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Review: the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel at Terminal 4

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This is our review of the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel at Heathrow Terminal 4.

I had to be at Heathrow at 5am recently to catch the first flight to Helsinki on my recent Finnair press trip. With the Hilton T4 having undergone a refurbishment since our last review in 2015 I figured it was a good opportunity to stay and take a look.

Hilton kindly provided our room for review purposes.

The hotel website is here.

You can read our full series of London airport hotel reviews here.

Getting to the Hilton Heathrow Terminal 4 hotel

Heathrow Terminal 4 has four hotels within easy walk of the terminal building thanks to a long covered walkway that connects a Premier Inn, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express:

Review: the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel at Terminal 4

The Hilton is at the very end of the walkway – probably about five minutes walk – but it is better than trying to navigate the spaghetti of Heathrow access roads out in the open. You eventually pop out just to the side of the front entrance:

Hilton Heathrow T4 entrance

Built in 1991, the building reminds me of the Norman Foster-designed Sainsbury’s Centre at my old university, UEA. With the vast central atrium and glass panelling it is almost identical, albeit some 15 years younger. Here is a better photo from the hotel website:

Review: the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel at Terminal 4

Inside the Hilton at Heathrow Terminal 4

The refurbishment during covid was mostly to the vast atrium which is home to the cafe, restaurant and other hotel facilities. This is what it looks like when you step in:

Hilton Heathrow T4 atrium

Check-in was very quiet when I arrived around 2pm, although the cafe and lounge were busier and there was a conference going on in the conference centre. I was seen straight away and promptly checked in.

You can get a better view of the atrium from the bridge that connects you to the rooms:

Review: the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel at Terminal 4

As you can see it is vast and bright. The OXBO cafe is in front with the OXBO restaurant is behind. Both overlook an artificial lake/pond.

Rooms in the Hilton T4 at Heathrow

I was given a room on the fifth floor, which is as far as it goes. The corridor to the room was much darker, with funky airport-inspired dot-matrix displays displaying the room numbers:

Unlike the public areas, I don’t think the rooms have been refurbished since at least 2015, although they are still in surprisingly good nick. The only giveaway is the style of the decor, which isn’t quite a la mode, and the chunky flat screen TVs!

To my surprise, I had been upgraded to one of the suites:

Review: the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel at Terminal 4 suite

The design of the building means that half the rooms overlook the atrium whilst the other half have external views. I was in one of the former, which meant the room was fairly dark. There is virtually no natural light, in part because the windows are also tinted for additional privacy. If I were here for more than a quick pre-flight night I would have preferred some natural light, but as it was I wasn’t too bothered.

To the right was the bathroom, with a shower setup:

Hilton Heathrow T4 bathroom

Toiletries were the standard Crabtree & Evelyn Hilton set, with a whole range of amenities available:

Hilton Heathrow T4 bathroom amenities

You then had the living area, with a sofa, coffee table and very large desk:

Hilton Heathrow T4 suite living room

The addition of a mirror next to the desk would’ve made this a decent dressing table for anyone inclined. There was a large wardrobe in the living space.

A small free-standing mini bar was also available, with a Nespresso coffee machine:

Hilton Heathrow T4 nespresso

To the left was the bedroom, with a king size bed:

Hilton Heathrow T4

and

Hilton Heathrow T4 bed

Although not recently refurbished, I was pleased to see that there was a mains and USB plug socket on both sides of the bed!

Hilton Heathrow T4 connectivity

Opposite the bed was another wall-mounted TV.

I was perfectly happy with the room. The bed was comfortable and the air conditioning worked just fine, and I got a good amount of sleep until I was awoken at 4:30am by my screaming alarm.

If you want to see a shot of a standard bedroom, here is one sent in by a reader from a recent stay:

Hilton Heathrow Terminal 4 room

Executive lounge and dinner at Hilton Heathrow T4

I had an Executive room which gave me access to the Executive lounge. This would also be a benefit for any Diamond members of Hilton Honors, irrespective of room booked. The lounge is just by reception, on the ground floor to the side of the atrium:

Hilton Heathrow T4 club lounge

and

Hilton Heathrow T4 club lounge

All day refreshments are available from 6:30am until 10pm and incude tea, coffee, soft drinks and light snacks such as fruit and my favourite Penn State Sour Cream & Chive Pretzels:

Hilton Heathrow T4 club lounge snakcs

Breakfast is from 6:30am until 10:30am (11am at weekends) whilst happy hour is 6pm until 8pm.

The lounge itself is not huge and sadly doesn’t have any views – it would have been nicer in the main atrium or overlooking the lake – but it was a nicer spot to work than in my room.

During happy hour, a range of canapes were provided as well as house wines, beers and spirirts. The hot options were KFC-style chicken and some deep fried jalapenos (delicious).

Dinner at OXBO

I didn’t have too much in the Executive lounge because I was planning to have dinner at the OXBO restaurant. I am not sure who owns the OXBO name but I’ve previously eaten at the OXBO inside the Hilton Bankside (review here).

