Hotwire Hotel: 4* London (Airport Heathrow LHR) Crowne Plaza

[gingerbee]

I'm looking for a London Heathrow hotel for 1 adult, 2 children. Because Hotwire allows bidding for 3 people in a room it seems a better bet than Priceline.

For 8/4/05, 1 night, there's a 4* for $92 which works out at the equivalent of bidding $78 on Priceline once you compare like-for-like on fees and taxes. I've bid up to $70 already on Priceline with no luck, so going a bit higher on Hotwire with a guarantee of sleeping 3 is my fallback option.

But I'm intrigued by the 3* at $54 (total $60.95). I won't bid 3* on Priceline in case I get the Holiday Inn Aerial which I stayed at last year and would never willingly stay at again. But their rooms only sleep two, according to their website, so if Hotwire's 3* sleeps 3 it's probably not the Aerial.

The facilities are Restaurant(s), Fitness Center & Business Center, so not much clue there.

Does anyone have an educated guess on what it might be?

[WillTravel]

Did you try the method of creating a dummy vacation package to London and seeing what hotels show up?

[gingerbee]

Yes, sorry I forgot to mention that there's a 4* with the same facilities as the opaque 4* - the Crown Plaza, Heathrow.

But no 3* as a package deal.

[WillTravel]

I wonder if it might be the Comfort Inn Heathrow.

[gingerbee]

It's interesting to see that if I enter 3 adults as a search option, neither of these hotels come up, but if I enter 1 adult and 2 children (aged 2-17 years) they both come up.

It makes me wonder what kind of room/bedding they provide for 1 adult and two teenage children, if it won't accommodate three adults.

[gingerbee]

Sorry, we crossed posts :) Thank you for your help :)

The Comfort Inn could fit the bill. Their website says they have family rooms, and that they can accommodate up to 2 adults and 3 children. But they limit the number of adults to two per room.

Hmm. I'll take a further look and see if it's worth trying.

Out of interest, I just phoned Holiday Inn reservations and they confirmed they only have two single beds or one double per room in all their Heathrow properties, so I think I'd be fairly safe in thinking it's not them.

[thereuare]

Are those rooms capable of accomodating a roll-away?

[gingerbee]

Yes, the three Heathrow Holiday Inn's do have rollaways, having read the smallprint.

Neither their online booking or central reservation service allow you to book a room if you state 1 adult 2 children, but I phoned one of the Heathrow Holiday Inn's (Holiday Inn London - Heathrow) directly, rather than central reservations, and they said they do have family rooms, with a double bed and a sofa bed, and that they will accommodate 4 people in these rooms as long as the children concerned are under 16.

They said to call them directly to book, rather than via the central number.

So that opens it up again :) Hotwire's search engine could be more efficient than Holiday Inn's own, or it could be a different hotel.

[gingerbee]

Facilities: Airport Shuttle, Restaurant(s), Pool(s), Fitness Center, Business Center.

With the new customer $10 bonus, it came to $88.95 in total. Approximately equivalent to a $71 bid on Priceline, which was the top price I'd been bidding for a 4* the last 10 days (the counteroffer was $87).

My earlier post discussed what a probable 3* would be, but since I was pretty certain this would be the Crowne Plaza London-Heathrow, and the reviews on tripadvisor were good, I decided to play safe.

Knowing for sure that this will sleep three people (1 adult, 2 children) is a bonus over bidding on Priceline.

Thanks for your help on this board. I forgot to use your links (sorry) but will take another look at them now and make sure I use them in future.

[thereuare]

As per our Have You Been Helped Here thread, we do now accept donations for those who 'forget'.

Enjoy your stay.

[gingerbee]

Good idea for those of us with poor memories :)

Thanks.