Is The Moxy Heathrow Airport As Cool As You Might Think?

We recently stayed at a Moxy Hotel in Seattle for the first time and found it a youthful, vibrant hotel albeit a little boisterous. For our upcoming trip to Croatia we decided to give the brand another whirl and booked the Moxy Heathrow airport for the night before our flight. We included meet and greet parking for just £124.89 but what did we think of the hotel?

Come Stay And Play At The Chic Moxy Seattle Downtown Hotel

Welcome to the Moxy Heathrow Airport

work stations at the Moxy Heathrow Airport
Business area at the Moxy Heathrow Airport

Location

The hotel is on Bath Road in Hounslow, a short drive from the airport. It’s not the most salubrious area for evening entertainment and although there are a few pubs around, these are limited.

It’s also a very busy road so you may wish to ask for a room on the back of the hotel if you prefer total silence at night. That said, our room was on the front and I didn’t hear a peep from the traffic so the sound proofing is impressive. Interestingly, although this hotel is directly in the flight path, I also never heard a plane.

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Arrival

First impressions are excellent with a large open plan dining, drinking and working area. There are dedicated zones for different activities and the design is cool and funky. For business travellers, there is a co-working space with Apple Macs and complementary printers. There’s a communal dining area, which feels a little like a canteen with self-serve cutlery, drink stations and tray deposit areas. Amusing signs dot the bar and recessed cubby holes with oversized comfy seating greet you as you enter.

communical areas Moxy Heathrow airport
Lounge at the Moxy Heathrow airport

There are areas to lounge with a cocktail, shared dining tables to encourage interaction with fellow guests and a play area with pool, ping pong and other games. Undoubtedly the entrance is impressive but it feels slightly like walking into a upmarket boutique hostel.

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Check in

Check in is at the bar and our experience is a shambles. There is confusion around parking costs and we do not receive our complimentary cocktail (unlike on our previous stay in Seattle). Our friends check in later the same day and do receive complimentary cocktails! The service seems a little hit and miss with a number of struggling trainees and not enough experienced staff to serve guests.

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Rooms

The rooms are functional and comfortable but rather bijou in size. They lack basics such as a wardrobe, a telephone, storage space and extra pillows. Admittedly this is part of the branding but I think the minimalism may be just a little too minimalist for my liking.

There’s lighting under the bed which a movement sensor triggers. It was incredibly frustrating trying to find the light switch to turn it off. Eventually we figured out that this wasn’t possible. Every time we jumped in or out of bed the light would come on automatically which would be a great feature if it could be manually enabled or disabled. I can imagine this being fabulous if you are with children but for us it was just annoying.

bedroom at the Moxy Heathrow airport
Moxy Heathrow airport bedroom

On the plus side, the towels are a good size and excellent quality rather than some of the cheap thin towels you might get in budget brand hotels.

As a word of warning, we were in room 1006, directly above the bar and the music was easily audible from our room. Although it was turned off around midnight, we had an early morning flight to catch so I could have done without the sleep interruption.

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Other facilities

Gym

There is a bright funky gym off reception which is fitted with contrasting black and pink gym equipment. Although it is compact, it has impressive facilities with a punchbag, some mats and weights and a number of cardio machines. You need your key card to gain access.

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Restaurant

The hotel does not have a dedicated restaurant but does serve some basic fare at reasonable prices. Alcoholic drinks are also reasonably priced however if you want water, there is a filter tap in the eating area where you can fill your own bottles. Alternatively, you can pop next door to Tesco Extra to stock up. Bottles of mineral water on site cost £3.50!!!!

A continental breakfast is included and is quite impressive. There’s a selection of fruits, pastries and breads to choose from along with juices and coffee. You can even fill a coffee takeaway cup if you wish!

Breakfast at the Moxy Heathrow airport
Breakfast area of the Moxy Heathrow Airport

If you want something more upmarket, there is a Scandinavian restaurant next door or there are a few pubs close by that serve food, although the quality looks questionable.
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Verdict

I’m still undecided when it comes to this hotel chain. I love the design aspects in the lobby and the brand concept which is unique, fresh and innovative. However I miss the things I normally take for granted in a hotel – extra pillows, storage space, and a restaurant.
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Have your say…

Maybe you have stayed at a Moxy hotel. If so I would love to know what you thought. Feel free to have your say by writing in the comments below. Or just go ahead and book your own stay at the Moxy Heathrow Airport.

