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Hi,
I have a flight leaving at about 6:30am from Gatwick in July. For hotels connected to the airport there are the yotel and bloc hotels which are about £90. For other hotels connected to the airport (hilton, sofitel), the price is about £170 a night of booking a flexible rate now. And I’ll need two rooms and parking as well, so it looks to be expensive! I’ve never stayed in a hotel at Gatwick before, does anyone have any suggestions?I don’t know about parking unfortunately and this is based on pre-pandemic knowledge:
The Hilton is only okay by Hilton standards, better if you get a refurbished room and can get access to the lounge (i.e. more interesting if you are Honors elite). Breakfast unremarkable. Since you need two rooms, the guaranteed interconnecting rooms they offer may be useful but NB this can reduce your chances of an upgrade. It’s a bit of a walk to the terminal, but it is indoors the whole way. It used to be easy to find cheaper pricing on trivago that you could exploit for best rate guarantee.
The Premier Inn is great value and reliable, no points angle but would definitely consider it.
I never stayed at the Hampton, the pricing gap was always quite small to the Hilton.
Agree, Premier Inn is fab value, be sure to select the one right by the terminal and not the one over by the A23. Prices currently hovering around £85 for July.
Thanks for the advice, the Premier Inn looks to be the best value, about £110 on my date for a cancellable room. I hadn’t seen it before because they can only be booked direct.
Hotel parking at Gatwick seems to be non-existent: park in the short-stay or basically valet parking where they take your keys. Have you thought about staying 10-15 minutes away and getting a taxi? Not quite as convenient but you would save a packet.
I’ve used Cophall parking a couple of times and they have been very good. You leave your keys but they have a secure area to park the cars on-site. They even jump started my car after one break when the battery was dead.
I then get them to take me to the airport where I stay at the Hilton on points.
The Hampton is okay but I found the beds hard.
Both are only a short walk undercover to the terminals. The shuttle between terminals is easy to use and quick.
As you need parking I believe the holiday inn would be a good option. I found it for £45 a night during covid so can be excellent value. The shuttle bus is something like £3 each, each way
Parking is a lot cheaper there too and no one else will drive your car that way.
I’m at the Courtyard in 10 days and will do a review. Not meant to be as good as the newer ones but I was swung by double elite nights ….
I like Bloc and it’s literaly next to South terminal security so location cannot be beat! BA Holidays used to have some decent rates there, cheaper than going direct.
Whatever you do, do not book the Travelodge. I’m very much a “bed for the night” man at the airport and it was dirt cheap & we needed 3 rooms. It was absolutely fine cleanliness and quality wise but you cannot open the windows and the AC is pretty much non functional. Ended up giving up and going to the airport early just to get some air
I prefer to park in short stay parking where possible so I’m usually happy with a hotel off site where I can park and then driving myself in the morning. So the Premier Inns etc further out work well for this
I added Bloc onto my booking for my destination hotel via BAH. Adding the 2nd hotel actually reduced the overall cost. I’ve opted for a room with a window and am hoping that twilight check-in is reinstated by then, as it means we won’t have to store our luggage in a small room and we can roll into the lounge the next morning.
Travelling out of Gatwick South in May. Flight is 0640am departure so an early start. My usual ‘go to’ LGW Airport Hotel (Hilton) is sold out so has made me consider alternative options for the flight. Travelling with an infant and therefore a fair amount of luggage deters me from using the Courtyard given the reasonable walk to the terminal and I’ve not before used the transit train between terminals so am also reluctant to opt for the Hampton albeit I’ve stayed there before and it was comfortable. This leaves me with the Bloc hotel which is expensive by comparison but I guess you’re paying for the convenience of being 15 seconds away from the departure gates. Is BA twilight check-in at LGW still not operating? I could be swayed on the Courtyard or Hampton if we only have to transit terminals/walk in the early hours with hand luggage if I could drop the majority off the evening before. Any help, advice/guidance would be appreciated
We have use the Sofitel previously which is attached to the North Terminal – it’s not the cheapest but very convenient and a nice way to start a holiday. If travelling from the South Terminal the shuttle is no hassle at all. Have also used Valet Parking a couple of times as the price can sometimes be the same as the long-stay – no issue with leaving the keys and the car is ready and waiting when we return. We will be using the Sofitel and Valet Parking again in September.
There were some horror stories a few years ago of off-airport parking operators using fields to store cars with the cars being returned covered in mud!
Thanks @Man of Kent – good to know. We live overseas so just returning Hire car to Avis in LGW South, no need for parking. May consider the Sofitel/other accommodation on the North Terminal on the basis the shuttle is not an issue. Got an offer on my AMEX now for Marriott spend >£200 and get a £50 statement credit so might further influence the Courtyard argument although that would require a Junior suite and some incidental spend to meet the threshold and still doesn’t overcome the detached from the terminal headache transferring a child/luggage at the crack of dawn! Still interested to know of others’ experience with twilight bag drop since Covid and if BA are/aren’t offering it yet. We used it at LHR and it made life easier for an early morning flight.
Do Bloc/Yotel have any park and fly options?
The shuttle is a piece of cake.
+1 for Bloc. It’s not that different in price to the Yotel but the window rooms are a different league in terns of quality (Yotel has prison cell vibes, Bloc are nice regular hotel rooms in a compact but gadgety way). I like it in terms of convenience. It also has great runway views from many rooms if you’re into that.
Thanks Bloc is coming out cheaper than Hamptons. Although if I’m willing to walk/shuttle, the courtyard is £100 cheaper using amex cb
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