Radisson Hotel Philadelphia Northeast — Attraction in Bensalem Township

We were here for three nights recently with many friends and family members for a wedding. The wedding venue recommended the hotel to the bride and groom. It must be the only game in town and/or the venue should pressure the hotel to up its game. ||Let's start off with the good stuff. The staff - behind the desk, behind the bar, the room cleaners, even the guys doing construction (more on that later) - were all very nice, friendly, and accommodating. Our two rooms (we had made a second reservation to stay in the area an extra night and had to switch rooms - NOT the hotel's fault, and I don't hold it against them) were identical and recently renovated. ||Now, though, the bad. ||First, the rooms are spartan, and both had a chemical smell. The beds are comfortable enough, though the sheets are thin. They didn't seem worn; just cheap. There is a single desk chair and nowhere else to sit. There is a small closet without a door and with too few hangers. There is no safe, so be prepared to wear your good jewelry 24/7. There's no furniture with drawers, so be prepared to live out of your suitcases. There is an oversized desk and an otherwise useless ottoman-shaped thing that will hold those suitcases. This was just TOO minimalist for my tastes. I didn't try the TV in our first room, but I could not make the TV in our second room work. I could tell that the remote was connected, in part, but I couldn't find any channels that worked.||My grandmother used to say that everyone should spend a night or two in their own guest rooms, and that they'd make changes if they did. General manager? Just sayin' ...||Did I mention that the rooms were recently renovated? Well, apparently not the bathrooms. Both bathtubs (and those of our family members - we checked!) had rust (I hope it was rust - my daughter-in-law told me that she worried that a murder had been committed in her tub) coming through the surface finishes. It was more than a little disconcerting. The caulking around the tub could have been done by a five-year old. Again, both rooms, so this was no accident. A soft night-light would have been nice. On the other hand, the water pressure and temperature were good - so overall, okay so far. Then I realized that the bathrooms contained but a single hook for wet towels - not a towel bar in sight, so only the first to shower gets to dry his/her towel. Given that the hotel does not clean rooms or provide new linens except upon request), this was a problem.||The "bistro" restaurant is closed for dinner because, as one hotel employee told us, "nobody was going there." It is open for breakfast, but the only option on weekends is an $18.50 buffet. My wife wanted a cup of oatmeal, but there was no a la carte option. Really?!? On the other hand, the lobby coffee was free and actually pretty good, even if I did have to ask them on two successive mornings to refill the carafe. The "library" bar off the lobby is comfortable and the bartenders are very nice. Drinks are inexpensive and the food menu is better and more expansive than you'd expect (was this the old bistro menu?). On the other hand, it doesn't open until 4:00 on weekdays, so there may be no place to eat lunch. (A worker behind the desk recommended a good diner close by - kudos and thanks to her.)||There were three wedding parties in the hotel while we were there. I think this is likely to be typical, which isn't great in combination with the fact the walls are paper thin. The first night was really difficult; the second night better; the third (when most of the partiers had departed) fine.||The hotel lobby was being renovated while we were there. That was unfortunate, but not a great inconvenience. The renovations forced the indoor pool to close, which didn't bother us, but I saw several disappointed families. Even if they didn't know these renovations would be happening when the bride and groom booked the rooms a year or more ago, there is nothing on the website to indicate the closure or the renovations. I can imagine that disappointing a lot of people. ||One afternoon over the weekend, I saw a line of guests ten-deep trying to check in. This didn't affect us personally, but it looked ugly. The one person behind the desk was trying hard, but he was overmatched. Changing rooms and the final checkout was easy, but I counted only two luggage carts, about 1/4 of what I estimate they needed. ||It seems like a few of the wedding parties left behind some of their flowers. But they were all bizarrely concentrated in one corner of the lobby. Other areas were unadorned. Had anyone cared enough to distribute those flowers around the lobby, it would have enhanced the experience for everyone. ||And so? I completely get that hotels need to renovate from time to time and that guests may have to work around construction. (Seems like everywhere I travel, the sites are covered in scaffolding.) But even allowing for that, this was a weird mixture of experiences - from a very good staff to bizarrely appointed rooms and unfriendly policies. ||Once again, I have nothing but kudos and respect for the staff. That said, I can't help but think that a good GM, who walks around, who pays attention, and who cares about guest experiences, would help turn a routine, if weird, suburban wedding hotel into a destination people would want to seek out.||For the record, I have no interest in trashing a hotel or anything else for sport. And I certainly don't threaten bad reviews with the expectation of being bought off with a free night. If I have a real problem (and I rarely do), I will say so. Here, though, I feel like there was nothing that anyone could have done on the spot to make our stay more enjoyable (except, perhaps, sell my wife a $5 oatmeal bowl). The rooms are what they are. The renovations are what they are. Big picture, though? Someone doesn't care...

