Airport hotels rarely feel like a typical stay.

Guests don’t arrive to settle in — they arrive between journeys. Legs cramped from small seats. Chargers immediately plugged in. The thinking isn’t about exploring the neighbourhood; it’s practical: What time is my flight? How do I get to the terminal? How long will this take?

At Thistle Heathrow Terminal 5, that urgency is sharper than most. The property sits just outside the terminal, connected not by shuttle bus but by small driverless pods travelling along a dedicated guideway. You step inside, press a button, and glide directly to the hotel.

Check-in here isn’t really the beginning of a stay. It’s part of the airport process.

In December 2025, SmartStay by Liverton installed three self-service kiosks at the hotel, the second Clermont Hotel Group site in London following The Tower Hotel, with a simple aim: remove pause points from arrival.

What the SmartStay kiosk does

The SmartStay kiosk handles the practical parts of arrival in one place. Guests can check in, verify their identity, securely register payment and receive their room key in under a minute.

Behind the scenes, the system manages ID verification, encrypted payment processing and security standards aligned with SOC2 compliance requirements, while presenting guests with clear, optional add-ons relevant to their stay.

Rather than replacing reception, it absorbs the transactional steps, leaving the team free for conversations that actually need a person. And they become essential for middle-of-the-night arrivals with limited staffing.

A lobby built around timing

Unfortunately, flights don’t land politely.

Guests arrive in waves: a group at 10:40, another at 11:10, then quiet again. Ten people reach reception at once, each needing the same few things — key, directions, information about the morning.

Traditionally, that creates a familiar choreography: passport → confirm details → payment → key → directions → repeat

Not difficult, just repetitive.

The kiosks change the rhythm. Guests walk in, find their booking, collect their key and head upstairs. The team remains present, but queues shorten as transactions complete faster and arrivals spread out rather than stacking up.

Guests are also presented with simple, relevant options during check-in, small additions that make a short stay more comfortable or tailored, while adding value for the hotel.

The Pods

At Thistle Heathrow Terminal 5, the kiosks include something specific to this property.

Beyond collecting their room key, most guests still have one task left; working out how they’ll reach their terminal in the morning.

The hotel connects to the airport using Heathrow Pods: small, driverless electric vehicles that carry a handful of passengers along a private track directly to the terminal in a few minutes.

During check-in, guests can organise their pod journey at the Smartstay kiosk. No second conversation at the desk, no return downstairs after unpacking, no uncertainty before sleep.

One interaction replaces two.

It turns arrival into closure: room sorted, transfer sorted, morning understood. And for weary travellers crossing time zones, less time spent figuring out logistics matters.

Technology behaving like infrastructure

Because the hotel operates almost like an extension of the airport, the technology needed to blend in and be straightforward.

The kiosks don’t ask guests to learn a system or download anything. They behave more like part of the building, similar to lifts or signage, simply guiding people through the next step of their journey.

From day one, adoption was immediate, including travellers who wouldn’t usually gravitate toward new technology.

What changed

The reception team still welcomes, reassures and supports where needed, but spends less time on routine arrival formalities.

Late arrivals head to their rooms sooner. Early departures move through reception with fewer delays. Busy periods still exist, but they’re shorter and smoother.

No big reveal, no major behaviour change, just fewer frictions.

Like all Smartstay kiosks, here it ensures the stay feels effortless in the moment. Guests arrive, take care of tomorrow, and finally rest — giving way for Thistle’s hospitality to shine. 

If you’re interested in SmartStay for your property, contact us at sales@liverton.com.