Sandman Signature Gatwick: the park-and-fly hotel with no bus

The hotel stands at RH10 8XH on Tinsley Lane South, in the Three Bridges corner of Crawley rather than out on the A23 hotel strip. The hotel puts the airport at 4.2 miles and an eight-minute drive, which is further than the numbers most Gatwick hotels advertise, and the reason is the road layout: the straight-line gap is a little over two miles, but the drive loops around the airfield.

Three Bridges station is the detail most listings bury. It is 0.9 miles away, a six-minute drive or a 15-minute walk, and it sits one stop down the main line from Gatwick Airport station. For anyone arriving without a car, that makes the hotel reachable by rail in a way the A23 hotels are not, and it gives you a second route to the terminal on a morning when a taxi does not turn up.

Most hotels in this ring answer the airport question with a bus. Sandman does not run one. Its own pages describe getting to both the North and South Terminals as a taxi transfer, and the hotel names Metro Cars with a rate starting at £18 per journey in a saloon car, in either direction, with larger vehicles priced separately.

Quoted per journey rather than per person, that fare behaves differently from a shuttle fare. The hotel buses around Gatwick charge roughly £4.50 to £5.25 per adult each way, so a party of four pays four fares; Sandman's £18 is paid once whatever the size of the group, with larger vehicles priced separately. Couples and solo travellers therefore pay noticeably more here than they would on a bus, while a family of four lands in much the same place and gets a door-to-door ride at a time of their choosing instead of a timetable. There is no overnight gap to plan around either, which is the quiet advantage of a taxi hotel over a bus hotel for a 04:00 departure. Gatwick taxi fares and the pick-up charge cover what the return leg costs if you book it yourself rather than through the hotel.

The package covers an overnight stay, parking for four, eight or 15 days, wifi, and access to the swimming pool and fitness suite. Two versions are sold and the difference is the ride:

• Park, Stay, Taxi and Fly Premium includes a saloon taxi transfer to and from the airport, with larger vehicles at a supplement. The hotel notes the taxi is charged as taken and includes the airport drop-off fee.
• Park, Stay and Fly Lite includes no airport transfer at all. It is the cheaper headline and the one that catches people out.

Both carry a seven-day cancellation window to avoid a penalty, which is tighter than the flexible rates some rivals sell, so a trip that might move is worth booking elsewhere or booking late. If you need longer than 15 days, or the hotel car park is full, Sandman routes you to APH instead, where the days are set to match the trip exactly and airport transfers are included in that rate. That last point is easy to miss: parking at the hotel does not include a transfer, but the overflow arrangement does.

Against the rest of the field, the leisure access is what the package buys that others do not. Most Gatwick park-and-fly deals stop at a bed and a space. The wider comparison sits on the hotels with parking page, and if the bed is not earning its place, long stay parking is the version without it.

Rooms run to 288 square feet, about 27 square metres, across floors one to seven, and every one has a fridge, a microwave and a kettle, which is more kitchen than an airport hotel usually offers and useful with children or an early start. The line-up covers twin rooms with two double beds, a triple with a double and a single, and a family room with a king, a single and a pull-out trundle that takes two adults and two children. Pets are allowed in selected rooms from £15 per pet per night.

Accessibility is documented properly, which is rarer than it should be. There are four accessible bedrooms: two with a walk-in shower and two with a bath, all ensuite, on the second floor, with limited connecting rooms on request. Bedroom furniture can be rearranged on request and non-allergenic bedding is available. The indoor pool has a steam room beside it, the gym is on site, and there is a restaurant, room service and a 24-hour front desk, so a late arrival is not stuck for food or a key.

Book it if you are three or four people with a car, flying early, and you want the parking, the pool and a taxi that leaves when you do. On that trip it is one of the strongest packages around Gatwick, and the per-car fare works in your favour. Book it too if you are coming by train, because Three Bridges puts it within a short ride of the terminal without a car at all.

Look elsewhere if you are travelling alone or as a couple and the transfer cost matters, because £18 each way for one or two people is what a bus hotel charges a whole family. In that case the Radisson RED, whose bus Radisson puts at £2 to £3 a head, prices far better, and the walk-to hotels at the terminals are on the full Gatwick hotel map if you would rather remove the transfer from the trip altogether.