Premier Inn London Gatwick Airport South (London Road) hotel — Hotel in Crawley

Arrived after our flight had been delayed so had been travelling over 8 hours. Had a long journey back home so needed to be well rested. Stayed in Premier Inns up and down the country so obviously this was my first choice. First greeting from the receptionist was almost bored and no smiles. OK, it was nearly 11 at night, it's not a big deal.

Got into the room, hot and stuffy but there was an aircon panel so thought that's not too bad. Tried to change the temperature but it was broken. Went to reception but no one there. Gave up and put the two kids to bed. Struggled to get on the bed as it was too high but my husband helped me get on. Bed was thick and uncomfortable and felt slightly filmy. Husband went to reception but no one there again. He opened a window as the room was still hot and stuffy.

Luckily the kids could sleep through anything but I ended up awake most of the night with the heat of the room, noise of the airport due to needing to keep the window open and the running up and down from upstairs of other customers. My husband has epilepsy so I am the only driver, that's why I wanted a good night sleep and I didn't get it.

Breakfast we booked 9am, when we got there, no tables were free. The self serve stations are tiny and there is no order. Trying to find a cup was a challenge. The glasses were dirty so I ended up taking it to clean before drinking. No toilets in the reception area so we had to run the two children back to the room. Food was dripping in water or oil and the toaster only had capacity for 4 slices, so when 6 of us wanted toast it took a long time. Whilst the children finished their breakfast I went to reception to make my complaints. I was there so long that other customers thought I was working reception and started talking to me about their complaints!

On checking out I spoke to the receptionist (who magically appeared from the back room!) and explained my complaints. I also said that if I had known what my night would have been, I would have risked the 4 hour journey home at 11pm that night. She apologised and gave me a card to email my complaints in to and said that I would be covered by the good night sleep guarantee.

When I got home (6 hours instead of 4 as I had to keep stopping for a caffeine hit), I emailed in. My email response back was that as the website didn't state they had aircon then my complaint was invalid, also that I can't complain about other customers noise, especially as I hadn't complained at the time. I responded back that I tried and whether or not the hotel stated aircon, it did have it and it should be functioning. I asked for the official complaints process as I wanted to take it further and the following email said they considered my complaint closed and would ignore any future...

Dreadful experience! Booked in late Saturday night (Oct 9th). Getting out of the car we were met with loud music coming from the Shipley Suite (part of the Gatwic Manor PH) directly across from reception, together with noise from a large group of people in the beer garden. Once in our rooms (206 & 208) the music gradually got louder. My wife went down to reception to find out when the music would stop. The ?night Porter commented that the music usually stopped at midnight but there were two company parties being held there. Whist talking to him the music did stop.

My wife returned to our room. For the next hour we had to listen to a group of people standing around in the car park smoking, shouting, laughing and singing.

I went downstairs to reception to complain again. The very kind night Porter said he would go outside to ask the group to keep the noise down or disperse. The less-than-friendly receptionist said she would make a note of our complaint and gave me a card with Premier Inns contact details.

I felt sorry for any other guest having to get up for an early flight.

Having emailed Premier Inn to request a refund under their ‘Good nights sleep’ guarantee their reply was thus did not cover anything beyond their control and would not a refund!

Come on Premier Inn, you must obviously be aware of these events being held (your night staff said they were regular). The distance from the hotel to this venue is about 50 yards and breakfast is taken in the same pub’s restaurant.

Avoid unless you like tossing and turning into the small hours!

Another thing, the noise was very loud even with window closed and there is no air-conditioning so that makes the room very stuffy as well.

By a mile, this was the worst nights stay we have experienced in any Premier Inn.

Be...

We stayed here as part of the Park & Fly option in November before our flight to Mexico. It was very conveniently located, and we got to the airport in no time at all.

We like to book Premier Inn because you know what you are getting, and we had no problems with our stay. I like the rooms and the giant beds, and I actually preferred this Premier Inn to Gatwick North A23. With this one, it's free to park overnight rather than the £15 charged by the other Premier Inn.

The room was clean and comfortable, and I appreciated the fact that we were situated in a room opposite the other couple in our party, even though we checked in separately. I did struggle to sleep because the pillows we had were so soft, so after a couple of hours I decided to go down to reception and ask for some replacements. I felt silly doing so, but it had got to the point where I was going mad from not sleeping! The nice gentleman there was very helpful at 1am, he sourced me some firmer pillows and I managed to get some sleep.

We didn't have breakfast here because we had an early flight, so I can't comment on that. The food at the pub next door was good (Gatwick Manor), which I have written a separate review for. We didn't have time to explore the grounds as it was dark when we arrived and left (it was November) but they looked pleasant and I imagine would be very nice for a walk in warmer weather.

Would recommend Gatwick South for a flight, and would actually be tempted to stay here over the other Premier Inn for a flight from North Terminal. I can't see that they do the Park & Fly option any more though, which is a...