Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Close to both terminals, clean, friendly staff, value for money |
| Disadvantages: |
Food in restaurant average quality for above average price, no machines selling toiletries . |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
On our recent trip to Las Vegas, we had to fly from London Gatwick. Living in Wales, driving up on the morning of the flight would have been fraught and not very pleasant, so we decided to do the decent thing and splash out and treat ourselves (!) to a night in a Premier Travel Inn.
Our reason for choosing this hotel was simple, we had stayed here last year and we knew the location of the hotel and we had had a good stay in this hotel so why not come back again for a place to lay our heads?
This time, however, we had more time to spend in the hotel, due to using Virgin Atlantic's twilight check in service at 3pm the day before our flight..
LOCATION:
Despite it's name, it is actually closer to the North Terminal at London Gatwick, situated about 5 minutes off the A23 and about 7 minutes drive from South Terminal car parks. The hotel is situated next to a BP Petrol Station and opposite the Softiel Hotel. The Purple signs make this 2 storey building easily recognisable.
PARKING:
There is a large, barrier operated car park at the hotel, parking costs £5 per day. You take a ticket when entering and the hotel receptionist will take payment from you when you check in, so you can leave easily and swiftly the following morning. We didn't think £5 was too bad, here in Cardiff we often pay £9 for a day's parking. There was a good availability of spaces all the time we were there.
BOOKING:
Most bookings are done on the fabulous internet but the rates do not seem to differ greatly for the book and pay on arrival rate. I paid £62 on the internet and we found the rate to be £62 on arrival at the hotel, the room rate for that week was £62 Mon-Thurs and also £62 for Fri-Sun.
Bookings do not include breakfast and are fairly easy to do on the internet, you will need to give your credit or debit card details when booking and you will also need to take that card with you when you book in at the hotel. If you do decide to pay by cash and not by card, they will ask for additional ID from you, in the form of a driving licence or passport and a notice is cleared displayed at reception telling you what is acceptable ID.
There were no vacancies at the hotel when we arrived, a couple in front of us were turned away, they were booked out due to a delayed flight, so don't always rely on the fact these places keep a % of their rooms free, they don't!
CHECK IN:
We were very quick to check in, I handed the lovely receptionist my debit card and my booking reference and she found my booking immediately and she confirmed the booking back me 'One double room, non smoking, departing tomorrow'.
Before I could pay, I was asked whether I'd like breakfast at £7.50 per person all you can eat hot and cold buffet style affair, kids eat free at breakfast when an adult purchases breakfast, we accepted this after paying well over the odd in the airport last time.
The receptionist also took the opportunity to stamp and charge us for the car parking and took my car registration number.
My total bill was £82, which we thought was good and we duly paid on our card and we were given 2 room card keys and told our room was on the first floor. We were notified of the 2 lift positions and positions of vending machines, selling snacks and drinks, situated on the ground floor.
OUR ROOM
As mentioned before, our room was on the first floor. On entering the room we noticed how light and cool it was, the window having been left slightly a jar, which was much needed after a long sweaty car journey and dragging two suitcases through Gatwick airport. Our room had a open wardrobe as you entered with our bathroom on the right hand side. There was a dresser, and chest of drawers, a TV with limited Sky TV and the obligatory pay per view facilities, one armchair and a double bed with 2 bedside tables.
I was quite surprised at the inclusion of a hair dryer in the room, something that is usually omitted from budget hotels.
Our bed was dressed with 2 pillows, a duvet with white covers and a 'Premier Travel Inn' purple runner across the bottom of the bed, I was quite surprised at the softness of the duvet cover and pillowcases, normally they can be quite rough, but these were lovely and soft and smelt wonderful!
Our room had a view, yes a view at Gatwick airport, our room looked out on to a patch of waste land and we were quite entertained by a family of rabbits outside for some of the evening! Most of the rooms seem to look onto each other or out towards the airport, so it was nice to see something different. The window was double glazed and although it was possible to hear some road noise, I think our position in the hotel coupled with this ensured we didn't actually get disturbed by the noise.
Our bathroom was sufficient for our needs, a toilet and a sink were obviously provided but I was again surprised at the inclusion of a bath and shower over rather than the usual shower cubicle. Lux shower cream was provided in a large bottle dispenser, again, toiletries are not normally included in a budget hotel. The shower was operated from the bath level with the facility of a mixer tap or a lever to switch it to the shower.
Tea, coffee and ginger biscuits were provided with a small kettle in the room.
The cleanliness of the room could not be faulted, it smelt wonderful and both the main room and the bathroom were immaculately clean, as were the corridors and lifts in the areas we experienced.
