Renaissance Heathrow - Thanks! (Renaissance Heathrow)

Member Name: dan 2000

Product:	Renaissance Heathrow
Date:	28/02/04 (332 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean, clean, clean!, Friendly throughout, Comfortable. Hmm, Luxurious maybe?

Disadvantages: None, bar prices, could come a little bit down!

We needed to stay somewhere at Heathrow on the 15th February before our trip to New York. We chose holidayextras.co.uk which is an excellent site. Our rate was £80.00 inc. 15 days parking, which was a great price.

Just incase you don't know, Renaissance Hotels are a brand belonging to Marriott Hotels. Marriott has 3 brands in the UK - Marriott (funnily enough!), Courtyard by Marriott and Renaissance along with Executive Apartments. I have always associated Marriott with luxury, comfort, cleanliness and great service. Well, I was right. My dad used to be a member of the Marriott Leisure Club at the Cardiff Marriott, which was great. My dad has also stayed at a couple of other Marriott's in the UK which have also been excellent and I was looking forward to staying at the Renaissance Heathrow, part of the Global Marriott chain. By the way, Marriott are a chain with nearly 3000 hotels across the globe.

Anyway, on the 15th February, after travelling all the way from Cardiff to Heathrow, we arrived at the hotel (the hotel is next to the Heathrow Visitor centre, the road is just left of the British Airways Concorde Statue. In fact, we got lost, despite having the Marriott Directory with us, because the turn is rather hidden, you see it and then you miss it if you are not careful and end up going under the tunnel to the airport! Here are the directions from the Directory:

From M25/J15 and M4/J15 towards Central London on M4. Exit M4 at J4 and follow signs to Heathrow Airport Terminals 1, 2 & 3 via the M4/Heathrow Airport access road. Straight over roundabout then immediate left to next roundabout. Hotel is the second exit from the roundabout.

This hotel is actually the closest hotel to Terminals 1, 2 & 3, but, if your travelling from the distant Terminal 4, the Hilton is the closest one. As we were flying with Virgin Atlantic (excellent airline, but that's a different review!) from Terminal 3, the Renaissance was great.


Well, on arrival, we were met by a porter, who collected our baggs and put them on to one of those baggage, trolley thingies. This was great. My dad then drove the car down to the car park down the back.

There was a bit of a queue at check-in but it was fairly quick. The staff were very friendly and they were helpful. Aswell as the usual key cards, reciepts ect. they (have to) give you on check-in, they gave a mini tobelerone for each person which was a very nice touch.

The lifts are large and airy, not to mention, spotless like the rest of the hotel. We were on the 3rd floor, in a standard room. There was a double bed, for 3 people which I thought weird at first, but they came with a comfortable fold up bed for me. I think the max. occupancy is three but I am not sure.

The rooms were tastefully decorated and had all the great amenities. This hotel has the 'Marriott Room'. It had sattelite TV in a cabinet, so you could hide the TV to make it look more tidy, a mini-bar (with a Pepsi which was about four months from it's best before date!), tea and coffee making facilities in a cabinet, again to make it look tidy, spacious work desk, en-suite bathroom and the normal things. The room were very comfortable, if not luxurious and flight departures and arrivals was on the TV. We didn't have the runway rooms unfortunately, but the hotel throughout was silent from engine noise for a great sleep. The towels were very plush and there was toiletries branded 're'. They smelt really fresh and were luxurious. There was also a washing line holder in the bath! The bathroom had hairdryer, loads of mirrors and shaving kits. There was also sowing kits in the drawers in the room. We did not want to leave, even though we were going to New York the following day.

For both Breakfast and Dinner we had Room Service, reasonable prices, although can't remember how much. The food was cooked to perfection, and was really del
icious. The Pizza, Chips, Club Sandwiches for Dinner/Tea were great and the breakfast set you up for the day. All served with a smile.

The bar is, I hate to say it, very expensive, it is very, very luxury hotels prices. But, then again, what do you expect from a 4 star which should be rated 5 stars! The staff were very friendly in here though, like everywhere in the hotel.

This hotel does not have a Marriott Leisure Club, it just has a mini-gym, and a sauna, steam room along with a steam room which we did not use. There was a 'Barberella' hairdresser and a gift shop on the ground floor next to the lifts.

Check-out was easy, and, agin done in a frindly manner.

Collecting our car was done very easy.

Would I come back to the hotel again - of course- YES!! It was so comfortable friendly and, in fact luxurious and so enjoyable.

Summary: