Review: the Moxy London Heathrow Airport hotel – low cost doesn’t equal low quality

This is our review of the new-ish Moxy London Heathrow Airport hotel.

I have been impressed by what Marriott has done with Moxy. The prices are usually very reasonable. Despite playing down the size of the rooms, I find them good quality and filled with everything you need. The large public areas generally remind me of a WeWork office space, which I see as a good thing.

The Heathrow hotel opened in 2018, but stripping out covid it is only really two years old. We paid cash for our stay and the hotel did not know we were reviewing it.

The Moxy London Heathrow Airport website is here. You can read our full series of London airport hotel reviews here.

The photo above is a PR shot because it looks better than my grey February sky efforts. All other pictures are mine.

There are two things to say up front about Moxy London Heathrow Airport:

• it is huge, with over 400 rooms – it’s not like most other Moxy hotels you may have visited

• whilst it is technically on Bath Road, like most Heathrow hotels, it is so far down that it is actually in Cranford. This is not an isolated airport hotel – you are surrounded by restaurants, cafes and corners shops. There are literally 10 places to eat within a two minute walk, plus a Tesco Express next door. The downside is a slightly longer bus journey to and from the airport.

Getting to Moxy London Heathrow Airport

I took a bus from the Central Bus Station at Terminals 2/3. Bus 105 or Bus 111 will bring you here. It is a simple trip – the bus leaves Heathrow, goes immediately onto Bath Road and you just stay on until the right spot.

Once you pass the big KFC on your right, it’s time to ring the bell. You are on the opposite side of the busy road to the hotel, but there is a pedestrian crossing next to the stop. Returning to Heathrow, there is a bus stop literally outside the hotel. If you want to be sure of where to get off, pull up Google Maps on your phone and watch as you head towards the hotel.

The DoubleTree hotel is very close, just a few seconds further down the road on the other side.

If arriving by tube, you don’t need to go via the airport. You can get off at Hounslow West and take a direct bus up Bath Road from the other direction. You want to be on the opposite side of the road to the tube entrance.

Check-in

Check-in went well. As with all Moxy hotels, the check-in desk is one side of a four-sided bar and restaurant serving area. Only one of three positions was staffed but only one person was ahead of me.

My Titanium status was acknowledged and I was offered my choice of £7.50 food credit or 500 points as an elite benefit. Impressively, I was even offered a welcome drink – either iced tea, or iced tea with gin. I took the latter ….

When I arrived in my room, I was surprised to find the room next door occupied. With the hotel at 15% occupancy at best, this wasn’t necessary. The walls are weirdly thin for a new hotel and I could clearly hear their conversations. However, when I returned to my room in the evening they appeared to have either checked out or gone to bed very early.

Note that the hotel takes a £10 per night ‘security deposit’ on your credit card at check-in. This is NOT a ‘hold’, it is a physical charge. It is refunded as soon as you check out. To be honest, it seemed a bit odd to ask a Titanium Elite member of Bonvoy to pay this.

My room at Moxy London Heathrow Airport

My room was certainly not huge, but did more than you’d expect for the £57 I’d paid.

Not only did I get a big bag of popcorn, two bottles of water and a Kit-Kat (four fingers no less), there was even a hand written welcome note. I’m not sure it meant to say ‘Thank you for coming at Moxy Heathrow’ with a little smiley face added, but it was a nice thought.

Here’s the bed and a decent chair:

Looking the other way, you have a useless desk with a stool plus, to the left, what passes for a wardrobe – ie three coathangers hanging off the wall:

The bathroom is very tiny but has what you need. There is a shower out of shot, but no bath:

Here was my tray of welcome goodies. I don’t know if these were linked to my elite status or not:

The lobby

What Moxy hotels miss in terms of room space, they make up for in lobby space. This Moxy has a lobby which is particularly huge, although with the hotel virtually empty the cavernous area wasn’t exactly buzzing.

There is a lot of hot desk work space, with decent chairs and charging points. I spent a few hours here, with ‘greatest sing-along rock classics of the 1980s’ booming out on the speaker system and it was, frankly, great.

Coffee or stronger drinks are permanently available at reasonable prices. Having a Tesco Express next door clearly means they need to control their pricing.

The same goes for the food menu. There is no restaurant so you need to grab a spot in the lobby and order at the bar.

It’s the sort of pizza / burger / curry mix you’d expect, with one thing you wouldn’t expect – pretty much everything is around the £8 mark. You could probably save a couple of pounds by visiting one of the takeaways down the road, but the chicken burger I had was far more accomplished than anything you’d get in a cardboard box.

Oddly, there are two hotels at Heathrow which have a Mini in their lobby. Only the Moxy has a huge stuffed bear inside though:

Breakfast

My view about food and drink being good value disappeared at breakfast. Moxy was charging £12.50 for a totally adequate but ‘nothing special’ buffet – mainly cereals and pastries with a couple of hot items:

and

I popped next door to Tesco, spent under £2 on some freshly baked pastries and brought down a cup of coffee from my room. As there is no dedicated eating area in the hotel, you can eat your own food or Tesco food at the tables – the hotel doesn’t mind.

Other features

As usual, there is a rack of lockers for guest use. They are less useful at this Moxy because you are unlikely to check out early, leave your luggage and then return for it later. Most people who check out are heading straight to a flight.

There is a decent gym on the ground floor, with lots of natural light – you’re not working out in a dark basement in this hotel:

Conclusion

I was impressed by the Moxy London Heathrow Airport hotel.

I thought it offered excellent value for money for the £57 I paid. Remember that, with the current Marriott Bonvoy promotion, I picked up 1,000 bonus points (worth £5) plus my base points plus the £7.50 food credit due to my status plus double elite night credits.

Taking the bus from Heathrow is clearly a bit of a pain but once you’ve found one it is a direct run down Bath Road.

Whilst its a longer bus ride than most Heathrow hotels, the Cranford location makes sense for the Moxy target market. If you’re paying £57 for your room, you are more likely to be looking for a takeaway or meal from one of the local shops than a pricier hotel meal, although to be honest I think you’d be making a mistake if you did.

Moxy isn’t just for 20-somethings. The average guest on my stay was late 30’s and in reality – a bit like WeWork – it’s for people who think that youth is wasted on the young and want to get back to that vibe.

The Moxy London Heathrow Airport website is here.

You can read our full series of London airport hotel reviews here.

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How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (January 2024)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

• American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)