Is the Ibis Styles Hotel at Heathrow Worth Considering?

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]So, hello and welcome to the video and welcome to the central bus station between Heathrow's terminals 2 and 3.

[00:00:08]The exotic locations this channel takes you to are never-ending.

[00:00:14]I had an early-ish flight the following morning, so instead of a 5:00 a.m. alarm call and the risk that any delay to my trains would result in me missing my flight, I decided to head up to Heathrow the night prior and check out another airport hotel. And after several recommendations in my last Heathrow airport hotel video, I decided to stay at the Ibis Styles Hotel on the Bath Road just north of the airport. Easily accessible from the central bus station by, you guessed it, bus.

[00:00:46]So, if you'd like to see what the property is like, how much it cost to stay there, and what I thought of it, stick around.

[00:00:55]Hi, I'm Matt and this is Matt's Planet.

[00:00:57][music] I aim to entertain, educate, and inspire with my travel adventures from planning to execution. I'll show you how you [music] can travel in style for a lot less than you'd think. So, subscribe so you can come with me.

[00:01:10]Bus travel is not always glamorous, but I quite enjoy it and it is by far the cheapest and easiest way of accessing the hotels on the Bath Road. The Citymapper app is your friend here, so download that in advance of travel and it will guide you through the journey step by step. The Ibis Styles may very well be the best-located property if you're coming from the central bit of Heathrow at least, as it's located directly across the road out of the terminal complex. It's not walkable though, as pedestrians are not allowed through the tunnel under the runway.

[00:01:46]The bus stops almost directly outside and there's a petrol station right next door, handy if you need petrol or, more likely, snacks from their shop. There's a limited amount of parking at the property. The internet suggests a fee of £14 a night, but it can't be pre-booked, which would add to the excitement if you wanted to leave a car here while you flew somewhere.

[00:02:09]Check-in was quick and efficient and the agent even smiled, which hadn't been a guest amenity offered by many of the other properties I've stayed in by Heathrow. Third floor for me that night and through one of the densest concentrations of fire doors I've ever experienced to reach room 306.

[00:02:36]The room wasn't oversized, let's say, and it had a fairly small bed. Plenty of room for me, but a squeeze if you have one or more friends with you for the night. It came complete with a slightly unusual movable bedside table thing. I was quite fascinated by this and never did work out if I thought it was really helpful or just a space-consuming annoyance. I ended up using it as a bag table, as otherwise I'd have been messing around with my stuff on the floor.

[00:03:07]The bedside table doubled up as storage for the tea and coffee-making facilities, which was a little easier to open if you could do so with both hands.

[00:03:15]It was impossible to close one-handed.

[00:03:20]There's hanging space rather than a wardrobe, but as 99.9% of guests are likely to be staying for just one night, that's okay, I'd say.

[00:03:30]A shelf, which might qualify as a workspace if you're super efficient and have a very small laptop. And there was a TV above. Then a pretty nice bathroom with a fair-sized shower cubicle.

[00:03:43]Overall, the room looked new and fresh, certainly newer and fresher than the exterior of the building. It would be cramped if there were two or more of you sharing, but it was perfectly good for me.

[00:03:56]I'll briefly linger on some of the decoration, which was partly quirky and partly reflected that this is an airport property. It was a nice touch, although I do suspect the picture had been hung before the curtains were.

[00:04:09]You may have noticed that the check-in desk doubled up as a bar, beyond which was a restaurant. There were quite a few takers that night and this was pushing 10:00 p.m.

[00:04:20]Here's the menu, very much pub fare, but I thought the prices were fairly reasonable. I can't speak to the quality of anything as I'd eaten before I'd left home that night. Breakfast was also served here and cost £14. I had lounge access before my flight, so I skipped that as well. The internet reports a hot and cold buffet is offered and that it's reasonably good. I did though feel compelled to test the quality of a pint.

[00:04:46]The Beck's and Bud Light promised on the menu was canned and pale ale and lager in actuality. The pale ale hit the spot, but might not have been the very freshest I've ever had.

[00:04:58]I had planned to head over the road to check out the Three Magpies pub, which had looked quite good when I'd gone past it on the bus, but I was very tired by this point and wanted to be fresh for my trip the next day, so I went to bed.

[00:05:20]>> [music] >> By morning, I'd noticed a few things.

[00:05:34]There was no plug in the sink. I can't believe that omission was by design and assuming that there should have been one, it was a bit of an oversight for it to be missing. And the light switches were in odd places, but I slept quite well and I woke fighting fit for the day ahead. And I was excited to find that my room had runway views. The building was clearly not designed to make the most of them as the windows were quite small and very hard to see out of, but you got a good idea of what was happening on the northern runway. Not a room I'd pick for the plane spotting though.

[00:06:07]My last amenity was a vending machine in the reception area. I'm confident that the petrol station next door offered better value and not a whole lot less convenience.

[00:06:18]Check-out was smooth and easy and off I headed back to the airport. I paid a very reasonable £55 for this night. That room was sold as having a double bed and I only booked 2 weeks before my stay, so I thought that all in all, that was a very good price. But the big question is, would I stay there again?

[00:06:38]And I would. I thought it was a very good experience compared to the other properties I've stayed in and reviewed around Heathrow and it was exceptional value for what you receive. There are better quality offerings, the Hyatt being the nicest I've reviewed on the channel, but that slightly superior experience usually comes at a much higher price. And the Ibis is the most convenient property for terminals 2 and 3. The bus stop is directly over the road and it's not a long walk at all to get to the traffic lights where you cross. And then it's only one stop to the central bus terminal as the bus turns left into Heathrow immediately after this stop. From there, it's a quick free transfer on the train to either terminals 4 or 5.

[00:07:22]So, thanks to those who recommended this property. It's a very good one to consider if you need a night before or after a flight. Just don't take too many friends with you if you book a double room. So, thanks for watching. Like and subscribe and leave me a comment. Where should I stay next? And if you'd like to support what I'm doing more directly, there's a Patreon account linked below.

[00:07:42]I was off to Thailand on Finnair that day, so stay tuned for those videos. See you later. Goodbye.