gatwick hotels

In order to get the cheapest price at any gatwick airport hotel (with or without parking) you need to check your dates and the prices at 5 airport hotels websites.

Most 'gatwick hotels' websites are affiliates of one of these websites (they offer a limited number of gatwick hotels from just one of five airport hotels websites).

Here we tell you about all 5 websites, plus a further website - airport hotels guide - that makes it easy for you to search them all and quickly compare prices.

Where to book a gatwick airport hotel at the lowest price

Given that two of these websites have a 'best price guarantee', we are confident that you can't book cheaper. These websites will offer you every gatwick airport hotel and save you up to 70%.

If you are looking for family rooms at gatwick hotels, click on the link and we will tell you which hotels and which booking companies offer them.

For a complete guide to gatwick airport visit this gatwick airport guide.

The gatwick airport hotels checklist

The choice of hotels at or near gatwick airport is wide. There are around 50 hotels offering rooms with or without parking, including guest houses, 3 star and 4 star hotels.

Off-peak, a room at the on airport hilton and le meridien hotels can cost as low as £79 a night including 15 days airport parking (always check the prices at both hotels as the le meridien is often cheaper. It is attached to the north terminal, but this is only 5 minutes away from the south terminal on the monorail).

Other excellent gatwick hotels include the Renaissance (which is just off airport), Thistle, Ramada Plaza, Holiday Inn Gatwick (rather than the holiday inn crawley, which is fine but quite a trek from the airport) and (slightly further away) the Ramada Plaza, Copthorne and Effingham Park.

For family rooms the lowest prices are usually at the Quest guest house via FHR - from £77 a night for a family (5) room including 15 days parking. FHR also offer family (6) rooms at the Hilton.

When looking for and booking a gatwick airport hotel, there are a few things to look out for:

1. For detailed information on any gatwick airport hotel visit airport hotels guide, click on an airport name and then on any of the hotel thumbnails in the margin.
2. When comparing prices, the most important thing is to make sure that you are comparing ‘like with like’. Not just the same hotel (and there are 2 Holiday Inn hotels serving gatwick, for example), make sure the ‘package’ is the same. Parking and breakfast are the usual variants.
3. If you want a ‘gatwick hotel with free parking’ package holidayextras / APH / FHR are likely to offer the best prices. If you don't want parking then make sure you include superbreak and active hotels in your search.
4. Most ‘airport hotel and free parking’ packages include parking at the hotel, where there is limited security. If it is important to you that your car is parked in a ‘secure’ car park, make sure you book a hotel with secure parking package (or book a hotel on a room only basis and book parking separately at 1stairportparking.co.uk).
5. How many days parking do you need? The choice at airport hotels is not very flexible:
   a. Only the Hilton Gatwick airport offers a package with less than 8 days parking (4 days).
   b. FHR and superbreak offer a number of hotels with up to 21 days free parking at Gatwick.
   c. Some hotels offer free parking after the 8 or 15 days included in the package during quiet periods. Otherwise you should expect to pay £3 - £10 for each additional day.
6. If you want a budget hotel or guest house at Gatwick try FHR, superbreak and active hotels.
7. When you are comparing the prices of hotels also consider how far they are from the airport. An ‘airport hotel’ can be as much as 20 miles from the airport.
8. Compare facilities offered by the hotel. Not all 3 or 4 star hotels are the same – for example, the gatwick Express by Holiday Inn airport hotels may be 3 star, but it does not have a restaurant. Make sure the hotel has the facilities you want.
9. Check in and check out times are not consistent across hotels. Both can be as early as 11 am or as late as 2 pm. If this is important to you, make sure you know what they are.
10. Do you want breakfast at the hotel?
    a. If you do, superbreak and active hotels are more likely to include it within the price;
    b. but, make sure it is available at the time you want it. It is not unusual for hotels to only offer breakfast from 7 am midweek and 8 am at weekend until 10 am.
    c. Expect having breakfast delivered to your room outside ‘normal’ hours to cost extra.
11. If you want to stay at an airport hotel the night before and the night after your holiday, with parking in between, check the price of ‘with parking’ and ‘room only’ for both dates. Pick the best pair and (to avoid confusion) phone the airport hotels company to book (airport hotels guide will help you do this quickly and provides all of the phone numbers).
12. Not all ‘airport hotels’ provide free transfers to the airport. Key questions (answered by the airport hotels guide pages) are:
    a. Are transfers to the airport available from the hotel?
    b. During what hours?
    c. Are they provided ‘on demand’ or at specific times
    d. Are they free?