Bad Experience at Holiday Inn, Gatwick

The hotel and restaurant are overpriced and the restaurant service was poor at best. Gratutity at the restaurant was built in to the check and the meal was a buffet and the food quality was average. Telephone charges for a 3 minute call to the US exceeded $20. I had made several phone calls in other EU countries for about the same amount of time and never exceeded $5.

This is also the first hotel that I have encountered in a while that did not include a breakfast (continental or otherwise) with the hotel stay.

Worst hotel ever!!

I have stayed in a lot of hotels in Europe and I have never had a worst experience than at this hotel. The staff was terrible and rude! The room was clean but the air conditioning did not work and it was very hot...I took a shower and was sweating by the time I put my PJ's on! I complained to the staff at around 7pm, after bringing me 5 different fans that didn't work the maintenance guy had to call down and tell them that they needed to change my room because there was nothing he could do and that "it was bloody hot in there!". They changed my room at about 1am and I had an 11 hour flight at 8am the next morning.

The worst part of it is that I had already booked another night there for a second trip I had to make...my money was not refundable so I called the hotel manager and complained about my previous situation and asked to make sure it didn't happen again. Well, they said they would fix it BUT they lied! It was the same thing the second time and this time the room was dirty...oh yeah and they asked me to be out by 7am because the room was reserved for the next morning...even though check out is at noon...I didn't check out until 11:59am....

Very enjoyable one night stay and 7 days car parking.

The Hotel is very central to the Airport Complex and the Shuttle Bus provides good links promptly to the Terminals (cost us £2.50 each - each way). I was impressed by the 'Alarm Clock' call via the TV as I had to get up at 04:30 am for my flight. We (my wife) stayed one friday night and parked for seven days in the price of £119.00. No problem with my car on arrival back (same mileage so it had been parked on-site). The room was of a high standard as was the food in the restaurant. Paid £55.00 for meals and wine in the restaurant that evening. Convenient Petrol Station right next door for return car journey to Bournemouth.

Laura on reception was very efficient and helpful and our thanks to her for the information she provided. I would stay again on future trip.

Fine hotel with shuttle service

We used this hotel two times during our recent trip to Europe. There was a convenient shuttle to and from Gatwick airport. The restaurants were just so-so, but the rooms were nice. They were small, but looked fairly new and the bathrooms were very nice. Staff was helpful and responded to requests for towels and sheets for the pullout couch.

Convenient to Gatwick for the night before you leave!

We stayed at this hotel in the first week of June, 2004. We spent the entire week actually in the city of London, but decided to make it easy on ourselves for leaving and stay near Gatwick.

The bus does cost 2.5 pounds per person...make sure you get on the Povey Cross bus, there are 2 Holiday Inns in the area! Dropped us off at the airport without any delays.

The hotel is sort of remote, but we were there for the convenience of getting to the airport the next morning, so that did not bug us. There is a gas station nearby that you can walk to for snacks/drinks. Room service was very good and was that badly priced, either!

The shower curtain kept flying in on me while showering and the floor was wet after two showers....but once again, we were there for one night for convenience sake and the hotel served its purpose. With that being the only thing to mention, I would still give them an OK.

Very good service

On June 10, 2004, due to a problem with transportation in London we missed our flight from Gatwick airport and had to spend the night. The hotel information desk in the airport was very helpful and told us a list of the hotels and rooms available for the night at Gatwick, including the prices. We chose the Holiday Inn Gatwick. There was a nice bus service to the hotel with plenty of space for our luggage, which included a bicycle. We did have to pay a couple pounds per person but London is an expensive area to visit and you just have to accept that! The room was large, clean, and quite comfortable. We had a nice late lunch in the hotel's lobby. The manager (?) was great the next morning when there were too many people in line for the bus to the airport. She arranged for taxis right away including a taxi large enough to accomodate a bike. Now that's service!! Well done Holiday Inn!

Not worth it

The interior of the otherwise balnd loking hotel has been remodeled and is quite nice. My bed was very soft (old?), however.

The food is terrible and very expensive. Ordered room service which came cold, then they brought it back after having heated it up (disgusting).

You are stuck here in no-man's land, so you really have no other option in tems of food if you are in a hurry.

Having to pay 2.50 GBP each way for the slow shuttle bus is a joke.

The front-desk was totally understaffed and there seemed to be a permanent long line.

The dangers of parking your car at Holiday Inn, Gatwick

I was just browsing the website when a review of Holiday Inn, Gatwick caught my eye. The reviewer had a problem gaining entry to his car on return from holiday. My story is even worse. At end of September 2002 myself and my husband booked a night's stay and 2 weeks car parking at this hotel. Room was fine - though woken up by room service with drinks we didn't order at midnight. We parked our car safe in the knowledge that it would be looked after properly. You can imagine our horror on return from 2 weeks in Turkey to find the car had double the original mileage when we left it in their care, air conditioning, seat and mirror positions had all been adjusted. Obviously somebody had been using our car without permission. Despite an investigation by the hotel we never did find out what happened. The worst case scenario was that the car could have been used in a robbery, abduction, accident etc.

They apologised for the "alleged" incident that occurred. Thankfully we could prove we were out of the country at the time. Holiday Inn never even offered any compensation for petrol, wear and tear or inconvenience or even a voucher for a free night at a Holiday Inn. They have now "allegedly" put in place a policy of recording mileage of cars on entry to the car park - this should have been done as a matter of course.

Had to climb in through my car window

This is the worst hotel I have ever stayed in, the bed was broken on arrival and the food was overpriced.

The worst thing however was the fact that i parked my car on site for 2 weeks while on holiday. They took my car keys and when i came back the car was on the grass wedged in between two other cars so tightly that we had to climb in through the drivers side window!!! - after an 11 hour flight and no sleep its the last thing you need

Don't stay there!!!

You can do better

The exterior of the hotel is pretty boring looks like an old office building. The rooms are nice and clean and they have tea and a kettle in the room. The main problem is that you have to pay almost $5.00 each way to get to and from the airport via a bus system. I thought it was ridiculous that a hotel charging a 100.00+ night wouldn't spring for a shuttle. So, if you don't want have a car and want something to eat or need anything you have to walk. The frontdesk staff was completely useless they were completely clueless about the town they lived in.

Luckily the cleaning lady was about to tell me how to walk to a local restaurant and also let me know that right up the street there was a huge Wal-Mart type store with groceries, maps, European adaptors, gloves and hats and anything else I might need at great prices. If you don't have a very specific business reason to stay here or a car don't bother.