"I wouldn’t stay again. Firstly I booked directly through the Radisson Blu app - it was under flexible pricing but I figured it’s the night before, surely they won’t hike the price up the day of the stay. But by morning it had gone up by £40. Then by the afternoon not long before I was due to arrive, it had increased again by another £30. At this point I decided to cancel and book through booking .com as they allowed a fixed, pre paid price and I didn’t know how much the cost of my room would actually be by the time I arrived. I found that to be a sham, it’s basically that you agree to a price online but they can decide to charge you anything when you arrive.
The room did not provide for a comfortable sleep. It was soooo noisy. There was this loud rattling all night long that we couldn’t figure out how to turn off. The TV kept turning itself on to this bright white screen that actually felt like someone has opened the curtains and it kept waking us up. There was also some really loud banging that sounded like diy above us before it was even 9am (we were on the 4th floor) that also kept waking us up. Overall, we did not sleep well.
The room was fine and clean enough, nothing exceptional for the price, but the seals around the shower were hanging off and the floor got absolutely soaked when using it.
Service was also nothing to write home about. It felt impossible to get proper information about the hotel and rooms before booking. I emailed twice to enquire about things relevant to which room I wanted to book, and whether there would be a bath in the room, and got a reply to one question hours after I had already checked in (when it was obviously no longer relevant) and the bath question went completely ignored. Very unhelpful. We really wanted a tub and didn’t get one, even though every picture had a bathtub on the booking sites.
I also called when noticing the price increase and was met with someone who really couldn’t answer many of questions about it. I asked to pay the cost of the room upfront, to avoid incurring anything further increases, and they said I would need to go through to reception to make that request, but each time I tried the line just said ‘cancelled’.
The staff didn’t offer a very attentive service during the stay either. We ordered champagne and water for the room but we didn’t get the water, even though we paid for it. But we couldn’t even be bothered with the fuss of having to go back downstairs to fetch it, as the lifts were kinda slow and rickety, and the phone didn’t actually work calling down to reception.
Another thing I found weird was the complete lack of information provided at check in or within the room. No information was shared about breakfast times, WiFi passwords and the typical things either at check in nor anywhere within the room. I had to go downstairs all the way to reception to ask each time. Just tiring.
It just felt like with every instance there was something non working and/or sub par. Definitely not of a 4 star standard.
On the positive side the breakfast was tasty, even though the orange juice dispenser was broken and staff witnessed multiple people try to get some and didn’t offer any sort of fix (it would be easy to pour some from the carton so guests can still have it).
The location is also very good. We were visiting the west end and it was one tube stop away, and the closest station is right next door. There’s also restaurants right on the door step. makes life easier.
Overall I just wouldn’t recommend. If you are going to book, don’t book through Radisson, go through another app that guarantees a price so you’re not surprised with their unpredictable pricing structure and don’t expect a standard level of service and amenities associated with a typical 4 star hotel."
