Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Stay Report: Moxy London Heathrow Airport (London - August 2019)

Stay Report: Moxy London Heathrow Airport
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

There are many options available if you are looking to overnight near Heathrow Airport.  The hotels are spread across the various terminals so it depends on how close or how far you want to be away from your Terminal.  My selection criteria was a little different as we were three people traveling together so I needed a room that could fit all of us in one room; that narrowed the options greatly.  I found the Moxy hotel had a family room in which there is a large bed plus a sofa bed that can sleep 3 adults - this was perfect for my travels and I wanted to try this Marriott brand.  It was very easy to book the hotel through the Marriott website and very easy to manage the booking through the app - Marriott does not provide email addresses for their hotel so when I had a question I messaged them through Facebook Messenger and they were responsive.

Moxy hotels were designed for Marriott's Millennial clientele so their layout and design are a bit different than standard hotels.  This hotel is near Terminal 3 and the hotel does not provide a shuttle, but the hotel is on the Heathrow Airport bus route (which has a charge for transportation to the airport).  It is very easy to spot the hotel as it is large and there is a huge MOXY in pink letters that makes it unique.  The pink theme continues inside as the lobby walls were also painted in the pink color.  As you enter the lobby, its a huge space that incorporates many things - waiting area, lounges, check-in area, bar, restaurant, business center, and just relaxing area.  The check-in area was on one side of the bar which made it somewhat loud (depending on the time of day you are checking-in). Checking-in was quite easy, I received my key, and proceeded to the elevators.  Considering this is mostly a transit hotel with lots of airline guests, and the hotel is very large, you would think they would have large elevators/lifts to accommodate guests + luggage but instead the hotel had three small elevators, one of which was broken and the other two were struggling to handle the load and capacity of guests plus luggage.  Complimentary luggage carts were available so this made transporting the luggage easier.  

As we entered the room, there was a large entrance-way that in which on the left side had large wall to floor closets.  There were three doors of the closets, two with hanging areas and one with shelves - there was LOTS of closet space - and in the closet was the safe.  Across from the closets on the wall was a mirror, hooks to hang your jackets, and a place to hold your keys.  The main part of the room was divided into two sections - one with the bed and one with the sofa/tv.  One would think the sofa/tv area would come first and the bed near the bathroom, but it was opposite in this room.  The first part of the room was the large queen bed which sat against the wall.  There were nightstands on either side of the bed - with USB ports and plugs next to the bed -, in front of the bed on the wall was a TV, there was a large window and a chair in front of the window  - there was not a lot of room, either width wise or length wise for anything else and it was somewhat of a tight squeeze to get past bed to the bathroom or the main entrance.  The TV wall was the sharing wall which led into the other room which contained a sofa - which turned into a sofa bed - a desk and a chair.  There was definitely more room in this area so it allowed for more movement.  On the desk contained the coffee maker and on the wall were more plugs and USB ports.  There was also another table and chair against the wall between the desk and the window - the window faced a large parking lot.  The bathroom entrance was next to the desk and it was very spacious with a sink, a toilet, and a walk-in shower (again, a lot of was constructed and devised for those with a disability).  There were toiletries available, but these were in refillable bottles with a shampoo and body wash in the shower and a soap next to the sink.  Overall, the bathroom and the entrance-way were quite spacious as well as the sofa area, the sofa bed had already been made and fitted prior to our arrival.  The only negatives on the room were the lack of lighting (it was very dark) and the tightness of the bedroom area.  The main bed was comfortable and the sofa bed was decent, not great but decent enough for one-night.  As I said we had booked a family room which is supposed to hold 3 adults so this description may not be comparable to a standard room at the hotel - this room was also built as a handicap room.


As this hotel is targeted to a different clientele, their amenities also catered to them.  There were no phones in the room as to contact staff you were just supposed to email them.  For this, wifi was provided and it was free, fast, and there was no limit to the number of devices that you could connect.  There was a restaurant, a bar, and a business center with a computer and printer all downstairs in the grand lobby.  Parking was available for fee and while the hotel did not provide shuttles to the airport, the hotel was a stop on the Heathrow Airport Shuttle which was also available for a fee.  There is also a fitness center, but as we were there for about 12hours I did not get a chance to use it.

Overall, it was a nice experience at the Moxy.  The hotel is comparable to Aloft by Sheraton as both were targeting millennial and both gave off the 'new-age, funky' vibe.  The free and fast wifi was a plus as were the nice toiletries in the bathroom.  The spacious room did exceed my expectations as I was preparing for a small and narrow room, but this room was spacious and provided a nice and comfortable bed.  

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