Hi friends, and thanks for stopping by to see a few options for affordable hotels near London airports for budget travellers.
Let’s point out the obvious. London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Hotel prices are nuts. A post on one of my Facebook groups dedicated to solo women travellers referenced a recent post where a woman had recommended a London hotel. The poster said she checked the rates and they were $500 and up. Yikes! But sadly, that is not unusual for London or many other cities across Europe.
Which is really tough for us single women who love travelling but don’t want to break the bank booking hotels.
That could possibly be the only advantage of having a travelling companion – someone to split the hotel cost with.
Airport hotels
Let’s talk about airport hotels. The two major international airports servicing London are Gatwick and Heathrow.
Generally there are some decent priced hotels near the airports.
But is that where you want to spend your vacation?
Bring earplugs!
The hotels are usually within 10 minutes drive of each of the airports, requiring paying for a taxi or a shuttle bus.
Unfortunately the hotels are not located in areas where it’s nice to go for a walk with nearby shopping and restaurants. Usually you are stuck at your hotel where there’s not much to do. When you’re hungry you will have to eat at the hotel restaurant. If you want to see London, you will take a taxi or bus back to the airport where there are trains to get you to central London.
It could be more cost effective to stay at an airport hotel, but it’s about a one hour train ride to reach the tourist parts of town. If you are in transit and only in London for a few days, these hotels might be more convenient, because you’re close to an airport for departure.
Travelodge
I’ve stayed at the Gatwick Travelodge a couple of times, and it’s an OK airport hotel. Shuttle costs about £5 each way between the hotel and airport. Walk through the parking lot to reach a Gregg’s (coffee shop and bakery and sandwiches) and a gas station/convenience store to find lower cost food options.
Staff at the Gatwick Travelodge are pleasant and the restaurant/bar is decent.
The bedroom is enormous. I think at one time it may have had two big beds in the rooms, but now there’s only one. Unfortunately, the ugly carpets are very shabby and torn. I’m sure they’re vacuumed daily, but their disrepair gives them the appearance of being dirty.

The room has a kettle with instant coffee and tea.
I got a really good price there before I went to Spain – £29 for the night. I also purchased the Internet option for an extra £3. They do have free Wifi but it’s only good for an hour.
When I came back from Spain I booked 3 nights here. The day after I arrived I had to take a train to where I’d been housesitting in Somerset to pick up my suitcase. The train station at Gatwick was very convenient for me. I don’t recall how much I paid for the room, but it was approximately the same amount, maybe a bit more per night. Plus the £3 for each day I wanted Internet. I booked and paid in advance on their website both times.
I would have booked one night with them again on August 31 prior to flying out from Gatwick – but the price was just over £100. Are you kidding me? For a shabby hotel room?
Radisson Red
Instead of getting ripped off from the Travelodge, I booked a room at the Radisson Red for £88. The bus shuttle cost £5 each way. I emailed the hotel to ask about the shuttle and I received a quick reply with a pdf attachment of the shuttle schedule. Very prompt customer service!
On their website the Radisson Red references a regular bus for £2 or £3. I have never taken a city bus from Gatwick and it’s unknown (to me!) if there’s much room for luggage.
Booking my room through their website and signing up for free to be a Radisson Rewards member got me a discount on the room rate.
I was very happy with the room. It was smaller than the Travelodge and had laminate floors, so it appeared a much cleaner room.

There was a kettle with a selection of coffee and teas plus cookies. Yum! I also liked that this hotel has a safe large enough to fit a laptop.

There is a restaurant in the hotel, but I didn’t eat there. Instead I risked life and limb walking alongside the highway for close to half an hour to get to a Tesco, kind of similar to a 7-11. They have meal deals – a sandwich, drink, and snack. I picked up a sandwich for dinner and a snack for breakfast.
There is nothing else around the hotel. It’s an industrial area with warehouses and long term car parking.
The only complaint I have is the ugly, creepy art work over the bed. How is this supposed to induce a good night’s sleep?

Premier Inn
The other airport hotel I stayed at was the Premier Inn at Heathrow. Specifically at Terminal 4.
From the terminal, guests walk through this covered walkway that looks like a tube running above the ground. Several hotels are accessed through this walkway. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the Premier Inn from Terminal 4.

I stayed here on two occasions in 2024. The first was in February just before my flight to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines where I was volunteering on Mayreau Island.
The second time was when I returned to London in May after making a difference in Mayreau.
The Premier Inn offers two room types: standard room or Premier Plus room.
In February I chose the Premier Plus room because I was staying four nights, following a trip to Scotland, and I wanted the extra comforts. Namely a mini fridge and better WiFi. The other perks I enjoyed were bottled water and mini chocolate bars. Yum yum!
This room type also comes with a rainfall shower. Not a dealbreaker for me, but it was nice.

