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@jj – well it’s horses for courses, my wife won’t hear of it again!
That’s booking at very short notice and at peak times though! I’ve got it booked for £169 for the night before we fly in May half term next year (going with nephew and family so can’t avoid school holidays).
I like starting my holiday eating M & S food in bed watching telly, it feels very carefree!
If M&S is an issue it’s not as if it’s not connected to a tube station which can take you anywhere you want in London for dinner LOL
It’s the ease in the morning that’s the absolute advantage.
But yes at those prices I’d be booking Sheraton for £107 or Renaissance for £90 both flexible price using XML and getting an Uber / Bolt / Taxi of choice.
I totally get where everybody is coming from here, especially the OP.
My biggest issue, because I am an idiot, is that anything involving public transport has the very real risk that I manage to get on the wrong bus/train, or perhaps the right bus/train but in the wrong direction.
And because I am paranoid, I always expect to get murdered the first night I sleep in a new hotel.
But I understand that there are many people who are not paranoid idiots. For those 90%, it sounds like the Premier Inn is indeed a winner.
Apologies for not replying to everyone sooner, had a bit of a delay in AMS last night and only got home at 1am this morning.
Quick answers to most of the above, the “in-laws” know everything they need to know about points and loyalty schemes, so unfortunately they know how Accor points work, and my mistake has been keeping them informed of our points balances across the schemes. Sometimes honesty is not the best policy.
Taxi/Uber/Pod/Tube is a good option for 4 of us as no-one will have check-in luggage.
In-laws like Premier Inn as they know what they will get, but also like it when they are away with us as they have a better experience, though this one is a sleep only pair of stays and therefore becomes an additional option, especially as I can say cost of Uber comes from a promo credit I received, not explained Uber to them yet. Though Premier Plus would be a waste as we’ll have less than 12 hours per stay.
As mentioned before, I think, I need to check the work benefits to see if I get XML (Marriott) or public sector rates at hotels (about to start a new role in education on Monday, though one which is not term time related) which could delay things there. If prices rise a bit I would cover the difference.
Another option I had not considered is one hotel one night and a second the next, as I have remembered that I have an FNA with Marriott I could use, along with a cash rate/points booking separately for one of the nights. Not the best usage of the FNA, but may be suitable to arrange the Sofitel for the other night, on a cost per night basis. May be a difficult argument.
Sofitel is no longer on Secret Escapes, nor Luxury Escapes either.
I need to have a chat with them today or more likely tomorrow now about it so will let you all know, and then do a trip report(s) on my return. I won’t promise it to be anywhere near as good as a Paterfamilias report by Froggee, though will attempt to entertain as much as possible.
Sofitel is on hotwire “hot deals”. Can be a considerable saving on some dates.
Having said that I’d go with Premier Inn T4. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with the bus + City Mapper app, and you can do your bus stop reconnaissance the night before while your other half catches up with the in-laws. The Bath Road options are not better for very early travel in my experience.
You can go wrong with Uber. If you decide on a taxi from any hotel close to Heathrow for your early morning shuttle get the hotel to organise it.
Right Ladies and Gentlemen, please don’t shoot the messenger on this one. My partner and I had the discussion with the “in-laws” yesterday in the end and they had been looking up a number of the hotels in the vicinity of the Heathrow area, you can possibly guess where this is going already.
They are aware of mine and my partners newly minted Radisson Rewards VIP status, and had been looking at 1 room bookings for 4 people. They saw the Radisson Blu available with a Family Room of two connecting rooms for £135, and using my points to bring that down fairly significantly so that is booked for the 30th.
They also wanted to utilise our Hilton status too, especially after stays at other Hilton hotels with us around the UK and Europe in the past, so decided that Hilton T5 hotel which is not at T5 would be a good option too on the way back, and so that was booked as it was a decent price for them .
I’m looking forwards to the moaning from them on arrival to both, but we can see what VIP status gets at the Radisson Blu and enjoy a cab/Uber to and from the terminal.
Thank you very much for all your help, and apologies that I have not been able to persuade them to agree to anything recommended by all of you.
I feel you. Booking for family is *way* more stressful that for yourself. I also find that they tend to ignore any extra knowledge you have on a matter and do whatever they want! Plus then complain that it’s not perfect and pin that blame on you when they’ve not done what you’ve suggested/not listened properly.
I agree that with in-laws it feels as though it’s never right (we got it in the neck because it rained in Anglesey a couple of months ago and everything was shut on a Monday), but if booking an airport hotel has caused this much grief, what is the rest of the holiday going to be like 😱🤷♀️😂
Its a one night stay in Paris with VIP tickets at two sessions of the Paralympics in sports we all like (Swimming and Athletics) so the rest of it should be fine, touch wood/cross fingers and toes etc.
Just hoping they enjoy ET as much as CE for the Paris hops.
Ah ok, that should be doable! That sounds like a good trip.
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