Holiday Inn London Gatwick Airport, Horley — Hotel Review
The Holiday Inn London Gatwick Airport occupies a low-rise building on Povey Cross Road in Horley, approximately one mile from Gatwick Airport and three minutes from junction 9A of the M23. It is a large conference and leisure hotel that completed a full internal and external refurbishment in 2024, emerging with 216 rooms and 12 meeting suites capable of accommodating up to 220 delegates — a scale that positions it firmly at the group travel and pre-flight leisure market. The Park, Stay & Go packages, available for 4, 8 or 15 days, are the clearest expression of this: for a significant portion of guests, the hotel is the beginning and end of a trip rather than a destination in its own right. The 300-plus parking spaces and 24-hour chargeable Hoppa shuttle to both terminals support that model directly.
What the 2024 refurbishment delivered is the current brand-standard Holiday Inn Open Lobby experience: 55-inch Chromecast-enabled televisions, air conditioning, blackout curtains, and in-room tea and coffee across all rooms, alongside the Open Lobby bar and restaurant concept for dining. The Hub Bar, with live sport, provides the more relaxed evening option. The property does not have a pool, a spa or a Club Lounge — there is no lounge product on the site regardless of IHG elite status — and should be considered accordingly. Its TripAdvisor score sits at 4.0 from a review corpus of over 2,600 stays, reflecting a hotel that is consistently functional rather than exceptional, though post-refurbishment reviews trend better than the historical average.
For IHG One Rewards members, this is the programme’s mid-market Gatwick entry: accessible on points, no lounge to trade up to, and a Diamond Elite breakfast welcome amenity with genuine monetary value at an airport where food prices reflect the captive audience. The Gatwick Express from the South Terminal reaches London Victoria in 30 minutes — the station is a short shuttle ride from the hotel — making this a credible base for London trips that happen to involve a Gatwick departure or arrival at either end.
| At a Glance | Detail |
|---|---|
| Programme | IHG One Rewards |
| Brand | Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts |
| Address | Povey Cross Road, Horley, Surrey RH6 0BA |
| Renovated | Full internal and external refurbishment, 2024 |
| Airport Access | Approximately 1 mile from Gatwick Airport. No free shuttle. Gatwick Hoppa bus service GH1 runs 24 hours a day, approximately every 15–20 minutes (every 30–60 minutes between midnight and 03:00), chargeable per person each way. South Terminal: Bus Stop 9, ground level. North Terminal: Bus Stop 11, ground level. Journey approximately 5–10 minutes to terminal |
| Central London | Gatwick Express from South Terminal to London Victoria approximately 30 minutes. Gatwick Airport Rail Station approximately 1.2 miles from hotel — access via Hoppa shuttle or taxi. Southern and Thameslink services also available from the station, slower but cheaper |
| Rooms | 216 rooms. 55-inch flat-screen TV with Chromecast, air conditioning, blackout curtains, work desk, tea and coffee facilities, private bathroom. Free Wi-Fi throughout. 24-hour room service (limited menu). No pool. No spa. Gym on site (opened 2025) |
| Club Lounge | Not available. Holiday Inn does not have a lounge product at this property |
| Dining | Open Lobby bar and restaurant (breakfast buffet and dinner; kids under 13 eat free with a paying adult); Hub Bar (live sport, beverages, casual food); To Go Café (grab-and-go); 24-hour room service (limited menu) |
| Leisure | Gym on site. No pool. No spa |
| Parking | On-site self-parking, £20/night. 300+ spaces. Park, Stay & Go packages: 4, 8 or 15 days |
| Meetings & Events | 12 meeting rooms, up to 220 delegates theatre-style. 80-inch screens with Bluetooth and projection throughout. Dedicated events team |
| Pets | Not permitted |
| Check-in / Check-out | Check-in from 14:00. Check-out by 12:00 |
Location
The hotel sits on Povey Cross Road in Horley, about a mile south of the airport perimeter. It is not terminal-connected — there is no covered walkway, no on-site rail access, and no free shuttle. Airport access depends on the Gatwick Hoppa bus, service GH1, which stops outside the hotel entrance and runs 24 hours a day. Frequency is approximately every 15 to 20 minutes between early morning and midnight, reducing to every 30 to 60 minutes through the small hours. The service is chargeable per person each way; tickets can be purchased at reception or paid directly to the driver by contactless card. The Hoppa is a cashless service — cash is not accepted on board. South Terminal guests board at Bus Stop 9 on the ground level; North Terminal guests at Bus Stop 11. Journey time is around five to ten minutes to the South Terminal.
The M23 is three minutes from the hotel by car, accessible at junction 9A — a detail that matters primarily to the Park, Stay & Go market, which accounts for a significant portion of bookings. Guests arriving by train will find Horley station roughly a mile from the hotel; most will use the Hoppa from Gatwick station instead.
Central London is reachable via the Gatwick Express from the South Terminal, which takes approximately 30 minutes to London Victoria. Southern and Thameslink services from the same station are slower but cheaper. The rail station is 1.2 miles from the hotel — a short Hoppa ride or taxi.
