We’d arranged morning flights from Gatwick airport and rather than making an early start from home we opted to book a package with Holiday Extras offering parking and overnight accommodation.
It was easy to locate the Cophall Parking which was just six miles from the airport. As instructed, we parked in the reception area, unloaded our luggage and then headed into the office to hand over our car keys. This was a very speedy process as there was just one person in front of us. The clerk on duty was friendly and efficient, finding time to ask where we were travelling to and to wish us a pleasant flight. He gave us a receipt for the car keys and asked us to phone the office after we had re-claimed our luggage on return from our holiday.
One of the courtesy buses was just about to depart so we hopped on board and in a little over 10 minutes we arrived at Gatwick’s north terminal where our hotel was located. We had arranged to stay at the Sofitel which is located on-site and can be accessed along a covered walkway in the arrivals hall.
On arrival at the Sofitel we were checked in promptly and soon taking the glass lift up to our room. Although we hadn’t stayed in this particular hotel previously, we have enjoyed stays in other Sofitel hotels finding them to be of a high standard so we were hoping for a relaxing start to our holiday.
Our spacious room was furnished in neutral shades with a comfortable armchair, super king size bed, large wall mounted television, desk and hospitality tray. The bathroom was traditionally styled in white and came equipped with large fluffy towels, a hairdryer and fragrant Balmain toiletries.
We had a panoramic view of the hotel’s atrium from our window and it was fun to watch the comings and goings of guests in the main lobby below. For guests keen on plane spotting its possible to upgrade to a superior room with runway views, however we were very happy with our internal view.
After freshening up, we popped down to the inviting La Terrasse bar lounge for a bite to eat and a drink. Due to the timing of our flight we decided not to have breakfast in the hotel but to get something airside once we had checked our luggage in. If there had been more time we would have opted for the Sofitel breakfast as it was reasonably priced at £16 comparing favourably with airside restaurants.
After a good night’s sleep we awoke refreshed and made ourselves cups of coffee from the hospitality tray before leaving our room key cards in the express checkout box. Our flight was scheduled to depart from the South Terminal but don’t worry that the Sofitel is located at the North Terminal as it literally took us no more than five minutes to reach there. We exited the hotel through the covered walkway which led us through to the airport’s free shuttle. It was then a quick ride across to the South Terminal where we soon located the TAP check-in desks for our morning departure. Pre-arranging our 8 nights car parking and airport hotel package had removed the stress of an early morning journey with the possibility of traffic delays and actually given us an extra night’s holiday.
After a lovely week away (more about this in the next post), all we had to do after reclaiming our luggage was to call the car park to confirm our return, to arrange for our car to be brought back round to the reception area. The shuttle bus serves both terminals and as our flight arrived at the South Terminal, we simply caught the shuttle bus back from there. Back at the car park we then just had to pop back into the office with our receipt to collect our car keys and within a few minutes we had the car loaded with our luggage and were on our way home. We have used Holiday Extras several times before from various airports U.K. airports and have always found them to offer an excellent, reasonably priced service with their package deals. If you might also be interested in using Holiday Extras then you can find more detailed information in their Fact Box below.
Fact Box:
Holiday Extras is the market leader in UK airport parking, hotels, lounges, and transfers – and last year its customers saved an average of £196 per trip by booking their airport parking in advance, plus with Flextras, if you need to cancel or amend you can do so without charge. One night’s accommodation in a Standard Room at the Sofitel Hotel, Gatwick Airport with eight days’ parking with Cophall Parking is available for £313.00 based on arrival on 23/08/2025.
For more information and to book, please refer to the Holiday Extras website or call 0800 316 5678.
*All costs supplied are the cheapest available rates for the product specified and therefore availability may be limited at this price. Prices are correct as at 03/07/2025, see Holiday Extras Terms and Conditions.
We were guests of Holiday Extras and as always all views and opinions are entirely my own.
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