Gatwick, Europa Hotel

Tried to check in, didn’t realise at the time but the young girl on reception was heading out of the hotel door for a ‘smoke’ break. She did not communicate with us to inform us she was the receptionist or that she would be 10 minutes whilst on her break. Nobody came out to reception so I asked the guy at the bar, he informed me that I would just have to wait at reception and that there wasn’t anything he could do to help me …. I asked how long it would be and he shrugged his shoulders. The bar was empty so not sure why he couldn’t help to alert a colleague that I was waiting.

We had picked this particular hotel because it was advertised as having a 24 hour shuttle service, this was instrumental in our choice as we were returning at 3am. Upon arrival at the hotel, we spotted a note on reception stating that from 6th September, the shuttle would not be 24 hour. Explained our situation to receptionist, she basically said it was tough and it wasn’t their fault that the website had not been updated. I asked to speak to a supervisor whose opening line was I am only going to repeat what you have already been told’. She explained the website was not anything to do with them and I would need to pay for a taxi for our return journey from the airport. I was calm and polite and said I did not doubt what she was saying but requested to have it in writing, she laughed at me and said ‘no’. I asked why not and she said it was not their policy to do this, I asked what policy she was referring to and was told ‘it’s just not what we do and I am not doing it’.

I asked them to speak to holiday extra’s at which point I was given the phone to call them. Holiday extra’s were very helpful and said they were not aware of the change with the operating hours of the shuttle and advised us to send them a receipt for the taxi for reimbursement. We did this (although not yet received reimbursement or any contact).

The supervisor returned to the room behind reception where we heard her and an older gentleman shouting about our issue, saying it wasn’t anything to do with them etc.

My partner cut his thumb quite badly on the men’s toilet door, he asked for a plaster and explained which toilet door it was and explained the lock was extremely stiff which had led to the injury. Nothing was written in the accident book, despite his thumb bleeding heavily and the old gentleman who came out with a sticker to put on the door, had no interest in my partner explaining the issue.

Whilst waiting to check in, we also witnessed a customer complaining that money had been taken from his room. It was embarrassing listening to the hotel’s response to the customer. Whilst we did actually doubt the story, when we stayed at the hotel on our return journey, a lady did come in to our room without knocking, we were still in bed trying to get some sleep before our 5 hour onward journey home! She offered no explanation as to why she had entered our room!

Our room was extremely hot and noisy, almost as if it were next to a boiler room. It’s a shame because the hotel seemed to be of a good standard, we were probably unlucky with the room but the staff were absolutely disgusting and began and ended our holiday on a bad note. I would not stay in this hotel again based on the attitude, unhelpfulness and unprofessionalism displayed by the staff.

Booked parking and hotel through holidayextras.com

My daughter married at the Gatwick Europa hotel in Maidenbower in March 2010. Everything was top notch. The ceremony and reception rooms were laid out nicely, including flowers, candelabras and colour co-ordinated napkins to match our theme, the food was delicious (they even catered specifically for the groom who is gluten intolerant), the staff were friendly, efficient, helpful and professional. Parking was no problem - guests had a specific area to use. The rooms we stayed in were clean, tidy and a good size and breakfast the following morning was v. good. It was amazing value for money and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

There was nowhere to park when we arrived. Cars were parked all over the place including the grass verges. Reception said we could park in the area reserved for the health club which had a loose stone/gravel surface. When we returned 14 days later the car was covered in white stone dust. It was everywhere, in all the crevices, and the windows were totally obliterated. After washing and polishing the car was still marked all over. I eventually managed to find a specialist cleaner that did the job (the cleaning took me 4 hours) but the whole experience was a total nightmare. It seems to me that the hotel is selling more car parking than it can reasonably cope with