For early departures, buy Hoppa tickets at reception the night before and pay by contactless card — the Hoppa is a cashless service and does not accept cash on board. The Hoppa timetable thins significantly after midnight, so check the schedule if departing before 05:00.
Rooms
The 216 rooms were comprehensively refurbished in 2024 and reflect the current Holiday Inn brand standard. Room categories include standard doubles and twins, rooms with sofa beds, and family options. Standard doubles run to 19 to 23 square metres — functional for a one- or two-night airport stay rather than generous by city hotel standards. Post-refurbishment reviews note meaningful improvements in room finish: cleaner lines, better-quality beds and updated bathrooms are consistent themes across recent stays.
Each room has a 55-inch flat-screen television with Chromecast, air conditioning, blackout curtains, a work desk, tea and coffee facilities, and a private bathroom. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout. A limited 24-hour room service menu is available. The hotel opened a new gym in 2025; there is no pool and no spa.
Dining
The Open Lobby is the hotel’s main food and drink space, serving a breakfast buffet in the mornings and dinner in the evenings. The format is Holiday Inn’s current brand standard: casual, designed for a mixed audience of business and leisure travellers, with a children’s menu and the brand’s kids-eat-free policy applying to under-13s dining with a paying adult. The Hub Bar sits alongside, showing live sport and serving beverages and casual food. A To Go Café offers grab-and-go options. The breakfast buffet draws consistently positive reviews and is the main dining reference point for guests staying the night before an early flight.
IHG One Rewards — Earning on the Stay
Standard IHG One Rewards earning applies: 10 base points per US dollar on eligible room charges, with Diamond Elite earning 20 points per dollar total. Holiday Inn earns at the standard programme rate — lower than Crowne Plaza or InterContinental. There is no UK IHG credit card to accelerate earning and no Amex Membership Rewards transfer route into IHG One Rewards. Award pricing is dynamic; Holiday Inn Gatwick will typically cost fewer points per night than the Crowne Plaza M4 and significantly fewer than any InterContinental property, making it a reasonable redemption for members who need a Gatwick stopover and would prefer not to pay cash.
Elite Benefits — What Diamond Elite Gets Here
| Benefit | Notes |
|---|---|
| Welcome amenity (Diamond Elite) | Choice of free breakfast for two, a drink voucher, or IHG One Rewards points. Free breakfast for two is the clearest value option — at airport pricing, the buffet breakfast is a material offset against the room rate |
| Room upgrade (Diamond Elite) | Complimentary upgrade to the next available category, subject to availability at check-in |
| Club Lounge (Diamond Elite) | Not available. No lounge product exists at this property — this applies equally to all guests regardless of status |
| Late checkout (Diamond Elite) | 4pm subject to availability. Standard checkout is 12:00 |
| IHG Ambassador | Ambassador status confers Platinum Elite at Holiday Inn properties — the guaranteed upgrade, $20 F&B credit and guaranteed 4pm checkout that apply at InterContinental hotels do not apply here. The Ambassador free weekend night benefit is applicable on a qualifying two-night paid stay. No lounge access regardless of Ambassador status |
The Diamond Elite welcome amenity breakfast for two is the clearest benefit available at this property. There is no lounge, no guaranteed upgrade, and no F&B credit — those benefits sit at the InterContinental tier. Select the breakfast option rather than the drink voucher or points; at airport food prices, the breakfast offset has the most tangible value. Book directly through IHG to ensure elite benefits are registered at check-in.
Practical Notes
Parking: Self-parking at £20 per night with 300-plus spaces on site. Park, Stay & Go packages cover 4, 8 or 15 days and require pre-booking. Reviews note the car park can fill during peak leisure travel periods — Friday evenings and school holiday weekends in particular. Guests with Park, Stay & Go bookings have allocated space; standard overnight guests do not.
Shuttle charges: The single most common complaint across the review history is the cost of the Hoppa shuttle. Guests who assumed airport transfer was complimentary have found the per-person charge frustrating. It is not included in the room rate. Factor the Hoppa cost into any nightly rate comparison against hotels that do offer free transfers.
Kids: Children under 13 sharing existing beds stay free; children eating from the kids’ menu dine free when accompanied by a paying adult. Family rooms and rooms with sofa beds are available.
Meetings: The hotel has 12 meeting and event suites, the largest accommodating up to 220 guests theatre-style. The conference spaces were updated as part of the 2024 refurbishment and feature 80-inch screens with Bluetooth connectivity and projection throughout.
The Holiday Inn London Gatwick Airport is the straightforward mid-market IHG option at Gatwick: fully refurbished in 2024, well-priced on points, 300-plus parking spaces, and a Park, Stay & Go model that makes it a practical first and last night for leisure travellers driving to Gatwick. It does not pretend to be anything more than it is. There is no pool, no spa and no lounge — the absence applies to all guests equally, not just those without elite status. The 4.0 TripAdvisor score reflects a hotel that consistently delivers the functional basics. For IHG One Rewards members wanting a Gatwick stopover, this is where the programme sits at this airport: elite benefits are real, points cost is accessible, and the 2024 refurbishment has meaningfully improved the underlying product. The chargeable Hoppa shuttle is an irritant worth knowing about in advance; it is not free, and it is not optional.
