SOFITEL, LONDON GATWICK
(2013) We were invited to review four-star hotel Sofitel London Gatwick and the Aspire lounge in the North terminal, which we booked with holidayextras.co.uk.
We arrived at Sofitel London Gatwick on a Monday evening in July, the night before our flight leaving from the North terminal. We hadn't booked parking when the hotel room was booked, and we weren't allowed to add it on later as we had booked under one of the Undercover Hotel Deals. We saw that those who had booked parking could just pull up in front of the hotel, hand their keys over to the porter and have them park the car. There was also another man who helped carry the luggage in, so all my family had to do was stroll over to the reception to check-in (and I had to park the car elsewhere). It was very good service!
The lobby area where we queued at reception was huge - possibly because it was quite a big hotel with 500+ rooms. It had three restaurants; French cuisine at La Brasserie, Asian food at Gatwick Oriental and Parisian at Le Cafe. Kua Bar and La Terrasse were also available for guests. We didn't try any of these as we had already eaten before arrival, and unfortunately couldn't get away from the kids to enjoy the bar!
Once we were at the front of the queue (which didn't take long - 10 mins or so), check-in was fairly quick. We were given a triple room for myself, my husband and my son on the fourth floor and a twin room for my sister and my mother on the third floor. We were a bit disappointed that they weren't connecting rooms, which we should have double-checked prior to booking. They didn't have any available on the night of our stay.
We took the glass lift to the rooms, which was equally cool and terrifying. Our triple room had a queen size bed and a sofa bed for my son. I was a bit skeptical about the sofa bed at first, but it turned out to be quite comfortable - for a child anyway. Our bed was amazingly comfortable with soft sheets and bouncy pillows. Needless to say, I fell asleep almost instantly.
The room had a bathroom, with a bath and an overhead shower. There was limited bandwidth WIFI internet, a television (which we didn't use), a fridge, kettle, choice of teas and coffees and room service. The view wasn't particularly nice, but that's what you get for staying at an airport hotel! It overlooked the runway, which certainly kept an irritable 3 year old at bay at 5 o'clock in the morning.
The next morning we left promptly to check-in our luggage. We were literally ten minutes walk away from the terminal - and that's with kids in tow. I imagine it might be quicker for people who only have to carry themselves! After we did all the standard airport stuff (which was rather quick as most of it was online), we headed to the Aspire lounge.
The lounge was peaceful and quiet - it was 6 o'clock in the morning and good to be separated from the general crowd in the duty-free areas. It was all-you-can-eat and they had an island of various breakfast options; cereals, croissants etc. I had anticipated a full English breakfast so was quite disappointed to find only one hot option, which was a bacon roll. It was a bit like airplane food at the airport. There was a variety of hot drinks available from a machine, different types of teas and herbal teas, instant coffee and hot chocolate. Also a section of alcoholic beverages - obviously it was a bit early on in the day for that.
They offered free newspapers to read and some you could keep for the flight. There was also a WIFI code you could obtain from reception for free internet access. We didn't stay for long, only to have our breakfast, and went to the waiting area to board our plane - which was only 10 minutes walk away.
Overnight stay at the Sofitel London Gatwick hotel starts from £95 a night. For the Aspire Lounge: adults (12+) £17.49, children (2-11) £9.99 and infants 0-1 are free.
7.5/10 (from KatGransnet)