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About Anne

Anne is the founder and editor of Frommilestosmiles. If she isn't travelling, she is thinking of travelling or planning her next trip. She has visited over 90 countries on six continents and sampled everything from backpacking to bank bursting travel. Her mission is to help you enjoy more luxurious travel without the luxury price tag through the use of airline and hotel rewards and other money-saving travel tips

11 comments

  1. Hipsters welcome, eh?

    One thing you mention puzzles me a bit. You mention filtered water. Isn’t the water in London potable? Or is there some terrible taste of sulfur or some such?

    • Ha ha. That’s a good point. All water in England is good enough to drink but I hate the taste of the water down south. Also I guess I’m just so used to buying water when I’m travelling but you are right you wouldn’t be ill if you drink out of the taps

  2. “We included meet and greet parking for just £124.89”

    Is that for the hotel AND meet/ greet?

    • Yes the £124.89 included the one night stay and meet and greet parking for one week at Heathrow. It is a bargain really as parking alone at Heathrow can cost £100 for the week so we paid very little really for the use of the hotel too. We also visited Windsor during the day so did a little UK tourism first!!

      • Wow, that is indeed quite good value! Who was the parking with?

        We don’t tend to need a hotel before/ after trips for the London airports, but for the last few years have been using Skypark Secure (via Quidco or loyalty discounts), who do seem to have good discounts available for the main operators.

        I used to use local garages and have my car serviced at the same time if I flew from Gatwick – that used to work out a right bargain!

        • It was DriveFly but both us and our friends have suspicions about their use of our cars while away so might avoid them in future. I’ve used them before with no issues but when you find baby wipes in your car that definitely wasn’t there when you left it you have to wonder right?

          I will check out Skypark. I’m going to email you as have a juicy update for you on AMEX Gold.

          • Through Skypark ‘Steve’ (I think it started quite small by a bloke called Steve, who obviously has expanded quite a lot since, covering lots of airports now), we seem to end up with Maple or Ace at Gatwick and one or two different ones at Heathrow.

            What I liked about Steve initially was he would only work with accredited parking firms at Gatwick, which paid dividends for him when all the insecure fields and council car parking scandals hit a while back.

            At the end of the day, he’s just offering a comparison and discount site though, whilst only working with more reputable companies. So, after suffering once at Gatwick with long arrivals waiting for our car to be returned, we haven’t held it against them (notwithstanding at least two other operators also seemingly taking a long time to return cars – there were loads of people waiting, many getting very cross, and our car came before a few that had been waiting much longer than us!) and only had one bad one since then. That was at Stansted, in the rain, with people jumping in pick up minibuses out of turn – very chaotic, and I’ve not seen them listed there since.

            Had my car dropped off back to us one time and noticed a dink in the passenger door. Quite furious, I gave the driver short shrift and took photos, sending them off to the customer services email expressing my dismay. Got some time-stamped photos back, following their investigations, clearly showing the dink was there when I dropped it off…

            Oops. How embarrassing! 🙊

            But, you know what? I apologised profusely for my accusations and wasting their time, and they gave me a large discount for when I used them next time!! Winner!!!

            I did genuinely get a scratch one time, but the process to get it repaired was smooth beyond belief. Photos taken, sent off, quotes arranged and submitted, approved and work done with the bill going directly to them.

          • OMG that is exactly the kind of thing I would do!! Embarrassing lol!!

            They were very gracious. We just had an issue with Holiday Extras (who I use and promote loads) and a car rental but fair play to them they refunded us within ten days, profusely apologised and also have made us a compensatory payment. Stuff obviously goes wrong but it is how it is handled which can make a difference.

          • Indeed – handling is everything. I like to be handled respectfully and gently 😂

          • 😂😂😂I think there might be a slightly naughty response to that but I will behave myself this fine Sunday morning!,

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