Introduction: The Sofitel Heathrow Terminal 5 is the only hotel
connected to
terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport via bridges. This on the Western side of the
airport grounds. The location lies between Stanwell and Longford, both small
villages with a few local pubs. Being to the west of the airport grounds makes
it especially suited for access to Windsor (5.7 miles) and Ascot (9 miles). You
can easily access other terminals using the
Heathrow Express from the terminal which is free within the airport
perimeter. Indeed it will get you into London in around 20 minutes.
Hotel:
A large Luxury hotel within the airport grounds the Sofitel Heathrow Terminal 5
opened at the same time as the terminal. To reflect the international appeal of
the hotel each section of the interior is themed after a different continent (
Antarctica, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas). The reception area is themed
to reflect Antarctica and features a water fountain which flows from the
mirrored ceiling and onto floodlit ice blocks. A stand out feature is the 5
steel and glass atriums.
Bedrooms are triple-glazed to minimise any outside noise and feature Sofitels'
MyBed™ beds. Each room has private bathroom facilities which includes a walk-in
power shower, phone, radio and hairdryer. All rooms are air-conditioned and have
cable flat screen television (pay to view channels), safe, telephone with
voicemail, WiFi internet access, and audio/visual entertainment equipment.
Some rooms have views out over the airport grounds and hotel gardens.
Room options include Classic, Superior, Executive, Deluxe and luxury rooms along
with range of suites (27). There are also four types of suites which feature a
television in the bathroom.
Room service is 24 hours and includes the full bar and grill menu. The Sofitel
has 26 rooms adapted for accessibility, this is a number larger than normally
found in most hotels within London.
The hotel can also boast to be among the first to deploy the Acentic's Panorama
"in-room digital broadcasting" system. This is an interactive on-demand
television service and high definition capable. It includes support for IP
applications.
All guests over the age of 12 staying in a hotel suite have access to the Club
Millésime Lounge.
Dining:
All of the hotels restaurants are air-conditioned.
The Vivre fine dining venue in a refined setting that features a "Chefs Table" with open views of the restaurants kitchen.
5 cooking theatres: Deli, Hot Wok, Grill, Forno, Sweets. Serves a varied menu which includes classic and modern international dishes.
Open: 06:00 till 10:00, 18:00 till 22:30.
The Brasserie Roux restaurant with open theatre cooking. French
regional cuisine. The innovative setting offers no less than fifteen different
styles of international cuisine available from five food theatres. Linking these are the 3 types of flame cooking consisting of a wood-fired oven,
rotisserie and the wok. Serves a hearty breakfast.
Open: 06.00 till 10.00, noon till 14.30, 18.00 till 22.00.
Tea 5 & Pastry Salon: Elegant atmosphere where you will find the
Tea Master serving you your traditional English tea along with fresh pastries,
deserts, cakes and light snacks. Celebrates the famous French Madeleine cakes. Champagne and savoury treats also served.
Open: 08.00 till 18.00.
Sphere Bar and Lounge: A central part of the hotel. Icelandic
style interior and a trendy informal spot with a buzzing atmosphere serving
artesian beverages, tap beers, tempting cocktails and a selection of wines by
the glass. Also an extensive
spirits list.
Open: 17.00 till midnight.
Library Bar: Enjoy the luxury of white jacket service. Intimate
and relaxing serving a large range of Champagnes, vintage wines and cocktails.
14.00
till 23.00 (hours vary).
The hotel some of the most intensive conference and facilities to be found in a
major city anywhere in Europe, making it a top convention centre.
Facilities include 45 meeting/conference rooms with the main conference being
able to accommodate up to 1700 delegates theatre style. The total capacity for
all conference rooms is 2800. Meeting rooms cover a range of sizes from intimate
to large (20sqm to 1500sqm) and have their own breakout rooms. Of these, three
are boardrooms which have their own separate dining room.
Banqueting facilities include a single room capable of hosting 1250 guests.
There is even a cinema/theatre with seating for 117.
The Sofitel Heathrow hotel Terminal 5 has a business centre which itself has two mini-offices.
A dedicated theatre and cinema room has seating for 117.
Within the hotel are several shops.
Onsite health and leisure spa. Here you will find a gymnasium (open 24 hours) along with five
beauty and massage treatment rooms, relaxation zone, sauna, aromatherapy steam
room and hydro-spa (with vitality pool). Along the same corridor you will also
find the West London Skin Clinic where treatments such as Botox are available.
Within the spa herbal teas are served.
Others services include concierge, dry cleaning and ironing.
All bedrooms and public areas are non-smoking.
Parking: 400 spaces underground split over 2 levels.
£15 per 24 hours.
Rooms: 605
Check-in: 14.00 (2 pm)
Check-out: 12.00 noon
Background: Work started March 2006
after Sofitel paid BAA £65 million pounds for the ground lease with completion
July 2008. The Hotel is estimated to have cost £180 million pounds in what was a
joint venture between
Sofitel and Arora
Hotels in a franchise agreement with Accor, who run the Sofitel brand. The scale
of the construction is such that up to six hundred workers were onsite at any
one time. The look and style of the hotel was the work of KCA International
Designers and concept architect was Stephen Williams.
Hotel Awards:
Skytrax best airport hotel in Europe 2011
Top new
business hotel in the world (Businesstraveller.com 2009)
Best International Airport Hotel 2011 Australian Business Traveller Awards.
World Travel Awards:
Europes leading Airport Hotel 2011