Travelling with children can be stressful, so to make it as stress free as possible coupled with the fact that we had an early morning flight to Orlando we stayed the night before our flight at the 4* Hilton London Gatwick Hotel.
We arrived in the evening and we parked our car at the official Valet Parking service at Gatwick. The benefit of staying the night before you flight from Gatwick and especially with children is that you can check-in your bags the night before your flight using the twilight check-in service.
With six cases checked into our BA flight for the next morning we made our way to the Hilton Gatwick which is the only hotel connected to the South Terminal. After a pleasant five minute stroll from the terminal via covered walkways (with travelators which always helps with young children) we arrived at the large, bright and modern atrium lobby of the Hilton London Gatwick Hotel.
Having the convenience of having a good standard of hotel connected to the airport made such a difference to the start of our holiday. If you are flying from the North Terminal the hotel is just a 10 minute shuttle ride away.
We had a lovely warm welcome from the reception staff and the check in process was very quick and efficient. There were a lot of businessmen that were using the hotel but it very much had a family feel and catered for children brilliantly.
Restaurants and bars are gathered around the large atrium lobby including a Costa Coffee concession, a family buffet style restaurant and Amy’s restaurant which offered a la carte dining options. In the middle of the atrium was a seating / bar area and the reception was to the left. All staff were very friendly and kind making a fuss of us from throughout our stay.
The hotel has 821 rooms across the following different categories – standard, deluxe, family and suites.
We checked into our spacious king deluxe family room which had updated contemporary and stylish décor. At 52sqm our first impressions of the room was just how spacious it was. It was the perfect hotel for our family of four containing three really comfortable beds and high quality bed linen.
There was a king size bed and twin beds which the girls said was really comfortable. It was nice to have separate areas to relax in including a seating area with two comfy armchairs, footstool and coffee table.
Within our room we were greeted with a welcome note from the manager together with a range of complimentary drinks which was a lovely gesture.
The King Deluxe family rooms can sleep either 2 adults and 4 children or 3 adults and 3 children and was the perfect family room for our overnight stay before our flight to Orlando the next morning.
I would highly recommend that you pay the extra for this type of room over a standard compact family room. Our room contained the facilities you’d expect in this standard of hotel – flat screen TV, air-conditioning, safe, tea and coffee making facilities and a selection of magazines.
As you enter the room there was a large lobby area containing a dressing room area containing 2 large fitted double wardrobes with doors leading to the main bedroom and bathroom.
The spacious bathrooms were modern, with a shower over a bath, but had no separate shower. There was lots of complementary Hilton-standard Peter Thomas Roth toiletries.
If you needed to work there was ample space at the desk and a comfy ergonomic chair, but power points were limited in the room. Wifi was complimentary and speeds were great during our stay.
Given the fact that the hotel is located in Gatwick Airport the soundproofing of the rooms is superb with triple glazed windows, we didn’t hear any aircraft noise and together with the blackout curtains we had a great sleep.
Breakfast was served in the Garden Restaurant from 5:30am to 10:30am and was delicious with lots of options from hot cooked breakfast to small pastries, fruit, cereals and some fantastic Lime with Vitamin C Hydration Juice.
The breakfast is served as buffet style but can also be cooked fresh to your requirements.
Once more the level of service received during breakfast was exceptional and this high level of customer service is a credit to the hotel management because it really does make a difference during your stay.
After breakfast the girls were given kids packs for our flight which was a lovely thoughtful touch what makes the Hilton Gatwick South such a special family friendly hotel.
Overall
There are cheaper options to stay on-site overnight at Gatwick in the South Terminal such as the Bloc Hotel and Yotel but the Hilton really offers much more than your budget hotels and we had a great rate booking in advance through Hilton.com.
There are also options in the North Terminal such as the Sofitel , Premier Inn and the new Hampton by Hilton but you will find it hard to beat the convenience of the location the Hilton offers if you are flying from the South Terminal.
The Hilton London Gatwick is an excellent family friendly hotel and is highly recommended as a quality hotel to stay at if you are flying from Gatwick. It is connected directly to the airport so getting to departures only takes a few minutes.
Great review! We stayed here last year and found the room we had rather outdated even though we ere upgraded. Did you stay in the new section of the hotel as I’ve read the rooms are better in this section.
We are trying the Hilton Hampton in a few weeks time to see if this is any better than the Hilton Gatwick South,