Slough/Windsor Marriot (Slough)
Newest Review: ... floor pillows! The beds were very comfortable, with good quality sheets and squishy pillows. Décor was nice and modern, with white sheet... more
Great place to stay for Legoland
Slough/Windsor Marriot (Slough)
Member Name: CheshireJ
Product:
Slough/Windsor Marriot (Slough)
Date: 28/10/11
Rating:
Advantages: Reasonably priced, well located
Disadvantages: Pool had its problems
We stayed here recently as part of the Legoland package. When searching the Legoland Holidays website this hotel was one of many choices available, but had a good customer star rating, as well as being a 4 star rates hotel. It was also reasonably priced, coming in at £349 for 3 nights, including tickets for Legoland (2 adults, with 2nd day free, and a 2 & a 4 year old going free).
Check-in was from 3pm onwards, and it was just after 4pm when we arrived on the Sunday. It's located literally just off the M4 motorway at junction 5, not far from Heathrow airport. There's a large car park at the front and rear of the hotel, accessed by barrier. You take a ticket from the machine as you enter, but as free car parking was included with our package, the receptionist swapped the car park ticket for one that would grant us access in and out for free. There were 2 or 3 people serving at reception when we got there, and we didn't have to wait at all. The receptionist was a nice French lady (most hotel staff we came across were non-English) who quickly checked us in, after taking a credit card guarantee for any incidentals, and gave us two room key cards. She also have our two little girls a paper bag each, which contained crayons, stickers and other bits which kept them busy for all of 10 minutes. There was a nice large seating area across from reception, should you need to sit down and wait for any reason.
Our room, 114, was on the ground floor, just a short walk from reception. We'd booked a family room on the website, but the receptionist described it as a double room, which it was - two double beds. I'd hoped for maybe a sofa bed or roll out bed for the kids (age 2 and 4), as the double beds are quite high off the floor. We stopped by reception later to ask if they had any bed guards, but they didn't, so we requested extra pillows to put on the floor in case they fell out. A short while later, a staff member came to the door with one pillow. I told him that wasn't enough, explaining what it was for. He didn't look hopeful, but then returned with about 5 or 6 more pillows a short while later. We pulled two of the chairs with the backs against one side of the bed, and wedged a couple of pillows alongside to form a barrier. On the other side we wedged a pillow between the bed and bedside table and laid pillows on the floor. My two year old managed to fall out once on our last night, and we found her sleeping on the floor pillows!
The beds were very comfortable, with good quality sheets and squishy pillows.
Décor was nice and modern, with white sheets and a red throw over the bottom of the bed.
Apart from two double beds the room featured a desk and swivel chair, two chairs and a small table, a chest of drawers (two long drawers, two small), a flatscreen LG TV, and a wardrobe. There was a decent choice of TV channels, similar to what you'd get on Freeview, plus some pay-per-view channels. Amenities included trouser press, iron and ironing board, safe (wide enough to fit laptop), kettle, cups, tea & coffee (yucky UHT milk), ice bucket, and hairdryer. There was a mini sewing kit in the drawer, and a plastic bottle opener in a cellophane packet (the "take me home" with you type). Toiletries in the bathroom were shampoo, shower gel/body wash, body lotion, and facial soap, plus a shower cap. These were replaced daily if you used them. Biscuits were also replaced daily. The hairdryer was the type that overheats and smells of burn within minutes of using, and cuts out if used for more than a few minutes. There were around 7-8 hangers in the wardrobe, some with clips for hanging trousers or skirts. There was also a laundry bag for the hotel laundry service, but I dind't get a look at prices. There were two phones in the room. As always in these places, call prices were horrendous, with a freephone call costing £2, so avoid at all costs. The only time we used the phone was to set wake-up calls each morning, just in case the kids didn't wake up in time (which they did). There was a card on top of the fridge, next to the tea and coffee making things which said the minibar had been emptied and could be stocked by calling "At your Service." It couldn't be used as a proper fridge as the temperature was set at 8 deg C, but could be used to chill things if you wanted to.
In-room temperature was easily controlled via the small panel on the wall. Simply press the up or down arrows to adjust the temperature. Both my husband and myself found the air in-room to be very drying.
