Gatwick escorts in RH6, planned around North and South Terminal rooms

Minimum stay: three hours, travel counted in

Gatwick bookings run for three hours at least, and her travel time sits inside those hours. Three hours is £700. Because RH6 lies far outside Zones 1 and 2, the taxi fare there and back is quoted at the start and added to the same total. You approve one number. Nothing appears later.

Distance changes the sums more here than at Heathrow. Plenty of Gatwick guests find that four hours at the dinner date rate of £900, or an overnight at £1,800 for ten hours, makes better use of the fare than the minimum does. A standard booking is held with a 25 percent deposit by bank transfer. Overnights carry a 50 percent deposit, and the travel component of it is non-refundable, because a companion committed to a long round trip deserves the same certainty you expect. The balance is cash on arrival or bank transfer.

North Terminal: Sofitel and Hampton by Hilton

Sofitel London Gatwick is linked to the North Terminal by a covered walkway and is the grander address on the north side. The lobby is busy at every hour with arrivals, departures and crews of all kinds, so a visitor walking through draws no attention at all.

Hampton by Hilton London Gatwick Airport stands near the North Terminal too, simpler and brisker, the choice of travellers who want a clean room, a good shower and an early alarm. Both hotels are an easy approach by car, which is how most companions arrive after dark.

From the North Terminal, the free shuttle train to the South Terminal and the railway station takes around two minutes, so neither side of the airport is ever far from the other.

South Terminal: the Hilton link and Bloc inside the building

Hilton London Gatwick Airport connects directly to the South Terminal by a covered link, a large hotel built for people who arrive with luggage at unsociable hours. It suits a longer booking: room service, space to spread out, a bar downstairs if you prefer to start there.

Bloc Hotel Gatwick is built into the South Terminal itself, compact and modern, with small, cleverly planned rooms. It suits a short, efficient booking before a morning flight.

Station: Gatwick Airport, served by the Gatwick Express, Thameslink and Southern, about 5 minutes on foot from the South Terminal hotels.

Arrival window: the long road south

By car from central London, allow 75 to 90 minutes, more on a Friday evening when the M23 fills up. Late at night the drive is steadier and the lower figure holds. The desk quotes the time before you confirm and sends a message when she leaves.

By rail, the Gatwick Express runs from Victoria in about 30 minutes, Thameslink comes down through Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Farringdon and St Pancras, and Southern trains call at Clapham Junction. After the last trains of the night the road is the only way, and the desk plans around the timetable instead of pretending it does not exist.

Rule of thumb for RH6: message at least three hours ahead. Same evening requests are answered honestly, with a time or a clear no.

Who takes a Gatwick room for the night

Holidaymakers on the first wave of European departures, who would rather sleep minutes from the gate than leave home at 03:30. Business travellers with meetings in Crawley or Brighton and a flight out in the morning. Passengers whose connection collapsed and whose airline put them up for the night. Drivers who parked for the fortnight and checked in the night before. Different reasons, one situation: a room, a few free hours, and nothing within reach to fill them.

An RH6 night, by the clock

18:30. Checked in at the Hilton, bags on the rack, boarding pass saved for 07:10. 18:40. Message sent: dinner date, four hours, South Terminal. 18:55. Full name, hotel and room confirmed, deposit transferred, arrival quoted for 20:15. 20:10. A text from downstairs. Dinner in the hotel restaurant, where nobody knows either of you and everybody is thinking about their own flight. Back upstairs for a nightcap and the kind of conversation that turns an airport hotel into somewhere worth remembering. She leaves at the agreed time. The shuttle train keeps running, the alarm is set, and staying in turned out to be the right call.

Companions who head south to Gatwick

No one on the list lives near the airport, so the useful question is who plans the trip best. Nancy makes the run from Covent Garden and treats the ride south as the start of something. Liana, based in Marylebone, likes an evening arranged well before your flight. Michelle from Chelsea and Thea from South Kensington both take RH6 bookings regularly.

Victoria is the key station for this route, and companions living close by in Pimlico and Belgravia, such as Roxi and Patricia, are a short hop from the Gatwick Express. Open a profile for her photos and rate ladder, or ask the desk for two names that fit your date and terminal.

Other airports, and back into town

Flying long haul from the west instead? The Heathrow page runs terminal by terminal under the same three hour rule. Would rather stay in town and take the train down in the morning? Thameslink links Gatwick straight to City of London hotels near Blackfriars, and Victoria is a short taxi from any West End hotel. Send the terminal, the hotel and the hours. The desk answers day and night.