The Sofitel Heathrow Terminal 5, a member of the Arora Group, has launched a Test & Rest package. This means you will be able to take a self-administered COVID test during your stay there included in the price.
The Covid-19 screening system behind Arora’s ‘Test and Rest’ programme is HALO, a UK-based biotech firm. The test is a fully certified Covid-19 PCR saliva-based self-test kit is available for each adult booking at this 85-room hotel.
The drill is that you submit spit into a test tube by 8pm at reception and then the sample is despatched to HALO’s facility at Imperial College in London for testing.
As soon as the results are through they appear on the HALO app along with a certificate and, providing the test is negative, you are ready to travel on as soon as you wake.
Arora plan to offer the package at sister hotels including the Hilton Garden Inn at Terminal 2 and 3, then probably Sofitel Gatwick.
Surinder Arora, Founder and CEO of Arora Group, commented:
“Our beloved hospitality, airline and the wider tourism industry has been devasted by the pandemic and we felt the need to do something to give both business and leisure travellers the confidence to travel.
“The ability to stay in a hotel the night before a flight and get a recognised PCR saliva based Covid-19 test and subsequent result before the flight the following day – just made sense”.
Dr Nigel Kellow, chief medical officer at Halo, added:
“We believe that in Halo we have created a system that offers hotel guests and many others a safe, secure and simple way to travel and enjoy life again in confidence. “We hope more organisations in the travel industry will follow Surinder Arora’s example.”
The hotel cannot force guests who fail their HALO test to not to travel but they will be advised not to.
How much is the Sofitel Test & Rest Service?
Sofitel ‘Test & Rest’ starts from £179 per night (including one test kit) midweek and £199 at weekends. Walk-in passengers with no reservation can purchase a test for £79.