Lighting in hotel rooms is never great, with lamps rather than ceiling lights and this room was no exception. There was a ceiling light as you entered the room, one above the fridge area, a standard lamp near the window, a lamp on the desk, one on the bedside table, and a small reading lamp attached to each headboard.
The bathroom was reasonably well-lit, and had adequate space to put your toiletries around the sink and behind the toilet. Four bath towels and three hand towels were provided, along with face cloths. If you wanted fresh ones each day you had to leave them in the bath or on the floor. The only problem was the shower. Apart from not being very powerful, the shower head wouldn't stay up on the rail thing, it was broken and kept slipping down. Fine for short people, but anyone taller than 4 ft needed to squat down or lift the shower head off and hold it over you.
Considering it wasn't too far from Heathrow, we barely heard any plane noise. We could however hear the louder cars and buses in the car park, which our room overlooked. And also foot traffic in the corridor outside our room. Our room also had a connecting door to the room next door which was only a problem one morning when the French people in there were up and about at 7am being rather noisy.
Dining options were a Chats Cafe Bar, and Brasserie Centrale, and Pizza da Marco. Full breakfast was included in our package each morning and was served buffet-style in the Brasserie. It was waiter service for hot drinks and help-yourself for food. The choice was good, with a selection of cut and fresh fruit (no bananas though), muffins, danish, croissants, make-your-own toast, cereals, juices, yogurts, bread rolls, bacon, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, sausages, beans, tomatoes, hash browns, fried bread, cheese, cooked meats, made-to-order omelettes and waffles. Some of the hot items were a bit hit and miss depending on whether you got them fresh or not, but it was mostly ok. Service was also a bit hit and miss, and we often had dirty plates piled up waiting to be cleared for a while.
We didn't have lunch or dinner at the Brasserie, we did look on our first night but the carvery was £19.50 per person, so we headed out instead. There's a Toby Carvery just across the road, and a Harvester a few hundred yards down the road. Neither looked good from outside. Thankfully I'd done a bit of research online beforehand and found a Frankie and Benny's 4 miles away in Staines, so we went there and it was good.
Neither did we try Pizza da Marco, but it looked to be located inside the Brasserie as there was a pizza price list on the wall next to where the breakfast buffet was served.
We dined at Chats bar one evening, which was busy and we got the last remaining table. There were two TV screens, both showing BBC News 24, with the sound turned off, but one had subtitles on. Service was ok, but the food was pricey. I had fish sandwich and fries which was £14. The portion wasn't huge but it was served up very fancy, on a wooden chopping board, with the fries in a mini metal frying basket. They had a kid's menu too, which included a Smarties push-up lolly. It was the same menu as room service, and strangely enough at the same prices as room service, albeit you had to pay delivery charge to have it in-room, which I think was £3.
The leisure complex was complimentary for hotel guests, with a fitness suite, pool, and sauna. We used the pool twice. Towels were provided there so you didn't need to take them from your room, and lockers were also free. The pool wasn't very warm though and we only managed 15 minutes in there both times. One thing to note is that the pool went from fairly shallow to much deeper without any warning, which caught my 4 year old (and me) out. The changing areas were nice and had showers, free toiletries and hairdryers. The floor from the changing rooms to the pool, and especially so around the pool, was very slippy. My daughter slipped a couple of times.
There's a tennis court outside at the rear of the hotel, with a small play park next to it.
There was a concierge desk in the hotel lobby, and the concierge man was supposed to help you with things like directions and places to visit. However the ones we spoke to were useless and gave wrong directions.
For those going to Heathrow, a "Hotel Hoppa" bus ran to and from the hotel, run by National Express. We priced it up one day for a possible visit to the airport, but it was £14 return for two adults, with the kids free, so we didn't bother.
There was quite a wide variety of guests staying there. We saw people like us going to Legoland, business men, army men, pilots and aircrew.
Not to be confused with the Marriott London Heathrow, which isn't that far away. The hotel is located just off the M4 and not far from the M25. Windsor is a 10 minute drive, with Legoland about 8 minutes further. London Heathrow is 6.4km away.
