Airport Inn Gatwick

Flying out from Gatwick at 7.00 the following morning, I chose to stay at the Airport Inn overnight, making a specific request for a 4.30am alarm call. On arrival, I was charged an additional £7.00 for the car park - a fact that was successfully buried in their website’s small print. Even allowing for the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, the facilities offered were spartan at the least, even shower gel and shampoo were only handed out at reception on request. A comfortable room, otherwise adequately appointed, was let down by poor WiFi access - 20 minutes free, followed by steep charges. After all that, they forgot my alarm call, not surprising, as reception was still totally unattended when I left my key fob at 5.20 the next morning. Luckily I still made my flight!

For a hotel so close to the airport the only way to get between the two places would appear to be an expensive bus service, you should be able to walk, but there is not path. There were some aspects that reminded me of Fawlty Towers, the first room key did not work, then they decided that they had given me the wrong room, then for a third time they changed the room - it was a simple booking for a twin, so no sure why that was so complicated. Generally the place felt a bit old an unloved and could have done with a refresh. The room however was comfortable enough. The nearest station to the hotel is Horley, which also seem to be the place to go for food a beer - it is about 15 mins walking to the centre of Horley

So my brother and I recently just arrived from Geneva to Gatwick Airport. Went to the airport inn got told sorry you have to get out, because there are a lot of cases for the coronavirus in Geneva....

Stayed here as had an early flight. Bus stops outside the front door to take you to the terminals (North & South). £4 each way so have some change with you. Bus goes round a couple of other hotels on its was to the terminal but on the way back this was the first stop. Room was clean if a little tired in a couple of places. Heating system did make a bit of noise but found I slept well. Parking in a small multi adjoining the hotel.

great location for access to any airport terminals. the nearby village is very pleasant for a stroll to and a pub visit for food. the hotel facilities are adequate for an overnight stay. The reception area can get very busy both at check in and out times.

The room was excellent value for the price! The staff were friendly at check-in. The furniture is a bit dated but very clean and we had everything we needed. Good shower and comfy bed! Would definitely use this hotel again for a pre-flight stay!

The price for the room is quite cheap. However anything else it's pretty expensive. - you don't have WiFi (7£ if you want) - shuttle to airport 4£ pp one way, I took a Bolt for 6.50£, saved 1.50£. - parking 7£ per day If you take everything into account better buy a more expensive hotel but with less extra cost. Rooms are ok for one night. I couldn't stay one more..

Very cozy, highly comfy, hospitable staff, sumptuous breakfast and delicious dinner, free WiFi in the lobby & restaurant, nice location & just 5 mins away from LGW on hotel shuttle (4 GBP each way). The view is excellent. Beware, while stepping out from the bath tub, hold the rail or, chances of falling down as the flight between the tub and the bathroom floor is exceptionally high. I wish management makes a note of this and provide a thick cushion mat to land from the bath tub. Also, how I wish to have a balcony to enjoy the fresh air and memorable selfies & pictures of the beautiful hills!

Did what it said on the tin. Was clean and comfortable and cheap. Hospitality tray provided and limited toiletries if you forgot to bring any. Check in was efficient and friendly. We had an air conditioner unit outside our window on the 2nd floor and it was rather noisy but we still slept. Would use again if we needed to.

