Russ Hill Hotel

We stayed at the Russ Hill Hotel Gatwick for one night prior to an early flight from Gatwick and utilised 14 days of car parking. A taxi to/from the airport is circa £30 each way. The price for the accommodation and parking was excellent but that was the only positive point I can share. The room was very basic but clean - appropriate for what we paid. However, the room was on the first floor and there are no lifts. That meant myself and my children had to carry our luggage up the stairs - there were several members of staff in the vicinity and not one offered to help despite seeing us struggling. We didn't eat or drink at the hotel due to everything being closed when we arrived. We arrived late at night and the car park isn't well lit. It's also gravel which was difficult to walk on. Whilst the hotel is in a fairly remote location, I didn't feel the car park was in anyway secure and was slightly concerned about my car whilst I was away. Thankfully all was ok when we arrived back. Whilst I am grateful to have paid such a good price, I wouldn't return to Russ Hill as I would prefer to pay more to have a better experience and not have to worry about the security of my car whilst I was away.

We spent a night at this hotel last week. The staff upon arrival were lovely and helpful. The entrance hall is very grand the room was very clean and the beds comfortable, however the room was very small and therefore hot and stuffy. I was able to get a fan from reception which helped. Also a little thought is needed in the layout of the room that we had as the TV is above the single bed which my son was sleeping in which did make it hard for him to sleep. Also the shower/bath was good but small and had a glass shower screen which did make it hard to use/access. You do get the feeling that they have crammed as many rooms in as possible as they are a bit compact. The breakfast was reasonably priced and buffet style with the choice of full English or continental. All in all it was a good budget stay but the building (needs work on the outside) and rooms need a bit of love but are clean and serviceable and the staff were lovely and welcoming

We were at this hotel for 2 nights with a big group of people and overall, the collective experience wasn't good. One of the only positives is the reception staff who were universally friendly and helpful. It feels as though the hotel is run with skeleton staff so the reception team were pulled into helping at breakfast, opening room doors when keys didn't work or sorting issues out elsewhere. This meant that Reception was often unmanned. This wasn't a problem for us but there were disgruntled customers waiting for assistance quite often. The room we had was incredibly hot. One of the windows opened a little bit but had a safety wire on it so we couldn't open it more than a crack. The other window didn't open at all. We faced the front of the hotel and the sun was bright and strong all day so the room never cooled. Even with 2 fans, the heat in the room was actually unbearable. Some of the other rooms were not quite as bad, depending on where they were situated in the hotel. Speaking of rooms, we were in the Wellington Suite. Having seen photos of other suites, I think this is a 3 bed family room which has been renamed & it's a real exaggeration to call it a suite. It's at the top of the stairs when you come up from the lobby so the plus point is that it is very convenient if you don't want a long walk to your room. Our room and bathroom were spotlessly clean, thankfully. One thing which surprised me in a good way is there was no noise from slamming doors nearby. Once we were in the room (& melting from the heat), it was quite quiet. We were above the outside tables for the bar but even the noise from customers downstairs didn't disturb us. Breakfast was pretty grim - the food and coffee were of a very low quality. And at 09:00 sharp, you were told to leave the restaurant even if you were on the very last mouthfuls of food. Very few vegetarian options and I'd be surprised if there were any vegan ones apart from a bit of fruit. The bar food looked quite good, although the quality of the beer and wine was not good. Plenty of other options were available, though. It looked like a pretty well stocked bar. On to more serious things. The group of us staying at the hotel were there for a celebration nearby. One of the guests found their room is an absolutely disgusting state at check in. The sheets were covered in what looked like dried blood or faeces. The rest of the room was equally filthy. Looks as though the guest has posted a review with photos here. On the Friday night, a man was walking around shouting very abusive and racist comments. A customer went to speak to reception staff to ask for the man to be dealt with. The reception team called the duty manager who supposedly dealt with it. That something like this could happen with no obvious consequences or action has really shocked me. A lot of other customers were also clearly quite upset and distressed by the man. Before our stay, I'd been in touch with senior management to resolve an issue. I had a favourable result but it felt like a slightly begrudging response to a problem, rather than a heartfelt desire to change a customer's experience. I arrived knowing that this was going to be far from a high end experience but even so, it’s not quite cheap enough to excuse the ghastliness. So, on balance, the negatives outweighed the positives and I would not recommend it.