Overnight Heathrow

Depends on your budget, but my favourite is the "Christopher" in Eton (next door to Windsor). http://www.thechristopher.co.uk You will have time to take in a meal and a stroll around and not have to rush back to the airport in the morning.
Roger

There are a variety of hotels very near the airport, but you could also stay AT Heathrow, at the Yotel. It was not yet open when I last went through there, so I slept on a bench. Next time, I plan to try the Yotel because it looks like a fun experience.

We really like the Jurys Inn Heathrow. Clean, spacious, pretty good food, and amazingly quiet. It's under a flight path, and we could see the plane flying over but not hear it! Their weekend night rates were inexpensive when we stayed.

I had a similar overnight in Heathrow a year or so ago. I stayed at the Yotel, which is located right in the airport-no need to even get a taxi. If I'd had more time, I might have tried to stay in the city, but my layover was about 8 hours and I just wanted some sleep. These are in the spirit of Japanese capsule hotels, but MUCH bigger than that. You can get a good idea of what they are like from the website:
http://www.yotel.com/en/Hotels/London%20Heathrow.aspx My room had its own bathroom, a very comfortable bed, a tv, etc.

Chris, you really don't have that much time to work with. Stay as close to the airport as possible within your budget. Note, too, that Heathrow is huge, with 5 geographically separate terminals. Before you decide on something because it is "at the airport", you need to know what terminal. Going from one terminal to the next can take a long time.

The Yotel is a kick! I've only stayed in the deluxe double room, which has one of those motorized double beds that, at the push of a button, becomes a settee. Free wifi, a fold out table and foldaway chair, and a big screen tv complete the bedroom area; the bathroom is ultramodern, with stylish sink, loo, and a rainshower type of shower. It's right across the hall from the Wetherspoon chain pub, with several real ales on draft as well as a pretty good range of food. Serviceable for late dinner and for breakfast in the morning. If you set the alarm on the tv, it wakes you by gradually brightening the lights and playing a little harp piece that is catchy to the point where it's hard to get it out of your head. You can rent it by the hour, so just figure out how many hours you want it for and book only what you need. Eleven hours for the deluxe double ran us something like 89 pounds. My guess is that, unless you want to sample late night nightlife, you don't have time to get into London. Arriving at 8 means not getting out of the airport till 10 pm; then you have to get from Heathrow to the city. The Heathrow Express train is the fastest, but even that probably won't get you to Paddington till 11 at the very earliest. And then you'll have to transfer by taxi to wherever you are ultimately going. On the other end, you could wake up early and catch the first train of the morning into London (I think it's something like 5:30), catch the Tube to whatever section tickles your fancy, and have a nice walk-around and a breakfast, getting back to Heathrow by 10 am for your 12 noon flight. Probably that makes more sense unless you are a real nightlife hound and you don't mind taking a cab back to the airport.

Jury's Inn is close by and good. Stayed there last fall.

Also liked the Jury's Inn. They have a restaurant for late dinner, and breakfast. Convenient and reasonable shuttle to the airport from hotel's front door (this was about 2 years ago).

I agree with the post on the Yotel. I stayed there a couple years back on a similar layover and got some much needed sleep on my return trip.

Yotel is great, fun place to stay.