Changed my mind again. That price was for the long stay at T4 which is really convenient but not the cheapest. It's apparently a pain to get from hotels to T4 so I think I'm just going to drive through the middle of the night then use purple parking that I can get for about £70 for the duration of the holiday instead. There is only 1 hotel close to T4 but that's £200 for the room plus parking. Although it's about the same price for the parking I've now found as staying over the eve before in a hotel a few miles away it's more of a faff.

Honestly, the stuff we have to go through for our much needed hollibobs eh?

It will be worth it in the end though

200pounds for hotel and parking? is there any chance that you could maybe get a lift to the airport hotel, so you wouldnt need to pay to park? might work out cheaper, but i assume you would have already thought of that.

I'm really not sure what we will be doing just yet, although travellodge have rooms for 29pounds per night for a family room, plus the train journey will only cost a couple of pounds per person, thanks to Steve for pointing out the cheap evening fares
hmm, i will have to have a look after christmas.
I am also planning my Rhodes wedding for september 2012, and it seems that my holiday to the Dominican Republic April 11 isnt on my mind at the moment

I'm about 3 hours drive away from Heathrow so it's driving or using trains or coaches, which having an early morning check in makes difficult. In an ideal world it would be Manchester and a taxi for 30 quid and a lift back but it's not to be on this occasion....

Sand C - there must surely be a cheaper hotel than £200 plus parking. We've got a park & fly from Cardiff for Easter for £70. Last summer we paid £15 each return from Wales to Manchester on the train, and paid £80 for the night before the flight - plus evening meal & the night on return plus brekkie at the Travel lodge. Ok not 5*, but better than just the parking charges.

Helen, this is relating to travelling from Terminal 4 at Heathrow - the hotel I refer to is the only one which is close to the terminal (has a covered walkway). All the other hotels you have to get a hoppa bus to terminals 1, 2 or 3 and then get another train to terminal 4. It apparently takes at least 45 minutes just to get to the heathrow express to get you over to terminal 4.

I can find hotels for under £80 for the two weeks including parking which is a bargain but the hoppa buses apparently don't start until 5.30am and a taxi would be an option but again would be bringing the costs up (there's just me), so all in all as it will be an easy drive in the middle of the night I'm going to just go for parking.

As a solo traveller who likes to book group holidays my options are a little limited in terms of flights etc. which is fine. And of course any room charges and taxi fares are just for me not divided by two for a couple etc.

You'd think that there'd be Hoppa buses running all night to a busy airport like Heathrow wouldn't you?

We have stayed over at Gatwick a few times, Hilton/south terminal and Soffitel/north terminal. Both are connected to the checkin areas by covered walkways.

Its handy when its an early flight and if you search you can get good rates inc carparking.

Its far more relaxed and unhurried, handy also if you can checkin and get rid of the luggage the night before. Also it extends your holiday a bit and we have a drink and a meal in the hotel or the terminal. We did go into Crawly once but what a dump that is!!! so would not bother with that .

Carparking at both has been at the summer special place just north of the runway.

Hi there looking at booking a hotel at manchester for night before flight with hubby and son (12), would like it to be close to airport and have a pool/spa..... any suggestions would be greatly received

Hi dinner-lady,
Why not try the Britannia, we have stayed there many times and it is about 3 miles from the airport.
linsi

Hi

We always stay at the Marriott. Only a few minutes to the aiport and it has gym, pool, spa etc.

Yes we've stayed at the Marriott also and there is not much to choose between the two (apart from the price) but I am going on when we stayed there a few years ago, maybe there isnt much difference now.
We try and avoid flying from Manchester these days as Leeds Bradford is more convenient, a lot less hassle, a lot cheaper and nowhere near as busy but thats just our choice and the convenience of 15 days parking seals the deal.
Dinner-lady, you didnt say when you were looking to go.

Linsi

We haven't always but as it's a 2 hour drive to most airports from where I live it's more convenient and it gets you all excited and in the mood for your holiday.

Well this post got me thinking whether it was worth staying the night before when we fly from Birmingham in a few weeks. We are about an hours drive away but if the weather is bad I shall be a bit on the worried side as it is an early flight, what if it snows!!! Anyway have booked overnight at the airport and also done the day before check-in. ....Caz

Thanks everyone, we are flying next July ( i like to get things sorted early). I do not particularly like flying from MAN prefer EMA and usually stay in The Thistle Hotel which is really close to airport, but flying to Dom Rep with Thomas Cook and they dont do EMA.
The last time we had to fly out of MAN we booked into Britannia Country House Hotel, which we found rather far out from airport and the hotel was awful, so I thought if I asked on here I might get some recommendations for nice hotels closer to the airport
Thanks Lisa x

Hi we are flying to Orlando for Xmas,booked the Holiday Inn the night before for £80 which includes
parking for 14 nights have to pay hotel £8 for the extra night[15 in total] booked through Holiday Extra,s
under cover hotel.cheaper than parking the car for 15nights
annx

have also booked a Travelodge at Heathrow T5 for next march for our return from Goa £19, travel to
Heathrow by National Express.

We have a 4 hour drive to either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports (Aberdeen and Inverness have little to offer regarding flights) so we always stay at an hotel before and often when we get back as well depending on what time the flight gets in. This is now part of our holiday routine and a great way to relax before we fly. There's no worrying about roadworks, delays etc because you have plenty of time to get there. Friends of ours nearly missed their flight a couple of years back because of a serious crash that closed the road, they always stay at an hotel now.

We are using Travel-lodge at Gatwick for the first time in 3 weeks got it for £9 so whatever its like dont think we'll be complaining i know other's that have used the same hotel and was quite happy with their stay will certainly be a good start to the holiday by not having to worry about road closures/accidents and such looking forward to it now and would probably do this again..

We go to the Caribbean every november/december (Grenada this year!!) - every year so far we've flown from Gatwick south and stayed at the Hilton...we're a three hour drive from Gatwick (in good traffic!!.... This year we're fling from Gatwick North and so this will be our first stay at the Sofitel..

We love the convenience and it's a great start to our annual holiday!

ATB,J.

well seeing as we l;ive in belfast, and dont have a direct flight to were we wana go, we always have to go the day b4 and stay at hotel near airport, and this time it wont be any diff, we fly out to goa on the 12th nov at 7.55 in the morning , so we are going to fly over to gatwick on thurs and spend the day inthe europa hotel have a nice meal relax and then get up nice and refreshed ready for flying friday morning
tammie
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