Hilton Heathrow T4 OXBO

OXBO serves mainly British food – think burgers, pie, fish and chips, chicken curry etc. I opted for the smoked salmon starter, which it turns out is absolutely massive, practically an entire fish, more than enough for two to share! It’s bigger than it looks here:

Hilton Heathrow T4 OXBO salmon

I then had the ribeye steak and the staff kindly swapped out the chips for the tenderstem brocolli side which I was pleased with:

Hilton Heathrow T4 OXBO steak

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t have massively high expectations – airport hotels rarely serve great food – but was pleasantly surprised. The staff were friendly and the food was actually very good – better than the lunch meeting I had round the corner from our City office last week.

If dinner is anything to go by then breakfast should be pretty good as well, although I was up too early to try.

Conclusion

The Hilton London Heathrow T4 is clearly very convenient if you’re travelling on Qatar Airways, Etihad or any of the other T4 airlines. The recent refurbishment has turned the atrium into a genuinely nice place to be, as shown by the hotel guests enjoying the cafe throughout the afternoon.

The rooms remain unchanged but are still comfortable and in good shape, although it is a shame that half the rooms only have windows overlooking the atrium.

The service and food in the restaurant is genuinely good and I wouldn’t hesitate to eat here again before a flight. You may even want to pop down here for a meal if you are staying at the nearby Premier Inn.

Rooms are available from £130 per night, rising to around £230 for suites. Redemptions are from 36,000 Hilton Honors points per night.

You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.

PS. The hotel used to have a pool, but it has now gone. I don’t know if it has been physically demolished or simply closed due to the cost of heating or refurbishing it.


How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (January 2024)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (57)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • JandeW says:

    Reading the comments to HfP articles, I often think that an HfP acronym dictionary would be a useful tool! What are HIX, HEX and HGI please?

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      HIX – Holiday Inn Express, an IHG Hotel
      HEX – Heathrow Express, an expensive train
      HGI – Hilton Garden Inn
      Also relevant to this discussion:
      PI – Premier Inn
      CP – Crowne Plaza, also IHG

      On the bridge linking T4 there’s 3 hotel buildings. The Hilton reviewed here. The Premier Inn which is a budget option (worth checking, can be excellent value) and the Crowne Plaza and HIX share the third hotel building.

  • Bagoly says:

    Architectural structure, including the non-square ends, matches my memory of a hotel at one of the Paris airports (probably CDG) at which I stayed thirty years ago.
    Does anybody else recognise that?

  • Tony W says:

    My last stay here, I found the rooms to be a little tired. The first room (executive) had worn carpets and the walls were damaged in the entrance. The previous occupant had also been smoking in the room, the smell of cigarette was quite pungent.
    The hotel staff eventually moved us to s standard room, this was OK but still very tired.
    I also found the black corridors to be extremely dingy and oppressive, and again in desperate need of a refurb.
    Fortunately the team working during breakfast redeemed the hotel a little, they worked tirelessly and were very attentive.

  • Robert says:

    Can you get to it from T5 easily?

    • memesweeper says:

      Yes. Use the TfL bus. CityMapper app is best for planning.

      • Richard Gordon says:

        Walk across to Premier Inn (thru’ Hilton car park) turn left and left again and the bus stop is on Sheffield Way. 490 or 482 to T5. Journey is £1.65 paid via a card or oyster. Takes about 15 mins.

  • Paul says:

    I stayed in the CP back in July before a QR flight at 9am next day. I booked it on spec before either T4 reopened or QR moved back. £70/night but beyond that I can’t say much nice about it. Food at dinner was poor. I think I’d use Hilton next time

  • Sunguy says:

    Lucky you to have been upgraded … and to a suite…. even as gold or diamond, I have *NEVER* been upgraded to anything other than an executive room – on the basis of “we are fully booked” …. which we all know is generally code for – “you aint getting an upgrade and I dont care” …. I was once (as gold with one stay left to get diamond) forced to almost “beg” the receptionist to allow me access to the lounge.

    With the condescending crud Ive experienced from this Hilton and the relative convenience of the Sofitel in T5, and their cheaper add on parking option available to any room type – Ive pretty much disguarded the T4 Hilton these days….

  • Richard Gordon says:

    We were pleasantly surprised by the T4 Hilton. Agree reception staff are very friendly and helpful: Always smiling. Staff in the executive lounge were also very friendly and helpful. We thought the offering was similar to Sofitel Gatwick in terms of drinks and canapés: although alcoholic beverages are self service here. We didn’t see any desserts though. It was a pleasant place to sit for a while, despite the lack of views whilst the rest of the hotel lobby was rather quiet and morbid. It picked up a bit in the evening and we dined in the restaurant. We agree the food is of a high standard and not overly expensive for an airport hotel. The public areas on the ground floor are very smart, having recently been refurbished (as mentioned in this article).We had booked a suite on the 5th floor on the basis that you get what you pay for. Much cheaper than the T5 Sofitel and exactly the same price we paid for the prestige suite at Gatwick. We preferred the style and comfort of this suite at T4 Hilton. Yes there are a few signs of wear and tear, but all hotel rooms that are 7 years old since their last refit will show this. With exec lounge access, a welcome bottle of wine in our suite and breakfast included we were quite happy. We took the bus to T5 the next morning.

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