Prices, as listed currently on the hotel website-
LEGOLAND Windsor Family Break from £105
Park Here, Fly There Packages from £80
Last-Minute Weekends from £54 per night
The hotel's address is-
Heathrow/Windsor Marriott Hotel
Ditton Road, Langley
Slough, SL3 8PT United Kingdom
Website: http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/lhrsl-heat hrow-windsor-marriott-hotel/
Check-in was from 3pm onwards, and it was just after 4pm when we arrived on the Sunday. It's located literally just off the M4 motorway at junction 5, not far from Heathrow airport. There's a large car park at the front and rear of the hotel, accessed by barrier. You take a ticket from the machine as you enter, but as free car parking was included with our package, the receptionist swapped the car park ticket for one that would grant us access in and out for free. There were 2 or 3 people serving at reception when we got there, and we didn't have to wait at all. The receptionist was a nice French lady (most hotel staff we came across were non-English) who quickly checked us in, after taking a credit card guarantee for any incidentals, and gave us two room key cards. She also have our two little girls a paper bag each, which contained crayons, stickers and other bits which kept them busy for all of 10 minutes. There was a nice large seating area across from reception, should you need to sit down and wait for any reason.
Our room, 114, was on the ground floor, just a short walk from reception. We'd booked a family room on the website, but the receptionist described it as a double room, which it was - two double beds. I'd hoped for maybe a sofa bed or roll out bed for the kids (age 2 and 4), as the double beds are quite high off the floor. We stopped by reception later to ask if they had any bed guards, but they didn't, so we requested extra pillows to put on the floor in case they fell out. A short while later, a staff member came to the door with one pillow. I told him that wasn't enough, explaining what it was for. He didn't look hopeful, but then returned with about 5 or 6 more pillows a short while later. We pulled two of the chairs with the backs against one side of the bed, and wedged a couple of pillows alongside to form a barrier. On the other side we wedged a pillow between the bed and bedside table and laid pillows on the floor. My two year old managed to fall out once on our last night, and we found her sleeping on the floor pillows!
The beds were very comfortable, with good quality sheets and squishy pillows.
Décor was nice and modern, with white sheets and a red throw over the bottom of the bed.
Apart from two double beds the room featured a desk and swivel chair, two chairs and a small table, a chest of drawers (two long drawers, two small), a flatscreen LG TV, and a wardrobe. There was a decent choice of TV channels, similar to what you'd get on Freeview, plus some pay-per-view channels. Amenities included trouser press, iron and ironing board, safe (wide enough to fit laptop), kettle, cups, tea & coffee (yucky UHT milk), ice bucket, and hairdryer. There was a mini sewing kit in the drawer, and a plastic bottle opener in a cellophane packet (the "take me home" with you type). Toiletries in the bathroom were shampoo, shower gel/body wash, body lotion, and facial soap, plus a shower cap. These were replaced daily if you used them. Biscuits were also replaced daily. The hairdryer was the type that overheats and smells of burn within minutes of using, and cuts out if used for more than a few minutes. There were around 7-8 hangers in the wardrobe, some with clips for hanging trousers or skirts. There was also a laundry bag for the hotel laundry service, but I dind't get a look at prices. There were two phones in the room. As always in these places, call prices were horrendous, with a freephone call costing £2, so avoid at all costs. The only time we used the phone was to set wake-up calls each morning, just in case the kids didn't wake up in time (which they did). There was a card on top of the fridge, next to the tea and coffee making things which said the minibar had been emptied and could be stocked by calling "At your Service." It couldn't be used as a proper fridge as the temperature was set at 8 deg C, but could be used to chill things if you wanted to.
In-room temperature was easily controlled via the small panel on the wall. Simply press the up or down arrows to adjust the temperature. Both my husband and myself found the air in-room to be very drying.
Lighting in hotel rooms is never great, with lamps rather than ceiling lights and this room was no exception. There was a ceiling light as you entered the room, one above the fridge area, a standard lamp near the window, a lamp on the desk, one on the bedside table, and a small reading lamp attached to each headboard.
