Complicated London hotel and parking advice

[ItsAllGoodMan]

I could really use some help figuring this out... Hopefully it's not as complicated as I'm making it out to be!

We're flying into and out of Gatwick and are planning on staying in the Premier Inn and parking there.

When we fly into Gatwick we need to stay in London for a couple of days and will need to get to Olympia for an event. We also have a toddler so would like to have easy access to somewhere we can entertain him (museums maybe?)

So, do we leave the car in Gatwick when we return, get the train into central London and stay somewhere near Olympia, then go fetch the car and drive home? Or should we find a hotel near Olympia with parking? Or third option, don't stay at Gatwick at all? We could park the car somewhere in West London (we're coming from the west) get the train to and from Gatwick and then travel into Olympia each day if there was somewhere with easy public transport access?

See what a mess I'm making of this! Does anyone have any suggestions for the way we could arrange our trip with the least amount of fuss ?

I'm slightly confused

However, the train from gatwick to Olympia takes an hour, you go gatwick to Clapham, then Clapham to Olympia

Gatwick is very boring to stay at several days as nothing around

So I would stay at a hotel in town and park. You can park in various places. There are several hotels 5 mins walk from Olympia

I'd leave the car at Gatwick and then train into London, stay somewhere near Olympia (assuming the event will go into late afternoon, so will be the day your toddler is most tired).

Least faff, most choice of places to stay in London, prob cheapest

You can leave car in Westfield car park btw which is £8 for 24 hrs. And 10 min walk from Olympia

I don't think the idea of having to get the train back to gatwick after we're done in Olympia, followed by a three hour drive with a toddler. Artandco may have cracked it with the Westfield suggestion. That's so much cheaper than the parking I was looking at in Kensington, and I hadn't realised how close it was! Do you know if we can leave the car there for more than 24 hours? We might want to attend both days of the exhibition.

Thanks for all the amazing help so far

I think you can just Pay for multiple 24 hrs slots. You can always call Westfield parking people and check but should be fine. If not one of you could just walk up after 23hrs, check car out and drive straight back in for another 24hr slot

Also recommend St. Paul's hotel in Hammersmith. 10 mins walk to Olympia if that, and smaller boutiquey so nicer with a toddler.