Ibis Gatwick: the bottom-price bed and what it really costs

Ibis Gatwick: the cheap bed at County Oak, priced honestly

Ibis Gatwick means exactly one hotel: the ibis Styles London Gatwick Airport, 1.7 miles down the A23 at County Oak, the rebranded successor to the plain ibis that stood there for years. There is no ibis budget at Gatwick, whatever the search box suggests. What the Styles sells is one of the lowest headline rates in the airport ring, and what it charges for that rate is distance: a £5 shuttle with a 23:00 cut-off, a bus stop across a dual carriageway, and breakfast that is often not in the price. This page does the honest arithmetic.

On this page (4 sections)

One ibis, no ibis budget
Rooms and the breakfast small print
The £5 shuttle and the bus stop opposite
The saving, spent and kept

The ibis hotel at Gatwick Airport, on the A23 at County Oak — The ibis at Gatwick, on the A23 at County Oak, since rebranded ibis Styles. Photo: Hassocks5489, CC0.

One ibis, no ibis budget

The ibis family at Gatwick is smaller than the search results imply. One hotel carries the brand: the ibis Styles London Gatwick Airport on London Road at County Oak, RH10 9GY, 1.7 miles from the terminals on the A23 between the airfield and Crawley. It is the same building that traded for years as the plain ibis London Gatwick Airport, refurbished and rebranded, now run by Starboard Hotels under Accor's flag, which is why half the internet still calls it by its old name.

The other name people hunt, ibis budget Gatwick, does not exist here and never has as a current product; travellers who want the cheapest possible bed near the airport are choosing between this hotel, the Travelodge a mile closer at Povey Cross, and the Premier Inns scattered through Crawley. That is worth knowing before a booking site upsells a lookalike. Within the family the Styles positions itself as the cheerful three-star tier, and at Gatwick it is usually the lowest headline rate of the named-brand ring, undercut only occasionally by the town hotels three miles further out.

Rooms and the breakfast small print

The hotel offers 200 rooms in the current Styles idiom, compact doubles, twins and family rooms refreshed in the rebrand, with free wifi throughout and an on-site restaurant and bar, which matters at this distance because the evening alternative is a walk nobody enjoys or a drive into Crawley. It is a straightforward budget hotel done properly rather than a pod experiment: no walkways, no cabins, no app-controlled mood lighting, just a bed at the right price.

The small print is breakfast. Elsewhere in the ibis Styles brand a buffet is habitually bundled into the rate; at this hotel many rates are sold room-only, with breakfast quoted around £9 to £11.50 a head in current listings. For a couple that is up to £23 on top of the room, exactly the kind of quiet addition that erodes a budget hotel's headline advantage, so read the rate line at booking and price the bundled version against the Premier Inns and Hampton's included breakfast before calling this the cheap option.

The £5 shuttle and the bus stop opposite

The transfer is where the low rate earns its keep or loses it. The hotel runs a paid shuttle to both terminals at about £5 per person each way, card only, from roughly 04:00 to 23:00; that window covers dawn departures comfortably and abandons late arrivals, so a 23:30 landing comes back by taxi, a short metered hop worth pricing before you rely on it. Across the road, the 24-hour Metrobus network stops opposite the hotel, singles from £2.20 in the app and about 15 minutes to the airport, the cheapest transfer at Gatwick for anyone whose luggage and timetable cooperate; the local bus guide covers the routes.

Walking is the one option to strike off: 1.7 miles along the A23 with cases is nobody's start to a holiday. Coming up the road, the South Terminal is the nearer side, with the free inter-terminal shuttle crossing to North in about two minutes for flights on that side.

The saving, spent and kept

Do the whole sum and the ibis Styles splits cleanly by party size and hour. A solo traveller on a midday flight keeps almost all of the saving: one £5 shuttle seat or a £2.20 bus, no breakfast obligation, and the lowest bed price in the brand ring. A couple on a 06:00 departure spends £20 on the shuttle alone and possibly £23 more on breakfast, at which point Travelodge Gatwick Airport Central a mile closer, or even a walk-to bed bought weeks ahead, can land within a few pounds of the same total with less to organise.

Drivers should note what the hotel is not: it is not a park-and-fly operation, and though its car park appears in agents' park-and-stay bundles, the holiday-parking job is better priced through a night bundled with parking at the hotels built for it. The honest verdict: book the ibis Styles as a solo or civilised-hour bargain, with eyes open on breakfast and the shuttle clock, and it delivers; book it as a family's dawn-flight base and the £5s and £11.50s quietly hand back the discount. The whole field is at all the Gatwick hotels compared.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an ibis budget hotel at Gatwick?

No. Plenty of people search for one, but no ibis budget operates at or near the airport. The one ibis-family hotel here is the ibis Styles London Gatwick Airport at County Oak, and the true bottom-price rivals are the Travelodge at Povey Cross and the Premier Inns further out in Crawley.

How far is the ibis from Gatwick Airport?

About 1.7 miles, on London Road at County Oak between the airport and Crawley: a few minutes in a car and around 15 minutes on the local buses that stop opposite the hotel. Nobody should plan to walk the A23 with luggage.

Is there a shuttle from the ibis to Gatwick?

Yes, a paid one: about £5 per person each way, card only, running roughly 04:00 to 23:00. Outside those hours the answer is a taxi, and the 24-hour Metrobus routes across the road cost from £2.20 in the app if the timetable suits.

Is breakfast included at the ibis Styles Gatwick?

Often not, which surprises people who know the ibis Styles brand elsewhere. Rates at this hotel are commonly sold room-only with the buffet as an extra, quoted around £9 to £11.50 a head in current listings, so read the rate line at booking rather than assuming.

What happened to the ibis London Gatwick?

It became this hotel. The County Oak building that traded for years as ibis London Gatwick Airport was refurbished and rebranded as ibis Styles, now run by Starboard Hotels under the Accor brand, which is why old reviews, maps and search results still use the plain ibis name.

Is the ibis or the Travelodge better at Gatwick?

They are the same trade a mile apart. The Travelodge at Povey Cross is closer, sits on the Hoppa route and serves evening meals; the ibis Styles answers with its own restaurant, its £5 shuttle until about 23:00 and, on many dates, the lower headline rate. Price both for your night and add the transfer you would genuinely use before deciding.