a mix of sandwiches (£6.50), wraps (£9), salads (£10ish), burgers (£15ish), pizzas (£15ish) and other mains. Given the price of the rooms this is fairly toppy – a couple could easily spend more on a modest snack than the cost of their accommodation.

I took a curry and used my free drink voucher for a bottle of beer. It was good quality food although for £15 the portion size could arguably be larger.

If you want a quick snack in your room instead, there is the usual Courtyard shop by reception:

The Sky Bar is meant to serve Asian food once open.

Breakfast is served in a large area behind the bar. This photo only shows around half of the seating:

The buffet was difficult to photograph – it is exactly what you’d expect from a mid-range hotel like this (coffee, juice, hot English breakfast items, fruit, pastries etc):

Got Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or Titanium status? The food and beverage credit at Courtyard is technically $10 per night, and that’s what you get if you use it against a restaurant meal. I got my breakfast bill wiped entirely, however.

Conclusion

For reasons I can’t really put my finger on, I didn’t get the same vibe from Courtyard London Heathrow that I got from the City Airport hotel.

Perhaps it was because I was in an identical room so the novelty had gone. Perhaps it was because the hotel was bigger or the staff not quite as friendly. Perhaps it was because Heathrow hotels attract a different crowd to City Airport.

I don’t want to do it down though. It is a brand new hotel, with all of the benefits that brings, and the rooftop bar (assuming it is now open) should be a lovely spot to have a drink on a sunny Summer evening.

The pricing is lower than Bonvoy’s Marriott and Renaissance hotels a few minutes away and the Courtyard is almost certainly nicer than both. The meals I had were perfectly fine.

With no Bonvoy hotels located at any of the Heathrow terminals, Courtyard London Heathrow is your best value choice if you want Bonvoy points and elite night credit and don’t fancy the longer trip down to the Moxy. I would happily stay again.

Rooms are currently as low as £58 per night, and never get above £70 if you book a couple of weeks in advance. The further in advance you book, the more expensive it gets, although it seems to settle at around £74. You won’t pay more than £100 at the moment even if you book at the last minute.

For a redemption, you are looking at 20,000 to 30,000 points per night in Category 4. Based on our target value of 0.5p per Marriott Bonvoy point, a redemption is poor value and you should pay cash.

The Courtyard London Heathrow Airport hotel website is here if you want to learn more or book.

You can read our full series of London airport hotel reviews here.

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How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

• American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)