The Hilton Valet Park and Stay Package offers the convenience of meet and greet parking with the luxury of staying at the Hilton Hotel at Gatwick’s south terminal.

Valet parking is the most convenient type of airport parking available and, coupled with a stay at the Hilton prior to departure, offers a totally stress free start to a holiday.

With the Valet Park and Stay Package, an upgrade from the traditional park and stay, guests no longer have to park their cars at an off-site car park and catch the shuttle bus back to the terminal. Guests’ cars are collected from the main front entrance to the London Gatwick Hilton on arrival and returned personally to the Hilton’s entrance when guests return from their holiday.

The convenience of car collection on arrival at the hotel means, on the day of departure, guests are able to access the airport terminal directly from the hotel, no hassle, no worries about bad weather, no heavy luggage to carry – porters are available at the Hilton and airport trolleys can be used from the airport terminal to the Hilton Hotel.

Valet Park and Stay Packages are available directly from the London Gatwick Hilton. Packages include one night’s stay at the London Gatwick Hilton and parking for either 15, 8 or 3 days with prices varying depending on the type of room booked.

Hilton Valet Park and Stay Packages are operated in conjunction with Help-Me-Park, the Hilton’s valet parking contractor. Help-Me-Park will contact the customer directly for all details regarding the vehicle to be parked and return travel details – extra days will be identified at this point and the customer will be billed directly for additional days.

How to book:

For more information on how to book Valet Park and Stay Packages click on the link or call 01293 518080 – ask for the valet park and stay package.

Although 1.87 million passengers passed through the airport in January, passenger numbers were severely affected by the adverse weather conditions.

Passenger numbers fell by 5.4% in January when compared with the same period last year. Traffic figures for the 12 months to the end of January 2010 were down 4.9% on the previous 12 months.

Flights will launch on 29 April 2010 and operate daily except Saturdays.

The Gatwick Express half-hourly service will depart London Victoria Station at 00 and 30 minutes past the hour.

From Gatwick Airport services will operate at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour.

The airport handled a total of 2,120,800 passengers in December compared with 2,089,900 – a 1.5% increase on December 2008.

Although passenger numbers increased during the last quarter of 2009, overall, the airport saw a reduction in terminal passengers of 5.3% in 2009 compared with 2008.

North Atlantic traffic experienced the largest drop in numbers – down 35.4% on the previous year – while European charter passengers fell by 18.9%. European scheduled traffic saw an increase of 5.6% in passenger numbers.

Stewart Wingate, London Gatwick Airport’s Chief Executive Officer said: “I am pleased to end the year with a third consecutive month of growth in passenger numbers which demonstrates that Gatwick Airport is recovering well from the economic downturn. While overall annual passenger numbers were lower than in 2008, the newly independent Gatwick Airport will compete strongly to become the airport of choice for airlines and passengers in 2010 and beyond.”

There are lots of parking options available at Gatwick Airport and it’s well worth exploring all types of parking and their convenience, as well as your budget, before booking. The following tips should help you decide which type of Gatwick airport parking to use:

1. Off-airport parking
This is probably the cheapest option that involves you driving to the off-airport parking site and using the company’s shuttle bus provided to take you to the airport – certainly the cheapest option for Gatwick long-stay parking.

Okay, this is generally the cheapest option but it isn’t necessarily the most convenient. If you have young children, perhaps a baby, are travelling with elderly relatives or awkward-sized sports equipment to carry, you may struggle to get on and off the shuttle bus.

2. On-airport parking
How about parking on-airport? This type of parking has the benefits of being closer to the terminal, sometimes within a short walking distance, but do check distances before booking as not all on-airport car parks are within walking distance and you may find you still need to hop on a shuttle bus. Your journey time to the airport will be shorter but you could still have the inconvenience of hauling your luggage, and children, on and off the bus.

3. Short-stay parking
The short-stay car parks will get you closer to the terminal, generally a couple of minutes walk away, however, these car parks are designed for very short stays – hours rather than days – and is reflected in the parking charges. It works out very expensive to park for more than a few hours. It is best to just consider using the short-stay car park if you are picking up or dropping off passengers.

If you are planning to fly at a quieter time of the year, outside of school holidays, check for discounted prices which are only available in advance.

