Airport Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza Heathrow Terminal 4, London, UK

We recently had a 7am international flight from London Heathrow airport. Because the flights had been arranged for us we couldn’t check in until we reached the terminal, so we needed to arrive close to 4am {yawn}. Hence, the sensible option was to book into an airport hotel. Fortunately, the 4-star Crowne Plaza Hotel at Terminal 4 offered to host us, which was perfect.

Where is the Crowne Plaza and How Do You Get to it?

There are two Crowne Plaza hotels serving Heathrow Airport – our one adjoins Terminal 4 by a walkway and was opened in 2018. Another hotel in the Arora Group – Holiday Inn Express – also shares the building. We arrived by National Express coach, which dropped us off at Terminal 4 Arrivals. To reach the hotel – which we past while in the coach – you simply take the lift up to Departures, turn right, and follow signs to ‘Hotels’. There follows a walkway that takes you straight to the hotel – The Crowne Plaza is the first hotel you reach.

Walkway from terminal to hotel

Checking In

We arrived at around 3:30pm and the reception area was very quiet. While I checked in a lady from the cafe offered me a complimentary glass of cold cranberry juice, which was most welcome. The staff were very friendly and attentive and we were soon on our way to the lifts and to our room.

Hotel Design

It’s quite difficult to describe, but the reception area was like an enclosed courtyard, surrounded on all sides by 6 floors of rooms. The ‘courtyard’ had lots of casual seating and a cafe. This is best shown looking down from the walkway between the lifts and our room.

Looking down into reception area

Also on the ground floor is the Destinations Bar …

Destinations Bar

… and the Urban Brasserie restaurant …

Urban Brasserie restaurant

… We later visited here for our evening meal.

Our Room

Our room was 5021, set out as a twin.

Room 5021

We were greeted by a lovely Halloween display – a carved pumpkin and two plates of Halloween-themed sweet treats.

Halloween gift in our room

A highlight in the room was the Nespresso coffee pod machine and kettle with good variety of tea bags options.

Hot drink options within the room, including Nespresso pods

As you would expect to find in a 4-star hotel within a wardrobe you’ll find a safe, a mini-bar/fridge, and a drawer containing a hair dryer and an emergency sewing kit.

The bathroom was a good size, with single sink …

Room 5021: Sink

… and a large walk-in rain shower, or hand-held power shower.

Room 5021: Large walk-in shower

Complimentary toiletries were from the Thisworks range, which is one of our favourite brands!

Complimentary toiletries

There was even a Thiswork pillow spray on our beds, to aid our sleep.

If you needed to wind down before sleep, the room had a HUGE flatscreen TV on the wall! If you needed to work there was a good sized desk, with plenty of UK sockets and USB sockets around the room. All in all it was a very well thought out and considered room; comfortable, luxurious, with all the features and home comforts you need.

Club Lounge

We were also given complimentary access to the Club Lounge on Floor 6. This is open between 6:30am and 10:30pm. Here, there’s plenty of seating where you can read complimentary newspapers or magazines, or watch the news on the large flat-screen TV.

Club Lounge: Seating

Club Lounge in Crowne Plaza T4

There was also a desk with USB ports and a printer – maybe a good place to print off boarding passes if needed.

Club Lounge: Desk with printer, and a good view of the airplanes

During the morning they serve a complimentary breakfast, and from 6pm there are crudites and snacks, along with alcoholic drinks.

Club Lounge crudites and complimentary snacks

At all times you can pop in for a hot or cold drink from the fridge.

Club Lounge: Hot and soft drink options

And a favourite with us, they have two self-service treats canisters … one containing nuts and in the other one some very moorish spicy rice crackers.

Club Lounge snacks

The Club Lounge was a lovely social space to unwind in and rehydrate after a day of travelling.

Evening Meal at the Urban Brasserie Restaurant

The main restaurant at the Crowne Plaza is called the Urban Brasserie and is quite large. When we first sat down there were very few diners, but when we left, most of the tables were full … it’s really popular.

Urban Brasserie

Urban Brasserie: Seating and wall art

Starters

To start we chose a mushroom risotto and the scallops. The risotto was lovely but unfortunately the scallops were over-seasoned with salt. The kitchen quickly addressed this.

Mushroom Risotto: king oyster mushroom, black truffle and parmesan

Pan-fried Scallops: baby artichoke, little gem, bouillabaisse sauce

Main Courses

For the main course we ordered sirloin steak with spinach, and the rack of lamb. Both were lovely.

8oz Sirloin Steak with a peppercorn sauce: onion rings, salad, extra spinach

Quinoa Crusted Lamb Loin: braised carrot, confit shoulder, charred aubergine, mint jus

Desserts

For dessert, we had a coconut cream and a chocolate and hazelnut tart with rum and raisin ice cream.

Chocolate and Hazelnut: spice chocolate mousse, candied hazelnuts, rum and raisin ice cream

Coconut Cremeux: caramelised pineapple, pina colada sorbet

All of the above was accompanied by a lovely bottle of Argentinian malbec.

Wine with evening dinner

A lovely, enjoyable, meal that was excellent quality in comfortable surroundings.

Overall opinion

I have never stayed in an airport hotel before. However I imagined them to be purely functional – perfunctory even – designed for a quick, fleeting visit. The Crowne Plaza couldn’t have been further from this thought. It truly is a 4-star hotel, with all the bells and whistles you’d expect.

The floors above the Crowne Plaza reception

There’s even a fully kitted out gym/fitness suite … but we didn’t have time during our visit to check it out. The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Heathrow Terminal 4, is about a 7-10 minute taxi drive to Terminal 5, where we needed to be in order to catch our flight to Hamburg.

Disclaimer

We were gifted our stay by the hotel in return for this honest review.