Premier Inn check in
Let’s talk check in. There were two or three counter staff with big line ups. There are also self check in computers and I chose the shorter route and checked in that way. There’s a key card beside the computer to activate during the self check in. So I get a room on the 6th floor and away I go.
The first thing I notice is that this room is set up for handicapped people and a step in shower. And I know this is an accessible room because I pulled this string to see what would happen, and what happened is security phoned to see if I had a problem, like I fell down. Oops, no, I just pulled the string. Hmm…
But the main thing I notice is there is no fridge. I phone back downstairs and complain. They pull up my booking and noticed I did the self check in and said sometimes the computer doesn’t recognize the Premier Plus and asked me to bring all my luggage and come back downstairs so they could get me into the correct room.
It is about 8:30pm. I’ve been travelling all day. Either by plane or bus or sitting around in an airport. I just want to relax. It takes about 45 minutes and much consultation with the computer and other staff members to get me into a room. But finally it gets sorted.

Premier Plus rooms are on the top floor – 7. Had I known this detail when the computer at self check in assigned me a room on floor 6, I might have been able to rectify it before leaving the lobby.
Room and amenities
Once I finally got to my room, I was happy. A huge comfortable bed awaited me, and a couple of Green & Black’s mini chocolate bars.
The Premier Plus room has a nice armchair by the window and a table and chair. This is definitely a good room to choose if staying more than one night.
I had dinner one night, salad, in the Premier Inn’s restaurant Thyme. It was OK, the typical overpriced meal that is served in airport hotels. Friendly waitress, good service. There is also a Costa’s in the lobby serving coffee and other beverages, sandwiches, and bakery items.
Premier Inn round 2
When I returned to Gatwick in May, I booked the Premier Inn again, but this time a regular room.
And I didn’t take any pictures! How did I forget to do that? Probably because I was so tired from a 12 hour flight, I just wanted to crash.
And that’s the other thing. I paid an extra £10 to get early check in. I believe I arrived around noon and check in starts at 3pm.
I’d booked two nights in advance, but while there, I needed to book an extra night. I headed down to reception to do so.
Now, they either couldn’t, wouldn’t, or didn’t recommend booking the extra night through reception and asked me to go through their website. Once I was done, they asked me to return to reception so they could make sure I kept the same room.
How annoying was that!
And I did all that, which was time consuming.
But get this.
I’d gone out into London that day to see my friend and drop off my suitcase with her, and it was later on before I returned. Up to my room I go, swipe my card in the door lock, and … zippo!
Grrrrr!!!!
Down I go to reception and say WTF? They had to give me another room card so I could access my room for that last night.
Lots of little problems, but overall a good choice. Their prices fluctuate, the supply and demand thing, but around £80 a night. A little more money for the Premier Plus room.
More budget hotels near London airports
For the most part the budget hotels near London airports will be Travelodge and Premier Inn. It comes down to doing a search on their websites to choose the hotel best for you.
The hotel best for me will have a shuttle bus.
You can also do a Google search for cheap hotels near Gatwick or cheap hotels near Heathrow. This will also bring up guest house listings and bed and breakfasts. In most cases you will be responsible for figuring out your transportation to and from the airport.
Some may have a shuttle service or have a driver they recommend.
I’ve never stayed at The Lawn Gatwick Guest House, but I found it online years ago for my father who did stay there. It has since been sold and new owners bought it around 15 years ago. The reason I thought my father would like this place was the chocolates in the guest rooms! Plus the rate included breakfast and they did airport pick up and drop off. They charge extra for the airport transfer at £15 which is up to 4 passengers, so not such a great deal if you’re a solo traveller. And taxis are about the same price, whether there’s one or four of you.
It still looks like an amazing place to stay for about the same price as an airport hotel. Unless of course you got a low rate at the Travelodge! But the shuttle prices for a solo are a bit steep.
Shuttle buses
Let’s just talk about shuttles for a moment.
Gatwick Airport has a North and South terminal. On exiting there are signs pointing to where the hotel buses can be found. Once outside, there is more signage telling passengers which number bay to go to for their specific hotel.
Some hotels have a shuttle bus, which is more like a large multi passenger van for guests staying at their hotel.
Most hotels use a shuttle bus that is larger, room for around 30 passengers plus a luggage rack. When I stayed at the Radisson Red, it was a bus called HB1 and it had about 5 or 6 hotels on its loop. I believe it made the circuit every 45 minutes. The Travelodge used the Hoppa shuttle bus and it has 4 hotels on the loop. It runs every 25 minutes or so.
The nice thing about the Hoppa bus was the option to buy a return ticket to the airport and save £1 versus buying two one-way fares.
Train into London from Gatwick Airport
OK, if you have done your research and decided an airport hotel is more budget friendly than staying in the city, you want to make your way into London and see the sights.
If you’re staying at a Gatwick hotel, you will have to pay for the shuttle bus to take you to the airport. Exit at the South Terminal. Even if you mess up and get off at the North Terminal, there is a free shuttle between the two terminals.
Gatwick South Terminal has the train station. There are a bank of ticket machines to buy tickets from. And there’s a huge line up. Train staff will be yelling if you’re going into London to use your credit or debit card or your phone’s wallet to tap and pay at the gate turnstile. It cost £1 to go into London’s Victoria Station, taking the Southern Train service. Buying a ticket from the machine would have cost more money.
You tap your card or phone at the turnstile and proceed to the platform – there are huge monitors telling you which platform to Victoria Station and trains run frequently, every 10 or 15 minutes. Travel time is close to an hour.
When you reach your destination, you will tap out at the exit turnstile using the same payment method you used to tap in.
Victoria Station is good. If you are a fully mobile person, you can walk to Buckingham Palace or you can walk to the Thames with a lot of nearby tourist attractions. Victoria Station also has a subway station, called the Underground or the Tube. You can find your way across London from here.
Return trip to Gatwick Airport is also from Victoria Station.
Don’t screw up like I did and take the Gatwick Express. I looked up at the monitors and took the next train which unfortunately was the Gatwick Express. It cost me about the equivalent of $60.
YIKES!!!!
The only benefit was shaving around 30 minutes off my travel time. Not worth it! Rip off. Oh well, live and learn.
Normal train service will cost less than half of that.
Train into London from Heathrow Airport
I was staying at the Premier Inn, Terminal 4 at Heathrow.
The Underground, or Tube, line that goes to Heathrow Airport is the Piccadilly Line. It has a station between Terminals 2 and 3. There is a pedestrian walkway between Terminals 2 and 3 to reach the station between them. The Piccadilly Line also stops at Terminal 4 and Terminal 5.
Back to the Piccadilly Line. As its name suggests, one of the stops is at the Piccadilly Underground Station where the Eros statue is located.

