robin1234

I’m in England, and plan to fly back home, London to Boston, in two or three weeks time. I usually fly from LHR, but intend to fly from Gatwick this time. Flight will be in the morning so I want a Gatwick hotel.

Is there a good hotel that is walking distance, railway station - hotel - airport terminal? I just find that to be much more congenial & stress free than being dependent on a shuttle bus. (I’ll do the shuttle bus thing if that turns out to be the best option..) One that came up, Bloc, looks expensive and some of the rooms don’t have windows. What?

BennyBall

The Gatwick hotel has no windows !
Are you sure it’s a hotel and not a young offenders institute ?

Pulaski

There are three hotels in the LGW terminal complex - "Hampton by Hilton" is closest to the gates, and the other two (both within the "road loop" in front of the terminal building), which appear to be about 500ft from the drop-off at the terminal building, are "Premier Inn", and "Sofitel".

You would probably benefit from learning how I found these hotels - if you search on Google Maps for a location, such as a city, or in this case just "LGW", when Google Maps shows you the location, hit the < button once to clear the pop-up, and the search field at the top should change to read "Search here". Click on the search field ("Search here" will disappear), then key in "hotel", or "restaurant", or any other generic business type, and Google will mark all matches on the map.

robin1234

LOL! Yeah, I know all that. I did that , or similar, search, and looked at that map. Further, my search on Expedia gave the distance from the terminal of all these hotels. However, neither the map nor the Expedia search could really tell me whether those distances are easily walkable - because those crappy maps (like google maps) are largely highway based. I guess I was partly hoping for insights from folks who might have stayed at one or more of these hotels.

Pulaski

Hmm, can't you zoom in? The first one I mentioned is embedded IN the terminal building. And in the case of the other two hotels "at" LGW, Google Maps offers walking directions, which shows you can walk through/ between the building(s) between the hotels and the main terminal building. GM gives a walking time of 7 minutes and distanceof 0.2 miles, which seems generous for a linear distance of about 400ft, though that may reflect where I actually placed the start and end pins.

Glasgow Girl

This might help. https://santorinidave.com/gatwick-hotels

Owen778

I had a quick look. Seems pretty clear that all three of the hotels Pulaski lists are easily walkable to the North Terminal by moving to Google Streetview from Google Maps. This is the crossing from the Premier Inn and Sofitel to the terminal, and that white tube above is probably a covered (UK) first floor walkway between the Sofitel and terminal:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.1610...8192?entry=ttu

There is another Premier Inn close to the North Terminal that doesn't look walkable.

Then I'm pretty sure this is the walkway from the Hilton to the South Terminal:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.1563...8192?entry=ttu

The Bloc hotel is in the terminal. I've never stayed there, but I think it's aimed at people who want somewhere to sleep during long layovers.

robin1234

That is an excellent website, thanks! Lots of interesting insights.

Just to show how little I know about Gatwick, (I used to use it all the time, but all pre-1995.) I’m flying JetBlue, and they tell me “terminal N.” So I’m thinking, wow, there are 15 or so terminals? That there’s an N? So I looked at santorinidave’s map and I realised; N = North Terminal!

btar

What a wonderfully helpful post. Congratulations to the author.

I recall on one occasion coming out of the rail-link between the two terminals, I couldn't see directions to something (shuttles, buses - I've forgotten what) because it was behind me so, if you can't see a sign pointing to what you are looking for, look behind you!

SanDiegogirl

Have stayed at Sofitel at Heathrow, so if the one in Gatwick is similar then it should be a very good hotel - very comfortable beds.

Its located at the North terminal and the website says it's just a walkway away ....

https://all.accor.com/hotel/6204/ind...ce=google+Maps

wisygreen

I know Gatwick fairly well - I worked there for years but things have changed. I don't know which terminal you are flying from but there is good monorail link between the 2. I like the Hampton in North Terminal the best. Not as expensive as some but you get to it directly from the terminal without having to go outside. The South Terminal has the Bloc Hotel which have VERY small rooms, many with no windows. Usually less money and OK if you are literally just wanting a sleep. There are a couple of hotels within walking distance. The Sofitel was the place to be about 40 years ago but is convenient for South Terminal. There are several hotels which have shuttles and very close. The airport is under constant construction it seems.

robin1234

Thanks everyone! I think I’ll either stay at the Hampton or the Sofitel (each about £150) or if I feel like going cheaper, the Premier Inn (about £105)

I think part of my initial uncertainty was the “distance from LGW” data in each hotel description. For an airport, they are seriously misleading, because (I can only assume) they are measured to some random point on the runway, whereas (obviously, if you are checking in next morning!) you actually want to know distance to terminal!

Finknottle

The distances are to the control tower - air traffickers need this information!

robin1234

Thanks! Makes sense, I guess..

I decided to pamper myself, stay at the Sofitel. It looks a bit unusual & eccentric, also probably “seen better days,” which is a hotel vibe I find entertaining. At Logan Airport in Boston, I like to stay at the Hilton, which is also walking distance to the checkin desk .. that hotel has definitely “seen better days,” in a distinctly Logan Airport sort of way.

Pulaski

I have learned from experience that you should always look carefully at distances offered by Google Maps, or other web sites. The first time I recall having an issue was when I was living in Virginia and I was offered a job that required a pre-hire drug test. The prospective employer helpfully provided details to the "nearest" test facility, which was almost two hours drive away in West Virginia, when I found that there was another one, under the same brand, only an hour or so away. The company agreed to the change of test location, however the distance used to calculate the "most convenient location" was the as-the-crow-files distance, and there was a mountain ridge between Pulaski (the place as well as the person) and the "closest" test facility in WV.

I have since noticed that some web sites and apps, such as Gas Buddy, calculate distances based on the center point of the zip code you are located in, not from your actual location/ address, which might not be a big deal in cities, but in the outer suburbs and rural areas, a zip code can be potentially several, or many square miles, leading to problems if you take the list of "closest" locations at face value and don't check on a map.

At the more detailed end of the scale, it can be easy to place your target location pin on Google maps in a location where Google gives you a circuitous route, such as if you're heading for a motorway/ interstate junction, and you accidentally place the pin on the off-ramp from the opposite direction, leading to the distance given being for a route that passes the pin on the opposite carriageway, overshoots to the next junction, then comes back to deliver you to the pin on the off-ramp.

I also recently noticed, when looking for directions to a business in rural NC, that was directing me on a route that I knew wasn't the shortest, it turned out that for who-knows-what-reason, Google Maps thinks that there is a no-left-turn sign just a few feet from the entrance of the business I was looking for, at a rural crossroads otherwise in the middle of nowhere. This error lead me either to directions along the two longest sides of an uneven quadrilateral (a kite shape, you might say), or to be directed to drive almost past the business for another mile or more before reaching a loop turn around, and coming back and making a right turn onto the road where the business is located!