Every hotel with "airport" in the name claims to be close. Only a few are connected: a covered walkway from the lobby to check-in, or a room inside the terminal itself. This is the list, terminal by terminal, with what the walk really is — and a straight answer on when the hotel is worth it versus a fixed-fare car from your own bed.
| LHR | West · 4 terminals worked | £55 |
| LGW | South · both terminals | £75 |
| STN | North-east · Essex corridor | £70 |
| LTN | North · M1 run | £65 |
| LCY | East · Docklands quay | £45 |
| SEN | Far east · estuary field | £95 |
"Airport hotel" usually means a shuttle bus at 4:40am. A handful of London hotels are different: a covered walkway, a bridge, or a door straight onto the concourse. These are the ones, terminal by terminal, with what the walk actually is. Check the hotel's own page before booking — walkways occasionally close for works.
Connected to Terminal 5 by a covered walkway — about five minutes from lobby to check-in with a case. The only hotel physically attached to T5, which is why British Airways early departures fill it. Terminals 2, 3 and 4 need the free inter-terminal train first.
Central London to T5 from £55 · Heathrow transfers →A covered walkway runs from the hotel into Terminal 4. Handy for Qatar, Etihad, KLM and the other T4 carriers; less so if you are flying from T2 or T3, which are a train ride away across the airfield. Every other "Heathrow" hotel on the Bath Road is a Hoppa bus.
Central London to T4 from £55 · Heathrow transfers →Gatwick South is the best-served terminal in London for this. The Hilton has a covered walkway; BLOC and YOTELAIR sit inside the terminal building itself, so the walk to security is measured in doors, not minutes. Confirm which terminal your airline uses on the day — they move.
Central London to Gatwick from £75 · Gatwick transfers →A covered walkway straight into the North Terminal, a couple of minutes on foot. If your airline flies from the South, the free inter-terminal shuttle runs every few minutes and takes about two — still no bus queue, still indoors.
Central London to Gatwick from £75 · Gatwick transfers →A covered walkway of around two minutes to the terminal — the reason it is the default for Ryanair's 6am wave. The Hampton by Hilton is a five-minute walk outdoors; everything else at Stansted is a shuttle or a taxi.
Central London to Stansted from £70 · Stansted transfers →Luton has nothing attached to the terminal. The Hampton by Hilton and Holiday Inn Express are across the road, a few minutes outdoors with a case, which is fine in July and less fine in January. For a dawn Luton departure the maths usually favours sleeping at home and a fixed-fare car.
Central London to Luton from £65 · Luton transfers →City has no airport hotel because it does not need one: there are no dawn or late-night flights, and Canary Wharf's hotels are ten minutes away by car. Stay where the meeting is and let the airport come to you.
Canary Wharf to City from £45 · City Airport transfers →A short walk from the terminal and the railway station, in an airport where the whole place is small enough that "short walk" means it. Southend's early departures are the calmest in London, and the hotel is the only one you will need.
Central London to Southend from £95 · Southend transfers →The hotel is right when the alternative is a 3am alarm and a 90-minute drive on no sleep. It is wrong when it costs more than the flight and you still have to get to the airport the day before. A few honest rules of thumb from a desk that runs both.
A walkway hotel turns a 3:30am start into a 5:30am stroll. A shuttle-bus hotel does not — you are back to queuing outdoors, just closer.
Central London to Heathrow at 4am is 35 minutes on an empty road. A £55 car beats a £180 room and you sleep in your own bed. Book to the flight number and the pickup time is worked out backwards for you.
Two hotel rooms plus breakfast plus the shuttle is rarely cheaper than one MPV that collects everyone from the front door. The saving grows with each extra person.
Landing at 11pm with a 6am departure from the same field is the one case where the walk-in hotel wins outright. Landing at one airport and leaving from another is a transfer, not a hotel — see the guide.
Not sure which airport you are even flying from? Start with the complete London airports guide.
Terminal confirmed from your flight number, pickup timed backwards from check-in or tracked forward from landing, name board standing where you exit — London's entire airport system run the way it should have always worked. Sixty seconds books any of it.