Holiday Inn Express London Heathrow (and connected Crowne Plaza), known online as a real-world “backrooms hotel” (Level 188) for its vast multi-level atrium, layered staircases, long corridors, and strangely empty-feeling public spaces. Opened in 2018, the property is connected to Heathrow Terminal 4 by a covered walkway. Its most distinctive feature is the large, multi-level internal atrium and lobby area with minimal decor and colour palette, open voids, and stacked levels that many visitors describe as disorienting or uncanny. The combination of airport-hotel anonymity, fluorescent lighting, identical corridors and the transitional nature of the space has made it a globally recognised liminal location.The architecture creates an uncanny atmosphere, that constantly feels both alive with arriving and departing guests and somehow suspended outside normal time and space, especially late at night or in the quieter upper levels.
Key features include:
- Large multi-level atrium and lobby with layered floors, staircases and open voids
- Also known as Level 188 of the backrooms
- Long, repetitive hotel corridors
- The overall sense of a vast, purpose-built non-place designed for temporary transit
- Rooms and public areas that can feel both occupied and oddly detached from ordinary life
Photo Credits: https://x.com/zerstoerer/status/1280050772076646400/photo/1 , Tripadvisor