My family and I had the misfortune of staying In Your hotel from July 3rd 2021 till July 6th that was suppose to be check out date we left on July 5th didn’t even care to have the xtra night during our stay we encountered numerous of unsatisfactory service levels that you should know and hopefully do something about this.

First of all we made this reservation with a package through sesame place for my daughters birthday which highly advised us that this Hotel was partner with sesame place and they painted the picture beautiful for our stay, it even had 4 star rating.

let me start by saying this was not it I’m usually not a person who complains and neither is my husband but we were traveling with our children and were expecting a family friendly hotel.

As soon as We got to the entrance of the hotel there was garbage everywhere you could possibly imagine super dirty it looked like they haven’t cleaned in months even the front entrance was full of garbage around all areas I get to the front desk And ask if there was any possible way we could upgrade to a bigger room if it was available the receptionist said sorry the person that does upgrades won’t be here Till Monday July 5th I said what! I’ve never heard of that so I just left it alone and checked in, I looked around and the hotel smell old and like cigarettes I said to myself I don’t think we should stay here but when and got my husband as soon as we went in the Room sheets were stained and the room smell like marijuana and wet smell coming from carpet my husband called front desk and they send housekeeping to change the sheets, then the air conditioner wasn’t working we had to call front desk again and they send someone to our room at this point we were ready to leave but we gave it the benefit of the doubt and waited to see if it got better went to the pool with the kids and water was so foggy you couldn’t even see anything in it and there was garbage all over the pool area and it smell so bad, I felt bad for our kids and said let’s go in the pool for 10 minutes and get out that’s exactly what we did after that people were starting to come to the pool area and it was getting to crowded. Told my husband let’s just see how it is by tomorrow since we were going to sesame place early the next morning, but ofcourse it got worst, at 3am in the morning we were all woken up by yelling and fighting in our hall way by some guest in our floor my children were scared and this was Unacceptable it was the worst stay I’ve ever been to so far. Again dirty and it smell so bad carpets looked like they haven’t been cleaned for years lamps had spider webs and people were walking around drinking even the car next to our truck in the parking lot had bullet holes in there windows that my son was like mom what is that? so not a place for families sorry. We checked out the next day and left didn’t even finish the days, This hotel should not be partner with sesame place this was definitely a catfish hotel not what it looks like in pictures sorry we will never be returning to this hotel ever. Worst experience.

This was completely unacceptable in so many levels not the kind of hotel to have 4 stars when is not...

My stay at the Radisson this last week was not terrible by any means, but there were a few extremely off putting and discouraging things that have left me feeling uncomfortable about booking another stay.

My first impression was well enough, but I noticed that the rug in my room seemed a bit worn out and dirty. The next thing, was that my bathtub seemed to be discolored/patchy. Almost as if it had been heavily bleached to cleanse it of well... god knows what.

I had brought something to eat, which required that I warmed it up in a microwave, but quickly discovered no microwave in the room. Come to find out, I could use one in the public ice room... great! But it was so unbelievably filthy inside, as was the room that it resided in. The cabinet it sat upon was littered with filth and surrounded by dust and cobb webs.

Still, none of these things were severe enough to make me waste time complaining. Until the next morning, when I discovered a live cockroach on the bathroom sink in my room. The room I just slept in with my son.

I killed it, took a photo, and promptly went to the front counter on the ground floor. I was offered to relocate to a new room and given an apology. Thing is, I didn't raise a fuss, yell, or even be passively angry, since that isn't how I approach stuff. I was just calm and explained what I found, and showed the picture. At this point, I was already trying to get out to Sesame Place theme park with my son, but now I had to pack my stuff up and move it. While I wasn't expecting it, admittedly part of me was hoping for a "better" room than the one I just had to move out of. Of course that didn't happen.

Once again needing to use a microwave, the ice room on the new floor I was staying on was even worse, I even found a very old slice of pizza in the microwave. Obviously a result of a guest, but shows that these rooms are severely ignored and not actively cleaned.

Check out time! I had been upgraded prior to my arrival to have a room overlooking the indoor pool, (a useless upgrade by the way) but this was ruined by having to move after finding the cockroach the first night. Instead of simply refunding me the cost of that upgrade altogether, I was still charged that first night... which alright, that's logical. But at this point, I figured there would be some attempt to appease me after having to sleep in a room that surely had more than just the single cockroach.

Maybe their response to my incident was not dealt with more appropriately because I did not make it a problem directly to them or demanding something. Having worked customer service for a long time myself, I'm of the mindset that one shouldn't have to act angry or demand anything, good service should be given. If a guest at a hotel presents you a dead cockroach in their room, maybe there should be some minor accommodations made.

So all in all, while the staff were pleasant... the room and other facilities felt subpar and unclean, and will make me think twice next time while booking a room...