The bathroom was reasonably well-lit, and had adequate space to put your toiletries around the sink and behind the toilet. Four bath towels and three hand towels were provided, along with face cloths. If you wanted fresh ones each day you had to leave them in the bath or on the floor. The only problem was the shower. Apart from not being very powerful, the shower head wouldn't stay up on the rail thing, it was broken and kept slipping down. Fine for short people, but anyone taller than 4 ft needed to squat down or lift the shower head off and hold it over you.
Considering it wasn't too far from Heathrow, we barely heard any plane noise. We could however hear the louder cars and buses in the car park, which our room overlooked. And also foot traffic in the corridor outside our room. Our room also had a connecting door to the room next door which was only a problem one morning when the French people in there were up and about at 7am being rather noisy.
Dining options were a Chats Cafe Bar, and Brasserie Centrale, and Pizza da Marco. Full breakfast was included in our package each morning and was served buffet-style in the Brasserie. It was waiter service for hot drinks and help-yourself for food. The choice was good, with a selection of cut and fresh fruit (no bananas though), muffins, danish, croissants, make-your-own toast, cereals, juices, yogurts, bread rolls, bacon, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, sausages, beans, tomatoes, hash browns, fried bread, cheese, cooked meats, made-to-order omelettes and waffles. Some of the hot items were a bit hit and miss depending on whether you got them fresh or not, but it was mostly ok. Service was also a bit hit and miss, and we often had dirty plates piled up waiting to be cleared for a while.
We didn't have lunch or dinner at the Brasserie, we did look on our first night but the carvery was £19.50 per person, so we headed out instead. There's a Toby Carvery just across the road, and a Harvester a few hundred yards down the road. Neither looked good from outside. Thankfully I'd done a bit of research online beforehand and found a Frankie and Benny's 4 miles away in Staines, so we went there and it was good.
Neither did we try Pizza da Marco, but it looked to be located inside the Brasserie as there was a pizza price list on the wall next to where the breakfast buffet was served.
We dined at Chats bar one evening, which was busy and we got the last remaining table. There were two TV screens, both showing BBC News 24, with the sound turned off, but one had subtitles on. Service was ok, but the food was pricey. I had fish sandwich and fries which was £14. The portion wasn't huge but it was served up very fancy, on a wooden chopping board, with the fries in a mini metal frying basket. They had a kid's menu too, which included a Smarties push-up lolly. It was the same menu as room service, and strangely enough at the same prices as room service, albeit you had to pay delivery charge to have it in-room, which I think was £3.
The leisure complex was complimentary for hotel guests, with a fitness suite, pool, and sauna. We used the pool twice. Towels were provided there so you didn't need to take them from your room, and lockers were also free. The pool wasn't very warm though and we only managed 15 minutes in there both times. One thing to note is that the pool went from fairly shallow to much deeper without any warning, which caught my 4 year old (and me) out. The changing areas were nice and had showers, free toiletries and hairdryers. The floor from the changing rooms to the pool, and especially so around the pool, was very slippy. My daughter slipped a couple of times.
There's a tennis court outside at the rear of the hotel, with a small play park next to it.
There was a concierge desk in the hotel lobby, and the concierge man was supposed to help you with things like directions and places to visit. However the ones we spoke to were useless and gave wrong directions.
For those going to Heathrow, a "Hotel Hoppa" bus ran to and from the hotel, run by National Express. We priced it up one day for a possible visit to the airport, but it was £14 return for two adults, with the kids free, so we didn't bother.
There was quite a wide variety of guests staying there. We saw people like us going to Legoland, business men, army men, pilots and aircrew.
Not to be confused with the Marriott London Heathrow, which isn't that far away. The hotel is located just off the M4 and not far from the M25. Windsor is a 10 minute drive, with Legoland about 8 minutes further. London Heathrow is 6.4km away.
Prices, as listed currently on the hotel website-
LEGOLAND Windsor Family Break from £105
Park Here, Fly There Packages from £80
Last-Minute Weekends from £54 per night
The hotel's address is-
Heathrow/Windsor Marriott Hotel
Ditton Road, Langley
Slough, SL3 8PT United Kingdom
Website: http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/lhrsl-heat hrow-windsor-marriott-hotel/
Summary: Would recommend
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