I stayed at Europa Gatwick in August 2000. Sorry for the delayed review.

This hotel is a large, tourist class facility. Tourist class is what I needed for our brief stay in London. We wanted something reasonably priced and near the airport to minimize carrying our luggage. That we got.

We happened to arrive at the hotel in the afternoon at the same time as a couple of tour buses. Check in was miserable. They had their hands full trying to get everyone checked in. While they had my reservation they balked at the rate that I, THANKFULLY, had in writing. But even with that, off they went to telephone the booking agent. With no apology, they accepted the rate. I had a key! YEA!

I asked for assistance with luggage. No one was available and I could expect an hour-long wait. We were advised to leave our baggage, UNATTENDED, in the lobby and they would bring it to us. Since I wasn't about to do that, my 69-year-old mother and I dragged our own luggage to our rooms. (No luggage carts either.) We were at the end of a two-week trip -- we were loaded down.

The next obstacle was finding our room. This hotel has maze-like corridors with an odd numbering system. It was an adventure to find our first floor room. Once there, guess what? OUR KEY DID NOT WORK. I had to go back to the desk to get the key. I insisted someone go with me. Once back at the door, where I had left my exhausted mother in the stuffy non-air conditioned hallway sitting on our luggage, the room would not open. The clerk went back to the desk and assigned us another room and brought us the key 20 minutes later. (While waiting I was able to help another lost traveler who couldn't figure out the numbering system, either.)

By this time, it had taken us over an hour to get into our room.

The first thing we wanted was some tea. The pot provided to heat water was so FILTHY that I used shampoo to scrub it. I noticed the room itself was not up to standard. While it did pass my shoes off test, the corners and edges of the carpets and bathrooms were all full of debris. I checked the linens -- acceptable. Where else would we go? But if I had been in the states, I would have been on the phone calling around for another room.

We rested a bit and headed for the in-house restaurant. There is no where nearby to walk to. So, unless you have a car, this is it. At first look it looked lovely. But the floors, buffet and coffee cups were so dirty, even though we were starved we did not eat there.

We got back on the airport shuttle and went to Gatwick. We ate there and brought back snacks to tide us over.

I ultimately spoke to a manager about our experience. As politely as I could, I explained that I didn't think the hotel was up to published standards. I received a stiff British apology. That's it. No comps. No visit to the room. Just, "We are so sorry for your trouble, madam."

We did enjoy the lobby bar and the lovely courtyard. The hotel photographs very nicely -- so it looked to our friends that we had stayed in a lovely place.

When it came time to leave I was happy to be so near the airport to avoid the long train ride that would have required me to be even more of a baggage mule!






Recommended: No

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