Airport Hotel and Meet and Greet Parking: Plan Your Handover

Meet & Greet parking involves handing your car and keys to a parking representative at an agreed location. The car is then parked for you and returned according to your booking instructions. Our guide to [how Meet & Greet handover works](/guides/how-does-meet-and-greet-parking-work) explains the process.

For a pre-flight hotel stay, there are two arrangements to check:

- Keep the car at the hotel overnight, then drive to the booked airport handover point before your flight. Confirm that hotel parking is permitted, whether it costs extra and when you must leave the space. - Hand the car over before checking into the hotel, but only if the parking operator confirms that date, time and location. Your parking booking must cover the earlier handover, and you will need a workable route to the hotel and back to departures.

Do not assume a terminal handover service can collect from a hotel. Treat hotel collection as unavailable unless it is explicitly confirmed.

An airport name in a hotel's address does not establish how you will reach your terminal. Check the hotel's location against the airport's current terminal map, then confirm the practical route with the hotel.

If you are driving after your stay, plan the route from the hotel to the parking handover point—not just to the airport postcode. If you are handing over the car before your stay, check how you will reach the hotel with luggage and return to the correct terminal the next morning.

Ask about pedestrian access, lifts and any route restrictions relevant to your luggage or mobility needs. Check both departure and return terminals: they may differ. For example, our guide to [different terminals on a Heathrow round trip](/guides/heathrow-different-departure-arrival-terminals) explains what to verify.

Start with your airline's recommended airport arrival time and its check-in and bag-drop deadlines. Online check-in does not remove the need to drop checked baggage or allow time for security and the journey to the gate.

Work backwards through the morning: reaching departures, completing the vehicle handover, driving from the hotel, loading the car and checking out. Allow room for unfamiliar airport roads and finding the designated meeting area. Do not schedule handover at the same time you need to be at the airline desk.

For products listed on this site, Luton Meet & Greet operates 24 hours. Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester operate 04:00–23:00 daily. Check that both your outward handover and expected return collection fit these hours. A nearby hotel does not make an out-of-hours handover possible; ask the operator about a suitable arrangement before booking.

Use the actual date and time you intend to hand over the car as the parking start—not automatically your hotel check-in date or flight departure time. If handing over the evening before a flight, make sure the booking covers that evening.

Check these details across your confirmations:

- Hotel arrival date, checkout arrangements and overnight car-parking terms. - Parking handover date, time, terminal and exact meeting point. - Return flight date, flight details and arrival terminal. - Instructions for contacting the parking operator before arrival and after landing. - Any stated access charges, waiting conditions or amendment terms.

Keep both confirmations accessible on your phone. If an airline changes your flight or terminal, contact the hotel and parking operator separately where needed; do not assume one booking updates the other.

Use a small overnight bag for the hotel, keeping passports, medication, travel documents and flight essentials easy to retrieve. Before handing over the keys, remove everything you need until the car is returned, including chargers and any children's equipment travelling with you.

If you are driving from the hotel with children, keep the required car seats available for that journey. If a seat or pushchair is travelling on the flight, check the airline's acceptance and handover procedure before packing it away.

Follow the operator's vehicle-check and key-handover instructions. Confirm you are dealing with the booked representative before releasing the car. Our [car preparation checklist](/guides/prepare-car-meet-and-greet-parking) covers the checks to make before arrival.

Use the designated handover location. A general passenger drop-off zone is not a substitute unless your booking specifically directs you there.

Your landing time is not your car collection time. Allow for passport control where applicable, baggage reclaim and reaching the agreed meeting point. Follow the operator's instructions about when to call rather than assuming the car will be waiting as soon as the aircraft lands.

Check the return procedure and operating hours before booking, especially for a late arrival. Ask what happens if a delay takes you beyond the service's opening hours; do not assume collection will remain available.

If you also have a hotel stay after your return flight, decide whether to collect the car before that stay or afterwards. The parking end date must reflect the agreed collection, and any hotel parking needs checking separately. Our guide to [arrivals and onward car collection](/guides/uk-airport-arrivals-passport-control-baggage-customs) explains the airport steps between landing and leaving.