Big changes to the Park Inn hotel at London Heathrow Airport from next week

This was kept very quiet …..

With absolutely zero fanfare or publicity, big changes have been underway at the huge Park Inn hotel at Heathrow Airport over recent months.

If you ever drive to Heathrow Terminal 2 or Terminal 3, you will know the Park Inn.  It faces the roundabout where the huge Emirates A380 replica sits, just before you enter the tunnel.

Whilst I’ve never stayed there, I never felt I wanted to.  It looks so uninspiring – a low level, potentially late 60’s / early 70’s building – that it sucks the life force from you just by looking at it.

This is why I was surprised to find that the Park Inn re-opens next Wednesday as TWO hotels.  

Part of it will become a Radisson RED – see the website here.  The other, larger, part becomes a Radisson (NOT a Radisson Blu, but a Radisson – a brand usually only seen in the US).  The Radisson website is here.

The old Park Inn had 895 rooms.  The new Radisson RED has 258 rooms whilst the Radisson has 637 rooms.  This means that that the changes are fairly cosmetic as there has been no attempt to knock rooms together or otherwise change the configuration.

I have absolutely no idea what Radisson RED is doing here.  Radisson RED is meant to be for the cool kids, a cross between a Moxy and a Hotel Indigo, with funky bedrooms in converted historic buildings.  I don’t think the words ‘hip’ or ‘funky’ could ever be used to describe the current Park Inn building.  That said, the two room photographs in this article are both from the RED and do look smart.

Both hotels appear to be sharing the same gym, indoor pool, steam room and sauna.  This is also a little odd, with the cool kids from the RED hanging out with the ‘short sleeved white shirt’ crowd attending an away day at the Radisson.  The conference centre seems to be on the Radisson side.  The RED has an Executive Lounge whilst the Radisson does not.

We will check it out later in the Summer and bring you a review.  Don’t forget that Radisson is currently offering a generous ‘5000 bonus points per stay’ offer until the end of December, so a cheap night at either the new Radisson RED or Radisson could be very rewarding.

If you have American Express Platinum, you will also have Radisson Rewards Gold status as a cardholder perk.

You can book the Radisson RED Heathrow here and the Radisson Heathrow here.

How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)

Radisson Rewards does not have a dedicated UK credit card. However, you can earn Radisson Rewards points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.  These include:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 60,000 Radisson Rewards points. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with two free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 90,000 Radisson Rewards points

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 5,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 15,000 Radisson Rewards points. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:3 into Radisson Rewards points which is a very attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 3 Radisson Rewards points.

Even better, holders of The Platinum Card receive free Radisson Rewards Gold status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here.

(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.)