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The standard cost of the Heathrow Express makes it prohibitive for many. A standard return is £36, which seems rather expensive for 2 x 15min journeys. It’s possible to pay less if you book well in advance or if there are more than 2 people in your party, but still many on a budget will prefer the much cheaper Piccadilly line tube (or Heathrow Connect).

Heathrow Express discount codes pop up from time to time, giving discounts for various types of tickets. We previously covered some of the more well known ones in this article. However, I’ve found a massive 50% off discount code, which is the biggest discount I’ve seen reported.

I’ve had a new interest in Marriott, since the news of the Marriott/SPG merger.  So I was browsing the Marriott site, familiarising myself with the loyalty programme, when I came across the following:-

The offer gives you 7,000 Marriott rewards points for a London stay, plus 50% off Heathrow Express tickets.

However reading through the offer, it becomes clear that the 50% discount is achieved by the use of a promo code MARRIOTT on the train booking system. It isn’t actually tied to or activated by a hotel booking.  I’ve tried it, and it does provide a genuine 50% discount of certain tickets, but more on that later.

Before I go on, I need to advise that the terms of the offer do include:-

3. You may be asked to show proof of Marriott Rewards membership and Elite status along with your ticket and printed Marriott reservation for inspection when on board the Heathrow Express. Further promotional terms and conditions for the ‘Elite Member Exclusive: 7,000 Bonus Points Plus 50% Off Heathrow Express On London Stay’ promotion may be found at Marriott.co.uk

I feel the chance of you being challenged on the train to produce your Marriott membership number and a Marriott reservation are so minute as to be negligible, however I’ve satisfied my conscience in advising you that that’s what it says !

I’ve done some experimental bookings. It provides 50% discount on single (in both directions) and return tickets, both Express and Business First. It does not provide discount on advance purchased tickets.  If you try to buy multiple tickets, you’ll find the system only applies the discount to 1 ticket. You can get around this by adding individual tickets to your basket, one at a time.

You don’t need to use any special link. Simply go to www.heathrowexpress.com, do your booking and use the promo code MARRIOTT.

With promo code Marriott                                       Without Promo code Marriott

If there are two of you, this code works out cheaper than using the well known DUOSAVER code. Using code MARRIOTT twice, you can get two returns for £36, compared with the £54 it costs using DUOSAVER (as seen below)

You Better Hurry

This Marriott promotion has been running for several months, but I only found it today. The t&c say that the code expires on the 1st November. However, that only applies to when the code stops working. It doesn’t limit your travel dates. I’ve successfuly tested travel dates in December.

You can see the details of the offer on the Marriott Rewards website here.

One final point: if you spend over £50 on Heathrow Express tickets using a UK-issued American Express card, you’ll currently get a further £10 off (by way of a credit to your Amex account). Clearly this won’t work for one ticket alone (as there’s nothing over £50), but if you’re buying multiple tickets, it could give you a great stackable discount.

Two standard Business First returns, for example, would ordinarily cost £108, but stack the Marriott 50% discount and the Amex £10 rebate, and you’ll pay £44 – a saving of almost 60%!