The Piccadilly Line also stops at Green Park, which is about a 10 minute walk to Buckingham Palace.

Once you’re on the Underground you can change trains at different stations depending on where you’re going. You are charged by the distance you travel. There is a daily cap of £15 if you’re travelling in off peak hours and using the tap in/tap out with your card or phone.
Tap in/tap out
Let’s talk about the tap in/tap out system.
For most underground stations the turnstile does not open until you tap your card or phone or put your purchased ticket through the slot. However, some stations, including at Heathrow, the gate might be open. So don’t think you’re getting away without paying for that journey. You have to tap in/tap out because at the end of the day when the system is calculating how much to charge your card – a couple of individual trips versus the daily cap amount – you might end up getting charged more than you expect if the system is unable to correctly calculate.
When catching the Piccadilly Line back to Heathrow, pay attention to the train board at the subway platform to make sure you hop on the train that is going to your terminal at the airport. Some go to Terminal 5, but not 4. And vice versa. Other trains don’t go as far as Heathrow Airport. So keep an eye on that.
Elizabeth Line
The Elizabeth Line is an above ground train system that operates around the Greater London Area. Part of its schedule includes Heathrow Airport where it uses the same tracks as the Piccadilly Line.
If you like, you can take the Elizabeth Line for part of your journey into London. You will have to exit at Paddington or Bond Street or somewhere else to get on the Underground to reach central London.
And one last quick word on both the Elizabeth and Piccadilly lines. You can travel for free on either line between the Heathrow Airport terminals. Look for the ticket machine that says inter-terminal transfers and print a free ticket. You put it into the gate turnstile and it pops out the other end. When you exit at your terminal, put the ticket through the turnstile. The ticket won’t come out again, but the gate opens and away you go. You can also tap in/tap out with your card or phone, but I don’t want to take the chance on an erroneous charge for this freebie.
Affordable hotels near London airports for budget travellers
Sticker shock.
That’s what happens when you’re a low income earner and you start researching hotels or Airbnbs around London.
You might find a Travelodge or Premier Inn for a little over £100 around London within walking distance to the Underground.
Airbnbs in London are usually around £100 a night. And up!
What about hostels? They come up in my searches on Booking.com.
Hostels might be slightly cheaper than a hotel room. You will probably be sleeping in a dormitory room with bunk beds and might need to bring your own sleeping bag. If you travel with anything valuable, don’t leave it in the room when you’re out sightseeing! Shared accommodation would be a real pain for me because I travel with my laptop, Kindle, cameras, etc. I’d be walking around London with a fully loaded backpack!
Not for me!
Some hostels have private bedrooms and you will share the bathroom. Again – yikes to the prices. For a little more money I can find a hotel room or Airbnb with my own bathroom. Some of us like our privacy.
In summary, if you’re a budget traveller, don’t dismiss hotels near the airports. It might be cheaper to stay in an airport hotel, even when adding in the cost of transportation. The money you save can go towards visiting London attractions or a nice meal out.
Have you stayed at an airport hotel instead of booking a hotel in London? Leave a comment and let us know how it went.
Published by Cheryl @ The Lifestyle Digs on October 13, 2024.
[…] to find a decent hotel for under £100. Expect to pay closer to £200 a night. An alternative is staying at a hotel at Gatwick or Heathrow airports where decent budget hotels can be found for under […]