The thrill of traveling is something that many people swear they’ll never give up, but a bad experience trying to find accommodations in foreign cities can sometimes spoil the mood and make travel bugs think twice about their next trip. Avoiding the hassle that can come with choosing from a host of unfamiliar accommodations in a city you may not be familiar with can eliminate some potential travel frustration and put you on the right track for a productive and low-stress holiday or business trip.
Know What’s Important
Knowing what amenities or features of your potential accommodations you’re looking for is important because it helps eliminate possible contenders for your booking without wasting the time looking through every available option. Especially around International airports, hotels come in all shapes and sizes and the task of choosing the right one can be daunting. Choose your Hotel from HotelsByDay for days hotel in London Heathrow. They give you options to choose from while allowing you short stays. The following tips aren’t just applicable to travel in London, either; they work just as well to help you narrow your options when traveling closer to home.
Star Ratings
The ratings of hotels around the world follows a ‘star rating.’ What does this star rating mean? It is meant to categorize hotels based on their amenities, cleanliness and service. Unfortunately there is no industry standard for these ratings and different companies and travel agencies can employ their own criteria without divulging what that is. When traveling to and staying around the Heathrow Airport, understanding what star-ratings usually indicate will help you select the best accommodations for your stay.
The following is a rule of thumb for star ratings in and around London. Use this guide to help you narrow your search for the best hotel within your budget.
- One & Two Star – Usually nothing more than a bed and a shower. These hotels are the lowest budget accommodation you can find and are likely not suitable for business trips or family vacations.
- Three Star – Here is where you get into the hotels designed for business or leisure travelers. Three Star ratings are considered mid-range. They balance price with service and amenities to make your stay pleasant, such as offering a fridge and microwave in the suite or having a pool or breakfast bar. These hotels generally serve as good accommodations for low-key business trips.
- Four & Five Star – Deluxe accommodations can be expected at establishments ranked Four Stars or higher. Suites often come with complimentary or additional luxuries for your use (though sometimes carry additional charges) and are further rated on their customer and guest services. They also come with the highest relative price tag per night, but offer luxury home-away-from-home accommodations in exchange.
Location
The location of your hotel is important for many factors, though the most obvious is certainly convenience. When choosing a hotel, make sure the proximity to your destination or the activities you intend to participate in fits your schedule. There are dozens of hotels situated around Heathrow Airport and their proximity to terminals and the airport as a whole will influence how expensive, accessible and available rooms are on a regular basis. If you’re willing to look outside the airport’s area of influence, you can find less expensive and more readily available rooms within just a few blocks.
Customer Reviews
Many travelers depend on customer reviews when planning their trip. The experiences and opinions of other travelers help to give you a rough idea of what you could be in for in a variety of situations. Letting customer opinion make all your decisions is never a good idea, however, and it’s good to shop around and get an average of customer opinion for hotels that you’re considering staying at during your time in London. The tide of opinions will give you an idea as to how a hotel functions and treats its guests and how clean and convenient it is. There are sites geared to reviews from everything from business travelers to family vacationers, so make sure you use the appropriate tools to get an idea of whether a hotel or area has what you need for your stay.
Transportation
London is considered to have one of the best public transportation systems in the world. From the London Underground to the iconic double-decker buses, the options for convenient travel are on nearly every street or corner. Traveling in an unfamiliar city can be daunting, so avail yourself of maps including tube routes and bus stops and factor in extra time for navigation. The best thing about using public transport is that with a little forethought and research, you should have no trouble getting anywhere you decide to go.
Conclusions
Traveling to London via the Heathrow Airport includes an international airport, a lot of options and some exceptional public transportation and can make for an unforgettable experience or a travel nightmare. Planning before you travel and considering star ratings, locations, other travelers’ experience and transportation options lowers the risk of a foreign fiasco and ensures that your vacation, business trip or family emergency won’t be any more complicated than it has to be.