Below, Dr. Maddie Carr tells us all about her experiences with Holiday Extras ……..
“Our family holiday to Crete this Summer started off with a bang at the Holiday Inn Gatwick Worth.
After our flights were cancelled from Cardiff and re-routed from Gatwick it meant packing the car with three fidgety children (aged 9, 2 and 11 months) and all the baggage they come with and heading off for a three hour journey to the airport. We were grateful to have booked the hotel for the night with Holiday Extras as we had a 7am flight. The idea of doing the journey from Swansea to Gatwick in the early hours was not appealing to us in the slightest!
Airport Hotel & Parking
The kids were super excited to get to the hotel – we’ve actually never stayed in a hotel with them before. Our holidays have always been villas or AirBnbs so the idea of a hotel was intriguing to them! We were greeted by a friendly, welcoming man on the check in desk and directed to our room. We were all pleasantly surprised by the size of the room. The spacious family room had 2 king-size beds and a single sofa bed. Even with all the beds there was plenty of floor space and before long the kids were playing hide and seek. For a family of 5 to all be sharing one room and for it to still feel spacious was amazing. Indeed quite a luxury in comparison to some places we’ve stayed in in the past.
Room Service
In fact, the room was such a hit we decided to stay in and order room service – another first for the kids! We had pizzas and chicken wings which went down really well. We even nipped to the bar for our first holiday drink. Obviously, I opted for a pina colada as I was feeling in full holiday swing! The bar area was modern and we felt welcome despite bringing a curious toddler who wouldn’t sit still!
So Pleased with Holiday Extras
The transfer to the airport the next morning was seamless. The receptionist had ordered a taxi for us when we checked in so we all trundled to the reception area at 4.45am bleary eyed but excited. The taxi journey was around 15 minutes and we were dropped just outside departures.
Overall the stay really suited us as a family with young children. It made our trip much more relaxed and allowed us to have an extra night of fun before our holiday started properly. We’re so glad we booked our airport hotel and parking with Holiday Extras ! Less happy with Easy Jet but that’s a whole other story for another day!
Doctors Craig and Maddie travelled in August 2023 with their three children under 10.
