Review of Yotel London Gatwick Airport

It was like how I imagined living on the Starship Enterprise would be. Or maybe that underground district in the Hunger Games – but a bit more glam?

When I realised our flight to Greece had a check in time of 5am and I lived over an hour away from Gatwick I thought it would be a good idea to stay at the airport the night before – start the holiday early instead of a ridiculously early journey.

The discreet Yotel lift was situated directly opposite the international arrivals at Gatwick’s South Terminal, right next door to Costa coffee. At the bottom of the lift was a hazy, purple-lit, peaceful world; far distinct from the strip-lit bustling terminal upstairs. After skilfully avoiding knocking myself out on the electric glass door I approached the front desk and was reminded of my secondary school tuck shop. Through the alcove a lady in a grey coloured smock was waiting to cheerfully hand me the key to my room for the next couple of hours. She proffered a menu which had some free optional extras; hot drinks, a hair dryer, extra towels, then pointed us in the direction of our cabin.

Oddly I remembered noticing how fragrant the corridor was, it surprised me for an underground world. Peering into the rooms from the windows in the corridor they looked like very high class airline cabins.  In our room the bed wasn’t fully flat so we could enter the space and store our luggage beneath it. Using the electric buttons to extend it to its full length I was reminded of my Nan who spent many hours in a similar contraption, but this thought was swiftly quashed by the comfort of the pillows.

For a tiny space the cabin packed a lot in. A small hanging space for suits, an extendable desk, plug sockets, a stool and free wifi – perfect for the business traveller. As I stepped under the power shower in the wet room I thought how refreshing this would be for a long haul traveller, being blasted of airline odours and smothered in the complimentary shower gel.

Yotel offer a selection of meals and drinks delivered to the room 24/7 but as we were at the start of our journey and not the end we had the energy to go upstairs and raid Marks and Spencer. Snacks taken care of we settled down to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony on the flat screen TV displayed over the bed. As I passed out before Paul McCartney had even come on it was easy to adjust the lighting with the switches on the side of the bed. When the alarm came out of nowhere a few hours later it wasn’t so hard to get up and stagger to the check in desk upstairs – I wasn’t too bleary eyed at all! We handed back our card to the staff on duty and I told them I would definitely be back next time I have a ridiculously early flight.

Disclosure: My stay was sponsored by Yotel but all words, opinions, allusions to Star Trek and bright eyes in the morning are my own.  They currently have a special offer available for 8hrs during the day in a Standard cabin for just £27.

 

About the author

I’m Jayne, a travel blogger, content creator and mum to a 4-year-old son. I’ve been blogging since 2010, travelled to 65 countries and share travel guides and tips to help you plan stylish, stress-free trips.

9 thoughts on “Review of Yotel London Gatwick Airport”

  1. Hi,
    interesting idea, to stay at an airport hotel the night before. Need to remember that. But one thing I cannot let got – could you turn off that terrible light? It reminds me of the light on some public loos to prevent some kind of people using it for their purposes…

    Reply
    • Haha I am not sure what lights you are referring to but yes you can play with the settings and close the blinds etc to make it a bit more cosy 🙂

      Reply
  2. A glam version of that underground district in the Hunger Games – absolutely brilliant! I want to stay here just for that!

    This place is actually a real bargain too. I’m from up north but live in London and I have friends and family staying with me ALL THE TIME when they’re flying from Gatwick so I might start steering them in direction of this hotel…

    Reply

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