London Heathrow may be one of the world’s busiest aviation hub for international travellers but expansion plans are often piecemeal, uncoordinated and lacking in vision. As a result, passengers are left to endure long queues, delayed flights and often cramped in a tired environment. To address this and maximise the efficiency of the airport, Heathrow Airport commissioned London Heathrow Terminal 2 – The Queen’s Terminal in 2007. The new terminal is home to Star Alliance carriers and has been operational since June 2014. Terminal 2A was designed by Luis Vidal + Architects (LVA) while satellite building Terminal 2B was designed by Grimshaw Architects. Having two architects involved in such a large project is never ideal since it is harder to achieve a seamless design throughout and this is evidently reflected in the layout of Terminal 2.

I first visited Terminal 2 in September 2014 and some of the shortcomings are glaringly obvious:

• Leaving passengers exposed to the weather elements due to the lack of adequate shelter at the passenger drop off area;
• Check in counters are clustered too closely together resulting in a claustrophobic atmosphere;
• Poor integration between Terminal 2A and 2B. The walk between the two terminals on average takes 15 minutes. There are travelators dotted around but a monorail solution would have been more practical; and
• Lack of shopping facilities and food & beverage outlets in Terminal 2B.

Skyline Worldwide offers a pseudo service apartment service within the residential estate of Baltimore Wharf, London, United Kingdom (i.e. flat owners lease their apartments to Skyline Worldwide on a long term basis, who in turn markets the flats as service apartments).

I stayed for 80 nights in a one bedroom apartment at the rate of £125 (excluding VAT) per night on a room only basis.

According to Skyline Worldwide, they offer the following at Baltimore Wharf:

Living Room

Initially only terrestrial TV channels were available but it was upgraded to basic satellite TV channels towards the end of my stay.  Sitting on the sofa for prolong periods can be uncomfortable as the cushions are worn out.

Dining Table

Kitchen

The kitchen is equipped with basic utensils for light cooking. Unfortunately the cooker hood is a big let down as it has not been cleaned for ages. A foul smell fills the entire room whenever the hood is turned on.

Bedroom

The bedroom is of a reasonable size, enough to fit a queen size bed and a small chest of drawers. As the neighbours have a direct view of the bedroom, the blinds have to be drawn most of the time to ensure privacy.

Bedroom Safe

Skyline provides an in-room safe. I did have a panic attack when the safe failed to open. Apparently, the check-in agent provided me with a erroneous access code. Thankfully I decided to empty the safe 1 day before check-out. If I had waited till check-out date, I would have missed my flight as there isn’t onsite front desk service.

Bathroom

Balcony

Utility Room

Housekeeping service is provided once a week. Perhaps due to lack of manpower, cleaning is sub standard, especially in the bathroom.

Bathroom after cleaning #1 – Strands of hair on the bathroom floor, which clearly does not belong to me.

Bathroom after cleaning #2 – Heavily stained floor.

Skyline advertises that the apartment is air-conditioned, have a gym and reception. And by air-conditioning, I suppose they mean this:

Aircon?

As for gym, there is indeed an onsite gym operated by Club Baltimore. However access is only available for long term guest (>90 days). Short term residents have to sign up to a monthly subscription, which is rather pointless if your stay is less than 1 month.

There is also an onsite reception desk (for collection of parcels, etc). However, this service is not available to Skyline guests and Skyline makes no effort to inform residents of this. I tired making an internet order and when the courier attempted delivery, the reception desk refused to accept the parcel and subsequently returned the order.  When I enquired with Skyline, they said that the concierge service is only available for long term guest.

Given the location of the apartment, stays of less than a week would be bearable at the Baltimore Wharf. However, given the lack of amenities and shoddy housekeeping, it is hardly value for money.