An Airport stopover hotel with a parking deal included is an essential tool to make a smooth holiday experience.
Bad workmen are often reputed to blame their tools. However, this doesn't take away from the fact that tools are essential to getting the job done. We have often looked upon airport overnighter hotels with a different enthusiasm to the holiday itself, but one thing's for sure - a good airport hotel can really put the icing on the holiday cake.
We have just returned from a holiday to the USA which involved an early start from Gatwick. Our friends at HolidayExtras.co.uk arranged a stay at the Holiday Inn at Gatwick complete with parking for our car while we were away.
I've always thought of the overnighter as a means to an end, but stays such as this have really changed my mind and shown me that it can be almost as important as the holiday itself. Waking up fresh as a daisy on the morning of your flight, knowing that you don't have to battle with traffic and rush-hour, and only having to make the 5-minute hop to the terminal makes everything so much less stressful.
The Holiday Inn at Gatwick offers really high standards, friendly and efficient service and to my complete surprise, quite a good atmosphere in the bar and restaurant too. We used the stay as the perfect wind-down before our holiday instead of a motoring wind-up. A lovely meal and a couple of drinks before retiring to our spotlessly clean and amazingly sound-proofed room for a good sleep before our trip were just the ticket.
The parking arrangements were effortless, with reception collecting our car key at check-in, and us collecting the car from literally outside the hotel door on our return. It was quiet efficiency epitomised. We couldn't have hoped for better. Past experiences of using off-airport car parks and having to make our way from car park to terminal to hotel to terminal to car park etc., with all the associated bus fares were now a distant memory. We didn't need to touch the car between arriving at the hotel and then collecting it at the end of the holiday. Perfect!
Would we do the same again? Absolutely! Both Holiday Inn and HolidayExtras proved their worth and helped us realise how valuable the overnighter can be for those not lucky enough to live next door to the airport. Roll on next year!
October 2010 | 
Sherwood Hideaway
