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The on-site hotel

Published: 17/03/2008 - Filed under: Archive » 2008 » April 2008 » Guide to T5 »

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Guide to T5: The on-site hotel

Sofitel London Heathrow

Sofitel’s second UK on-airport hotel (the other being the Sofitel Gatwick) is due to open in June this year. Attached to the new terminal by a covered walkbridge, the 607-room Sofitel London Heathrow is already taking bookings for many of its 41 functions rooms, with “mid-scale” events planned for July and August, scaling up to major functions from September.

Central to the project is The Avenue, a 187-metre internal boulevard off which the hotel’s retail outlets and eateries will be located, including a tea lounge (Tea 5, obviously). Most of the facilities at T5 will be located airside, so Sofitel will hope to cash in on informal business meetings and lunches at the hotel. The property will also house a theme bar called Sphere, as well as the 100-seat fine-dining restaurant Brasserie Roux, which also appears in the Sofitel St James London.

The Avenue will also connect the property’s five atria, which in turn split the hotel into six blocks. Blocks five and six will be reserved for the hotel’s suites, where there will also be a prestige check-in area and executive lounge. There will be a total of 21 separate check-in points throughout the hotel, and all rooms in the property will have triple glazing.

The 201 Classic rooms at the hotel will measure 26 sqm, with a further 188 Superior rooms at 28 sqm, 164 Luxury rooms and 52 suites of varying sizes. Luxury categories and above will benefit from two-metre beds, while all rooms will have a separate bath and shower (Luxury rooms and suites have TVs in the bathrooms), wifi internet access and flatscreen TVs into which guests can plug MP3 players and laptops. Interiors have been designed by KCA, whose previous clients include the Four Seasons Hong Kong.

Many of the rooms will look onto internal atria, and Sofitel has made showpieces of several of these areas, including a Zen garden. The hotel will also offer some of the most comprehensive meetings and events facilities in Europe, with function rooms ranging from a 117-seat theatre to the 2,000-capacity Arora Suite, and car parking for 400 delegates.

For existing hotel options see Heathrow Hotels, Business Traveller April 2006. Travelodge has recently opened a 295-room property just west of the new terminal and Hilton will follow suit in 2010.

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