Hotel Review: Courtyard by Marriott London City Airport

I had an early flight out of London City Airport recently, so I needed to overnight after my flight from Dublin. The Courtyard by Marriott seemed to be the closest hotel to the airport, so I decided to stay there.

For a Monday night stay in a runway view room, it cost a grand total of £119.20. This was very good, as other hotels were further away and cost more. Indeed, this one actually was more until the price dropped quite markedly, prompting me to book.

How To Get There

After getting off the plane, I turned right as though I was walking towards the DLR. After you pass through the wide corridor, you will see the below. All you do is go down the stairs, follow it along, turn right and keep walking beside the basketball courts to the hotel. It’s a short walk, maybe five minutes tops.

The area looks a little sketchy as you’re wandering along, but I didn’t feel unsafe. Not sure I’d want to do it in the middle of the night, but it’s totally fine in the daytime really. It’s a nice little tour of a local neighbourhood.

Courtyard by Marriott London City Airport

At the hotel, I was promptly checked-in and headed off to my room. There are filtered water fountains on the floors if you wish to have nice clean water, though I think the tap water is also fine.

Once in my room, I remembered I’d forgotten to buy toothpaste. Back to reception and I asked if they knew where I could get some and I was handed a little packet containing a wooden toothbrush and some toothpaste. Yay! If you do need anything, you leave the hotel, turn left and there is a convenience store quite close by.

Dinner and Breakfast

Being hungry, I elected to have dinner at the hotel. The service was attentive and I had my wine quite quickly, before my chicken burger and chips arrived. This was very average, as I wasn’t really expecting what appeared to be a chicken schnitzel between two buns.

In the morning, after a fairly decent sleep, I checked out the breakfast buffet. I didn’t have anything as I decided I’d rather save myself for my flight to Skiathos. Bad move in the end as breakfast on the flight was a crappy omelette, but hey ho.

That “Runway” View

The much vaunted runway view, which you pay extra for, was nothing to write home about. As I was on a low floor, it was more a DLR view for me, as you can see here.

You can just make out the markings denoting the end of the runway here. Most planes were above the sight of the window before you could really see them, so that was a disappointment. Rule here is to not settle for a low room and to get one on the other side of the hotel.

Overall Thoughts

Apart from being completely swindled on the runway view, the Courtyard by Marriott at London City Airport is a fine enough place for an overnight stay. Rooms are clean and comfortable, with everything you’d expect from a mid-range hotel.

I’m sure I’ll have cause to stay there again, and if so I’ll be getting something different to eat. That being said, the breakfast spread looked pretty amazing, and I still regret not having a full meal before I headed off.

What do you think of the Courtyard London City Airport? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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