We found this by a simple chance conversation with our neighbours, we’d mentioned staying in Gatwick the night before flying and opting for the Premier Inn due to the 2 very poor experiences we’d had in the Hilton.
They mentioned the Bloc and at first I thought they meant the Yotel, whilst I’m intrigued by that offering, I don’t think it would be as relaxing as I’d like!
A quick look on the Bloc website and the rooms looked quite interesting, plus they have a VIP+ section – basically signing up for an account which gives you an extra 10% off and apparently free upgrades on the day and such like. Can’t say I’ve ever had the free room upgrades but we have had the same room type with a view of the runway instead of the countryside (not that either would be a bad view!).
Within a few minutes of looking at their site I had booked a room for the stay and cancelled our Premier Inn room! We’ve used them twice now and both times have been great, awesome room and view and a very relaxing nights sleep before a flight (well as relaxing as you can get if you’re a constant clock watcher like me fearing your alarm and second alarm won’t go off!)
About a week before we were due to arrive I got an email advertising stay upgrades, the usual thing, small enhancements to the room, that sort of thing. Both times we have booked into the VIP room, this is their 2nd to highest room category, the highest room category (Runway Suite) looks nice but it’s a large cost jump which is hard to justify. Anyway, both times there was an option to upgrade to the Runway Suite for a fraction of the difference between the initial booking cost – both times I clicked that upgrade button within seconds of getting the email.
However, the upgrade isn’t an upgrade, it’s a request to upgrade which is then sent to someone to check…..both times I’ve not been able to get the upgrade which makes me wonder if it’s not available then why advertise it as such? Is it simply a ploy to get me to upgrade and buy the other enhancements that are always available? I could simply be unlucky, after all, I’ve yet to become a millionaire on the lottery!
Lack of luck aside, the VIP room is a pretty decent room, large comfy bed, huge TV that can you connect your devices to and stream, both times we’ve been streaming Disney+ to it (yes, it might have been Star Wars based….or Buffy the Vampire slayer). Decent sized shower and toilet, although there are 2 minor things with the bathroom.
1/ It’s nicely finished in graphite and dark coloured materials but the lighting is poor, great in the daylight with the window open, but at night or early morning it’s just not very bright.
2/ The shower is good, but water finds a way (OK, I know it’s life finds a way, but hey) – yes it escapes from the bottom of the shower via the doorway and does indeed like to cover as much of the floor as possible. We did on our second visit use one of the hand towels as a makeshift dam by the shower door – it worked well!
But that’s really the only negative, we’ve always had a couple of bottles of water, plus the complimentary cookies/biscuits (they don’t last long!) and the coffee machine which does make a half decent coffee. There is also a coffee room on one of the floors but we’ve never visited this as we have instead, taken advantage of the discount available in some of the quite close food establishments.
The only thing they don’t have is room service, but that’s not a bad thing and yes, last year we did bring a mini picnic with us to enjoy in the room. I’m glad I did because that was the day some IT numpty (not me) decided to release a buggy software update which took down half the world’s infrastructure.
Want to book the bloc? Have a look at their options here – https://www.blochotels.com
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