4. Meet and greet parking
Gatwick meet and greet, sometimes referred to as Gatwick valet parking, offers all the benefits of short-stay parking, but without the need to park your own car and much cheaper than short-stay parking.

A major benefit of booking meet and greet parking is that you drive straight to the airport terminal, unload your luggage and give your keys to your parking representative who will drive your car to their car park and park your car for you.

You don’t have to worry about herding children onto a shuttle bus, or struggling with heavy baggage or sports gear, as you can place it straight onto a trolley and wheel it into the terminal.

On your return, your car is brought back to the terminal, so you just walk out of arrivals, load up your luggage and drive off – you will be on the road before some of your fellow passengers have even reached their cars!

5. Return greet parking
Return greet parking offers a mix between off-airport parking and meet and greet. With this option you drive to the off-airport car park, leave your keys with your car and are then transported to the airport on a shuttle bus. On your return, your car is brought to the airport terminal so that you do not have to wait for a shuttle bus to take you back to the car park.

6. Park and stay packages
If you live some distance from Gatwick Airport, or your departure is very early in the morning, you may wish to consider booking an airport hotel for the night before your flight. Many of Gatwick’s hotels, on-site and off-site, offer parking.

Most off-airport hotels will offer parking at their hotel and either recommend a taxi company or can arrange to transport you using their own shuttle service, others have recommended parking providers.

On-airport Gatwick hotels offer park and stay packages. You can even book meet and greet parking as part of your Gatwick park and stay package – with an on-airport hotel you can arrange to have your car picked up on your arrival at the hotel and not worry about parking your car the next day.

Booking your airport parking as part of a Gatwick park and stay package can offer you a great discount when compared with booking your hotel accommodation and parking separately.

Car valeting add on
If you fancy coming home to a clean car, check with your parking provider as some offer Gatwick car valeting services too.

Whatever parking option you choose, make sure you book your airport parking early, and book it online, as this represents the best value for money, offering significant savings on just turning up on the day and paying the gate price. If you have any queries about booking airport parking don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and speak to the company prior to booking.

Extra information:

The Gatwick Hilton Hotel is Gatwick’s only onsite airport offering a range of park and stay packages.

To compare Gatwick airport car parking before booking check out www.helpmetravel.co.uk

• Plan your journey to the airport and arrive at least two hours before your flight departs.
• Check with your airline on restrictions that apply to both hand and checked-in baggage.
• Liquids in hand baggage must be in individual containers no greater that 100ml capacity and placed in a transparent re-sealable bag, no larger than 20 cm x 20 cm (8” x 8”) in size.
• Hand baggage: In many cases passengers can take more than one item of hand baggage per person through security providing any bag has maximum dimensions of 56 cm x 45 cm x 25 cm (22” x 17.7” x 10”). However, some airlines continue to permit only one bag and passengers are advised to check their airline’s baggage policy.
• Pack all sharp objects, such as knives and scissors in baggage you’re checking-in. They must not be carried in hand luggage.

In a meeting with the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC), Gatwick chairman Sir David Rowlands said: “The simple fact is that we at Gatwick have not a shred of interest in a second runway.

“It’s not Government policy and it’s not in our policy. Even if the Government started to look more favourably at the prospect, we would have to think very hard about spending £100 to £200 million on a planning application with an uncertain decision.

“We would have to look even more carefully at the economic value of a multibillion-pound project – would there be a commercial return?”

The NPS, the world’s fifth largest pension fund, is to take a 12 percent stake of the UK’s second largest airport.

With freezing conditions forecast the county’s gritters will be treating roads where possible. However, because of the pressures on salt supplies nationally the County Council will only be able to treat A and B roads.

Drivers are being warned to take extreme care as fewer roads will be salted than normal.

Derek Whittington, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, said: “Supplies of salt are still being controlled nationally under the Government’s Salt Cell system which means we have to use our stocks sensibly.

“This is frustrating for us as we started the winter season with larger than normal salt stocks and had secured additional deliveries to meet the needs of the prolonged cold weather.

“However, we do understand that as the big freeze continues we need to support Salt Cell and this unfortunately means reducing the amount of salt we are using in order to conserve supplies.

“Therefore, I would urge motorists to drive with even more caution over the next couple of weeks as we see a return of the extreme cold weather.”