Review: Hampton by Hilton Stansted Airport hotel

This is our review of the Hampton by Hilton Stansted Airport hotel.

In general, I am a big fan of Hampton by Hilton.  I know it is cliched, but they do usually have all the things I want (modern design, a down to earth menu of comfort food, free breakfast, free wi-fi, desks in the rooms) and none of the things I rarely use (room service, laundry etc).

Given the choice of a pre-dawn taxi from West London to Stansted, or staying overnight here and taking the 90 second walk to the terminal at 6.30am, I chose the latter. I have stayed here before and find it perfectly acceptable.

The hotel website is here if you want to book or learn more.

Where is Hampton by Hilton Stansted Airport?

One of the key selling points of the Hampton is that, like the Radisson Blu on the other side of the terminal, it is directly at the airport.  You don’t need a shuttle bus.

This being Stansted, of course, nothing is quite as simple as it seems.  The good news is that it only took us five minutes from the doors of our Stansted Express train to the hotel reception.

The downside is that you are required to walk outside – partly uncovered – and take a lift back down so you are level with the railways tracks.  There is then a covered walkway, but one which is uncovered from the sides – it won’t protect you from rain if the wind is blowing sideways.  Don’t expect a simple, level, fully covered stroll from the terminal to reception.

When we were departing, torrential rain was pouring down and it was impossible to get back into the terminal building without getting wet.

You can get a feel for what I mean here, from a picture I took in 2020 – the hotel is on the far left of the picture and I am standing at the far left of the terminal:

The lobby area is very similar to other UK Hampton hotels, and in a good way.  There was this welcome sign:

…. which partners with this motif outside the lifts:

The ground area is neatly zoned.  This is the far corner by some meeting rooms, to your right as you enter the lobby, and is the best place to work quietly:

You then come to the bar area. Because it was very busy I have used two official hotel images here, but they are accurate:

and

…. with a restaurant at the back:

We ate in the bar, with a modest list of burgers (around £17), salads (around £13) and paninis and pizzas.  The bill came to £71 for three burgers, one curry and a large bottle of water, so not exactly a bargain.

There is also a fitness centre on the ground floor which is surprisingly large – this is only a fraction of it but there people using the weights area:

Rooms at Hampton by Hilton Stansted Airport

Let’s take a quick look at my room.  Despite having Diamond status with Hilton Honors, I booked via Hotels.com because of their ‘double reward stamps’ promotion which ran recently. I wasn’t going to get any sort of upgrade at a Hampton and breakfast is free anyway so I wasn’t concerned about my elite benefits being ignored.

The rooms are perfectly acceptable – a decent size and with a desk (and decent access to two plug sockets and two USB sockets) plus the usual tea and coffee tray (no coffee machine) etc.

What you can’t fully see is that there is very little window space.  The windows are basically slats and the bulk of the wall is just that – a wall. You see it better in the PR image at the start of this article. Whether this was done to improve soundproofing – which is perfectly fine – or not, I don’t know.

Here is the other angle:

The bathroom was spotlessly clean and exactly what you’d expect for this sort of hotel – no bathtub, a single sink, toiletries in large containers bolted to the wall.  It was perfectly fine.

How is breakfast?

Everyone gets free breakfast at Hampton hotels, which is a key benefit of staying here.

Breakfast is served from 4am to 10am, or 11am at weekends.  You can’t argue with that.  We went down around 6am and it wasn’t too busy.

It is done in the standard Hampton style.  There is a decent selection of hot dishes, pastries, fruit (not the best selection) etc.  Everything is self-service, including coffee.  You can either perch on a stool with your food or carry it over to the restaurant.

The hotel now has a waffle machine, which my son enjoyed trying out, although it is more complex, heavier and potentially more dangerous (given it is permanently heated) than necessary.

The only thing that I found a bit odd was that the buffet was set up in two identical u-shaped areas which are not connected, and which do not contain the same items. Guests often don’t realise that there is more food in a separate adjacent area.

Is the Hampton Stansted Airport worth a visit?

Whilst I’d stayed at Hampton Stansted Airport before, the rest of my family had not and I think they were all happy with their stay.

The public areas and rooms look good, albeit bigger windows would have been nice.  The free breakfast is better than you may expect.  The bar and restaurant are perfectly pleasant places to pass an hour. There were a lot of families with young children although I expect it is quieter now that the schools have gone back.

I paid £119, booked a week in advance, and given some of the crazy hotel rates we’ve seen over Summer 2022 I can’t complain at that. Standard redemption rooms via Hilton Honors are capped at 35,000 points, so you will usually get around our target valuation of 0.33p per Hilton point.

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

The Hampton by Hilton Stansted Airport hotel website is here if you want to book or find out more.

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How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

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

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

• 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 Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors 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.)