EATING AND DRINKING
We decided to book a table for dinner in 'Slice' the restaurant within the hotel. Slice is a restaurant and bar providing the usual fayre of food at relatively inflated prices but then they have you over a barrel as you are there and you don't want to pay to get out of the car park, so you have to the put up with it, in fairness, though, they have a small bar and TV lounge serving snacks so you can eat off that menu of Nacho's and burgers if you so wish.
We decided to have a 2 course meal, with me opting for the steak and pepper sauce and Andrew opting for the lamb shank. We were served by a young waiter who was very clearly run off his feet, at 8pm, the restaurant was packed to the rafters. After we were seated, it took another 15 minutes to be asked for drinks by a young female waitress and a further 10 minutes before our order was taken.
The waiter was apologetic and recommended a red wine to accompany our meal, which we accepted and was a perfect accompaniment.
The food service was slow and was dealt with by another member of staff. Andrew's meal was first out and looked fine, presentation wise it looked nice and it was obviously hot as the steam was rising from the lamb shank. I thought my steak would be close behind but it was another 10 minutes before I got mine minus the pepper sauce, the waiter hurried away before I could ask for it and there was a long time of waiting to try to get another member of staff's attention, in the end I went to the till point and accosted a waitress for the sauce, by this time, I told Andrew to start eating his before it was ruined. A further 15 minutes later the sauce, thick with skin appeared and I did send it back it was so bad and it was deducted from the bill.
Andrew's lamb was nice but served with horrible restaurant fry
chips and a portion of mixed veg. My steak was rump and cooked medium- rare, the steak was fine, cooked perfectly and again served with the chips and an portion of well overcooked peas, which were inedible!
So, with much left on our plates it was time to move on to dessert, I opted for profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce and Andrew opted for a Knickerbockers Glory. The desserts arrived quite quickly and were presented very nicely. Both desserts were edible and fairly tasty but nothing special.
After eating it was time to ask for the bill, we almost choked when we saw the price £69 for 2 people for 2 courses with wine, although we paid it, as we had eaten the food, we felt it was awfully steep for food bordering on the average/poor end of the spectrum, but unfortunately like service station, they do have you over a barrel here, paying over the odds.
The bar area however, is pleasant, there are a mixture of sofas, armchairs and tables and coffee tables with 2 LCD TV's, both of these were showing Sky Sports throughout our stay. Aside from alcohol, the bar serves Costa Coffees and a snack menu and is open for snack and refreshments until 2am, ideal if, like we did last year, arrive about midnight.
Breakfast is served from 5am until 11am, giving you an ample opportunity for get down and have some food. A waiter shows you to your table but it is a buffet style set up. You have a choice of cold buffet which has foods such as Kellogg’s Cereals in mini packs, mini muffins, yoghurts, fruit salads, fresh fruit and dried fruits. The hot buffet is, in my opinion, slightly limited, bacon, fried and scrambled eggs and vegetarian and meat sausages. Toast and croissants are available. The presentation of the hot buffet let pf not really wanting the hot option, it was dried up and swimming in grease, we were surprised as we went for breakfast at 8am, and it wasn't particularly quiet.
There is also urns with orange, grapefruit and apple juice and a coffee urn and an urn with hot water and a choice of teas to choose from.
Overall I think the food was the let down on our stay at this hotel.
COMFORT
We felt we had a good nights sleep here, we were not disturbed by any outside noise nor any noise from within the hotel. The bed was comfortable and neither of us needed the extra pillows that were provided.
The duvet was sufficient for the both of us and was light enough to keep us cool.
The room temperature was fine although it was easy to vary the temperature via a thermostat on the wall with controlled a small wall mounted convection heater.
As previously mentioned the room itself was comfortable, we spent the evening after dinner sat in the room watching TV and getting ready for the next day and we were comfortable and we didn't feel penned in to the room.
OVERALL
We had a very pleasant stay at this hotel, again. The staff were all efficient and polite, even those staff member who we crossed in the corridors all said 'Hello' to us.
All communal areas were clean and tidy, including the very busy bar and restaurant areas and the cleanliness in the room couldn't be faulted at all.
The rate was quite a bit cheaper than I had seen at other hotels on the perimeter of Gatwick but obviously Premier Travel Inn is not in the same league as Hilton but at the end of the day it does depend what you want from a hotel, we personally just wanted a comfy bed for the night, rather than paying over the odds for facilities we just would not have had the opportunity to use during our stay.
I am happy to recommend this hotel as a good, cheap, clean place to stay for the night, which is close to both terminals and car parks, incidentally the hotel does operate a long stay car park, but you have the pre-book and we had already pre booked our parking elsewhere.
The only minor let down of the hotel was the quality and price of the food, both of which could be improved greatly but we did think we were likely to have the same quality of food at the same prices if we had hot footed it over to one of the terminals for food.
Overall a pleasant and comfortable stay and recommended for any short stay.
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