Not content with gouging travelers through high landing fees and overpriced airport food, the good people at Heathrow have decided you should pay to get to your airport area accommodations also. Heathrow Hotels are not allowed to run their own free shuttles to the airport. Instead, hotel guests have to pay 4 pounds one way (8 pounds return) to take a ‘Hoppa Bus’ between Heathrow and their lodgings. Tickets for the bus can be purchased from the driver when boarding but only in British pounds. (If you are transiting Heathrow on an international trip and don’t want to change money you’ll have to buy your tickets with a credit card at one of their kiosks).
As is the case with most monopolies, the Hoppa Bus does not provide a particularly high quality service. Buses do not run 24 hours. They do not service Terminal 4 — you’ll have to transfer to/from Terminals 1-3 first. And most Hoppa Bus routes are shared among more than one hotel, so you’ll likely have to spend time on the bus picking up, and dropping off, passengers at hotels you are not staying at.
Some tips for avoiding — or at least minimizing — the hassle that is the Hoppa Bus:
#1. Consider staying in accommodations at the airport itself, especially if you are flying from Terminal 4, which is not serviced by the Hoppa Bus but at which both airport-local lodgings happen to be. Read a review of the Hilton and Yotel on our main Heathrow Airport page.
#2. The Heathrow Lodge is the one airport hotel we know of that does offer free Heathrow transport, though this runs only during certain times and the lodge itself isn’t the ideal place to stay — read the review on our main Heathrow Airport page for details.
#3. Three hotels — The Marriott Slough/Windsor, The Comfort Inn and The Quality Hotel — are accessible through two Hoppa Bus routes, not just one, so you’ll get extra frequencies staying at one of these three. One hotel — Jurys Inn — has a Hoppa Bus route that is not shared with other hotels, though this route does not run as often as the others.
#3. While Heathrow requires you pay for the Hoppa Bus they pay the public bus company to provided free service in the greater airport area. These public buses don’t go directly to the hotels but some get pretty close.
Here are the details on the different routes and hotels:
| Hotels | Hoppa Bus Line | Hoppa Bus Frequency, Local Bus & Other Notes |
| Berkeley Park Appartments | H6 | Get off at the Holiday Inn Ariel and walk next door |
| Comfort Inn | H7 and H8 | every 45 or 50 minutes from 5:45 to 9:35, then hourly until 16:35, then every 40 or 45 minutes until 22:20 |
| Crowne Plaza | H1 | every 12 minutes or so 5:32 to 17:00, then every 15 or 20 mins until 23:25 |
| The Heathrow Travel Inn | H6 | about every 12 minutes 5:38 to 20:06 then ever 20 minutes or so until 23:30 |
Hilton London Heathrow |
Attached to Terminal 4 | Walking |
Holiday Inn M4 |
H1 | every 12 minutes or so 5:32 to 17:00, then every 15 or 20 mins until 23:25 |
| Holiday Inn Ariel | H6 | about every 12 minutes 5:38 to 20:06 then ever 20 minutes or so until 23:30 |
Holiday Inn Heathrow |
H4 | about every 12 mins 5:38 to 20:06, then every ~20 mins until 23:30; free local buses 50, 75, 76 |
| Ibis Heathrow | H6 | about every 12 minutes 5:38 to 20:06 then ever 20 minutes or so until 23:30; free local bus 105 and 111 |
| Jurys Inn | H9 | about every 45 mins 5:00 to 23:00; free local bus 285 or tube to Hatton Cross |
Marriott Heathrow |
H3 | every 12 minutes 5:32 to 20:30, then every 20 mins until around 23:00; free local buses 105, 140, 285 |
Marriott Slough/ Windsor |
H5 and H7 | every 45 minutes 5:55 to 9:35, then every hour until 16:35, then 18:25, 19:20, 20:10, 20:55, 21:20, 22:20; free local bus 75 and 76 |
| Novotel Heathrow | H1 | every 12 minutes or so 5:32 to 17:00, then every 15 or 20 mins until 23:25 |
| Park Inn | H2 | every 12 minutes 5:38 to 23:26; free local buses 105, 140, 285 |
| Premier Travel Inn | H6 | about every 12 minutes 5:38 to 20:06 then ever 20 minutes or so until 23:30; free local bus 105 and 111 |
| Quality Hotel | H5 and H7 | every 45 minutes 5:55 to 9:35, then every hour until 16:35, then 18:25, 19:20, 20:10, 20:55, 21:20, 22:20; free local bus 75 and 76 |
| Radisson Edwardian | H3 | every 12 minutes 5:32 to 20:30, then every 20 mins until around 23:00 |
| Renaissance | H2 | every 12 minutes 5:38 to 23:26; free local buses 105, 140, 285 |
| Sheraton | H4 | about every 12 mins 5:38 to 20:06, then every ~20 mins until 23:30; free local buses 50, 75, 76 |
| Sheraton Skyline | H3 | every 12 minutes 5:32 to 20:30, then every 20 mins until around 23:00; free local buses 105, 140, 285 |
Thistle |
H4 | about every 12 mins 5:38 to 20:06, then every ~20 mins until 23:30; free local buses 50, 75, 76 |
{ 0 comments… add one now }