With an early morning flight to New York from Heathrow we wanted our holiday to start as stress free as possible.
This would save us getting up early and a 3 hour commute to Heathrow in the morning and more importantly we all could get a good night’s sleep before our flight.
With so many hotels to choose from at Heathrow it can be overwhelming but we are so glad we chose the Hilton Heathrow Terminal 4 – let me tell you why it’s a good choice for families.
If you are flying out of Terminal 4 (Etihad, Air France,Qatar Airways etc) then the Hilton T4 is a great option, as it’s connected to the terminal via a long covered walkway.
Even though we were flying with British Airways from T5, we had arranged meet and greet parking at the terminal the next morning, which was just a 10 minute drive away.
There are other hotels closer to Terminal 5 but all would require catching the Hoppa bus service or driving to the terminal the next day (apart from the Sofitel where the daily rates were eye-wateringly high ) but we made the right choice in choosing the Hilton at T4.
We arrived in the evening and we parked our car over night at the hotel’s car park. As Hilton Honors Gold members we typically tend to choose Hilton because of the benefits it offers us and more importantly we find that Hilton is a brand that’s very accommodating to families.
The exterior of this very modern hotel is impressive with its large glass frontage which leads into a huge bright and airy atrium lobby.
As soon as we arrived in the lobby it was service with a smile and we encountered this high level of service throughout the hotel which really makes a difference to your stay.
Our Family Interconnecting Room
The hotel has 398 rooms across the following different categories – standard, executive and suites which have recently been renovated so are all very impressive, modern and sleek.
As we set off to find our room I loved that the room numbers outside our interconnecting rooms had a dot matrix style plane lit up next to them – how cool is that. This was so exciting for the girls especially Holly who loves planes.
We checked into our family executive interconnecting room consisting of a king room and a twin room that provided over 500 sq ft of space – perfect for an overnight stay before a flight.
As many of our readers will know I’m a big fan of family interconnecting rooms especially with the children getting older, they sometimes need a break from us as much as we need a break from them.
Plus I keep mentioning in some of our other hotel reviews that we don’t tend to travel light so having the extra space for all of our cases was a definite plus point.
The girls loved the balloons in their room which provided such a fun welcome for my husband’s birthday.
Along with the platter of treats and drinks for the kids, my husband and I were treated to gin and tonic.
It’s this warm welcome and little special touches that make the Hilton T4 such a great place to stay especially with kids – Holly in particular would have taken the balloons on the plane with her the next day if she could!
One of my favourite parts of staying at a Hilton is their serenity beds- and our beds at the T4 were super comfortable with a thick duvet and huge pillows.
The soundproofing of the rooms is superb with triple glazed windows. We didn’t hear any aircraft noise and together with the blackout curtains we had a great sleep.
A design feature in the room I really liked was the illuminated map of Europe on the walls of our rooms, one of the many airport inspired touches at the hotel.
I don’t really highlight hotel minibars when we visit a hotel but the one at the Hilton T4 was rather snazzy – with a glass top and the non-refrigerated items lit up below.
The girls were more than happy to relax in their room on their iPads (free high speed WiFi was available ) whilst watching their favourite TV programmes on the large flat screen TV enjoying the popcorn and drinks that the hotel had provided them.
There was also a spacious work desk and plenty of plug sockets in the room to ensure that all of our gadgets could get charged before our flight the next day.
Our bathrooms were stylish, clean and modern and I loved the large illuminated mirror. The large counter top provided plenty of room for our toiletries but we didn’t really need to bring many as a plentiful supply of Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries were provided.
I love a bathroom with a powerful shower and the Hilton T4 didn’t disappoint. Both bathrooms had walk-in showers with a fantastic rainfall and rail mounted showerheads.
Executive level rooms also have other benefits including bathrobes, slippers, complimentary mineral water and more importantly lounge access.
Executive Lounge
We love hotels that offer executive lounge access when travelling with the children. It’s definitely worth the upgrade to executive level rooms, and the stylish and more importantly child-friendly lounge at the Hilton T4 provided a lovely place to relax – in fact it’s one of the best Hilton lounges that we have been to.
In the evening between 6pm and 8.30pm a selection of canapes and drinks were available, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and it was a great place to start our evening with pre-dinner drinks.
Dining at the Hilton Heathrow T4
Dining at the Hilton Heathrow T4There was a choice of three restaurants at the Hilton T4 all situated off the main lobby area – Aromi (Italian), Zen (Oriental) and finally where we dined, Oscars. It was really suitable for families and the staff were so welcoming and friendly toward the girls.
Prices were reasonable for a 4 star airport hotel and our dinner experience was excellent with very attentive, highly trained staff.
The children’s menu offered a good range of dishes even for the fussiest of eaters. Chloe selected the tomato soup of the day to start and chicken fingers and chips for mains with Holly deciding on chicken fingers to start and pizza and chips for mains.
For mains I chose the wok-fried vegetables and chicken whilst my husband selected the rib-eye steak and hand cut chips, both of which were delicious. As it was getting late we passed on desserts and enjoyed the rest of our evening back in the executive lounge.
Breakfast was of a very high standard with a range of options on offer from hot cooked breakfasts to small pastries, yogurts, fruit and cereals. Hot tea and coffee are served to your table.
Like we have experienced at many other Hilton hotels, the breakfast highlight for the girls was the pancake maker. They enjoy making them as much as eating them.
Once more the level of personal service received during breakfast was exceptional and this high level of customer service is a credit to the hotel management as it really does make a difference to your stay.
Facilities
We walked breakfast off checking out some of the hotel’s facilities before we had to leave for the airport.
A unique feature of this hotel compared to most of the other Heathrow hotels was that it had a lovely pool. Although a little small it was a lovely bonus and something I didn’t expect to find at an airport hotel.
Overall and is it family friendly?
The Hilton Terminal 4 is an excellent family friendly hotel and is highly recommended especially if you have an early morning flight from Heathrow.
Having the extra time in bed without having to get the children up in the middle of the night is the major benefit of staying in an airport hotel such as the Hilton T4 – which I would rate as one of the very best airport hotels in the country. We had a wonderful stay.
Prices at the Hilton Terminal 4 start from a very reasonable £165 for a family interconnecting room with sofa bed including breakfast when booking direct at www.hilton.com as part of the Hilton Honors Sale.
We were guests of the Hilton Heathrow T4