Dear Management, I wish to make a formal complaint about my stay 7/2/20 and request a refund, or request authorisation for a refund: for this I will need your email address for hotels.com to approve it. I am a busy person; rarely do I bother to take the time to write a complaint email, or request a refund. My time is worth more than the £39 I paid. I say that not to sound arrogant, but to stress how angry I was about my stay, I felt I couldn't NOT write and tell you. As yet, I have not written a 'terrible: 1*' review on Hotels.com, as I feel this is unfair without giving you as management the opportunity to make things better first. I am also contacting Britannia Hotels management as I dont feel this hotel deserves the status & rep of this decent chain. The thing that annoyed me the most was that (aside from awful bed), my bad experience was avoidable. - by your employing more staff, on reception & bar. -by your not hiring out bar to noisy private party. Both of the above comes down to GREED. greed to make extra money, & cut staff costs; and the effect is on me as the main paying core demographic: airport travellers. You look for different things in an airport hotel - a good night's sleep - comfort - ease/hassle free - speedy service - and (not as important but nice to have) friendly welcoming reception staff. My stay could not have been further from this. I will break this down for you: CHECK-IN: * you do not expect to queue for 15-20min to check in. Unacceptable. Ppl arrive tired, wanting bed asap to get up for early AM planes. Not because the man was slow, but because you GREEDILY/STUPIDLY had ONE MAN on, on a busy Friday evening?!??! I arrived 10:45pm; big queue. Went to travelodge for a night cap (more on that later), returned 12:30am - even bigger queue! It's not ok to say you were understaffed: if someone calls in sick- call a temp agency in LDN to get someone in last min! * Ive travelled a lot & Ive never encountered such a rude man on a reception desk before (but, in his defence you left him doing a 3 or 4 person job). He was curt, unapologetic, defensive (when all i was doing was wanting things AS ADVERTISED on your website!), cut me off/talked over the top of me & behaved as if he was paying me to stay there. (** only positive- young lad on breakfast duty incredibly sweet, polite & accommodating. The only decent thing about stay. He is an asset to the business & you are lucky to have him). BAR/GENERAL: *This is the thing that angered me the most. Why oh why - AS AN AIRPORT HOTEL WHERE PPL GO TO SLEEP - would you take a booking, on a Friday night, from a large, noisy, full on fancy dress party, taking over the bar area, hogging lifts for guests, talking & slamming doors in corridors at 4am. Why????!!!! Why wld you do that to your core airport clientele? You're called 'The AIRPORT Inn?! , why you think it appropriate to hire yourself as an event venue for a stag/hen/engagement party - ,whatever it was?! Youre not a tourist hotel in Amsterdam?! - GREED is reason why. To make more money. And that really angers me. It is disrespectful to your paying guests. It was also probably the reason why you were so busy that night at check in. Drunken partygoers deciding to book rooms last minute & clogging up reception. If you are going to selfishly host events too, at least make sure you employ additional staff to cope with it! * Your bar hours on your own website are clearly advertised as until 11pm. I arrived at 10:47 wanting a nightcap & found the bar shut. Really annoying. Another 2 men also wanted drinks. The 3 of us had to go to the travelodge bar. I had to ask your leading competitor to heat up the food i had prepped for dinner as there was no human soul in sight to ask & the receptionist was manic. Thankfully the barman remembered me from my many (happy) stays there & ,provided me with all of the services I had paid you to provide. This was, I presume, again down to the private event. So once again your core clientele is put out due to needs of this event. Not ok... Finally when i asked why i cld not get a drink as advertised, the receptionist snapped at me as if i was asking for something ridiculously unreasonable! ROOMS. I literally had bed springs digging into my back all night: the most uncomfortable bed I have ever had the misfortune of sleeping on. I'm only 37, god knows what it would be like for someone in their later years. It's utterly unacceptable of you to offer beds so broken & old in an airport hotel. Then think you have the right to charge more than your competitor Travelodge who have comfy, memory foam beds, just because you are 'a Britannia hotel'; your inclusion in their collection is highly inappropriate and unworthy. Room was excessively hot, keeping me awake with no modern easy to use thermostat to adjust, again like your competitors. Furniture not to standard of a 3*;more what you'd expect in a £9 per night hostel dormitory &,that's an insult to most hostels. Like I was in a 1986 time warp. Of course, this stuff doesn't really matter for an airport stay, but the age of the furniture tells me just how old your beds are! BREAKFAST : (Apart from lovely server as aforementioned), not up to standard or worth the money. Rubbish coffee from a machine & not even take out cups provided for those dashing to make planes. 'Fruit salad' - prunes & oranges?! Prunes?!?! What a weird odd offering, but by this point nothing surprised me. No music playing. No atmosphere. No little touches of (cheaper) competitors round corner. Felt like I imagine a prison dining room to be. Yes; I'm really angry I know.... And no, im not normally like this , wired to complain. The reason im so angry is i feel it all comes from greed & profit over guest care & compassion, and whenever i see mercenary human behaviours over the well-being of people, it makes my blood boil. Your entire establishment needs : - a detailed refit & redecor - replacement of old broken bed with new memory foam ones - a rethink of staff training & staff volumes - a rethink on profit vs guest comfort... ie; - what type of hotel are you? - airport or events? - to observe meticulously the things advertised and promised on website. If the bar is advertised as being open until 11pm, you do not shut it at 10:45pm. Any changes must be emailed to guests in advance & monetary compensation offered: --eg: event on, bar facilities unavailable, but here is a voucher for a free breakfast, or one drink over at travelodge. As stated, travelodge next door are exemplary in providing all that an airport hotel should. You need to learn from them, or massively lower your rates in comparison to them at least. Please process a refund - or email hotels.com to instruct that they issue me one. Do not leave this up to me to do. I dont see why i should take on the admin of chasing hotels.com when this is absolutely your error. Here is my ref no: ************** That should be all you need to complete this task. In addition, a voucher for Britannia hotels might be a nice gesture after such a bad experience. This email just took me an entire 2.5 hour plane journey from Madrid to compose; vital work time missed. Please ensure you see to this asap. I look forward to your response. Regards, **** ******** Follow @emmypathy: travel/mental health b/vlog