Radisson Blu Hotel, Cardiff — Hotel in Great Britain

I don’t think I’ve ever given a 1* review before, but reflecting on this hotel a year following our visit, I realise how disappointing it was. There was an unusual hole in the middle of the TV cabinet; we put our portable speaker on top of the unit, only to hear it fall down a hole. Unfortunately, we lost it for good as there was no way for us to reach down the 3m hole — so please be careful in the unlikely event you want put anything on top of it yourself. We don’t even know what this hole was for in the first place, and we had a look everywhere but couldn’t find an access point to reach it (it was where the cables for the TV were hidden though, so they definitely were able to access them e.g. for electrical safety checks). The reason I’m giving 1* though isn’t because of this unfortunate event, but because the hotel promised they’d try to have maintenance see if they can find it and let me know, but never did. I also sent them a desperately emotional email regarding the matter (as I have Asperger’s and this speaker had a lot of memories associated with it over the years so was of high sentimental value to me), but again, was never contacted back. It upset me knowing that despite being a 4*, reputable hotel chain, they couldn’t even manage to inform me that they couldn’t find it. When similar things have happened at other chains like Travelodge and Premier Inn, they’ve gone over-and-beyond to help. This wasn’t the only issue though. The hotel was ok — but that’s about it. The common areas look lovely, but the rooms themselves (as outer travellers here have said) are in need of much TLC, and much better cleaning. Our room (a suite) was dusty & dirty, with broken items of furniture (e.g. the floor lamp was ready to fall), and the carpet was incredibly thin and faded. There were 2 TVs, but the sound on them was absolutely awful (and I mean awful and tinny) and the volume restricted to too-low-a-volume to reasonably enjoy. It just wasn’t what we expected from Raddison. Since then, we’ve stayed at other Radissons (even though we didn’t want to ever again because of this one) and I’ve come to realise that the Cardiff one is just a poor outlier. So if you’ve stayed in others before and are considering this, just be conscious it’s not up to the same standards. The view also isn’t all that amazing from the majority of rooms — which was disappointing as it was the main reason we chose this hotel! The first room we were allocated literally had a concrete block surrounding half the window (which you can see from the outside of the building on one of the higher floors) so if you’re allocated a room there, I’d recommend asking for them to change it. They were friendly when I asked to change, but the new room wasn’t exactly what we wanted either but we had already asked once to change so I didn’t want to come across as difficult at the time. Again, it’s an okay hotel, if you don’t have high expectations, but if you’re someone who appreciates high standards of customer service when things naturally go wrong and the utmost cleanliness, I’d find somewhere else. Raddison Cardiff — if you’re reading this and want to prove to us otherwise that you really do actually value us as guests and want us to return — then you have a chance to put things right. I’m confident my speaker is still in the room we stayed in, and whilst I’ve mostly moved on, wouldn’t it be a lovely thing to write a review about how you went out of your way a year later to resolve the situation and retrieve the item? I’m here if that’s something you think you can do, but if not, my current review...

Upon arriving to Radisson Blu Cardiff we were happy to see the hotel had a car park in the basement of the building. However we had two babies and there were no family friendly signs showing us to get from stairs to reception. This meant that me and my had to carry a pram with two babies and luggage down 5-6 steps to get to reception.

The wait at reception to check in was reasonable so not fault there. The check in clerk was friendly however we did ask for the clerk to double check that the baby cost would be prepared for our room. He tried to do this by calling a colleague. However when we got to the room the colts had not arrived and after 5 hours or so I had to call the main line from my mobile to ask them to arrange for the cots (more on this in a moment).

After receiving our key card we were unfortunately greeted with a long lift queue. The hotel has two lifts and one lift was broken. Maybe in a small or average sized hotel this would not be such a big issue. However this hotel has 21 floors with many rooms on each floor. Radisson Blu had decided items not a priority to have both lifts operable for the new year holiday. This meant that all guests were left with constant waits to go up and down the hotel.

Unfortunately this was not the end of our negative experience at a supposed 4 star hotel. We paid over £200 a night and upon entering our hotel it was immediately apparent that there was nothing luxury (other than two brand new TVs and modern bathroom) about our room. The sofa bed was extremely worn, bobbling and broken to the point that two planks of would had been lazily nailed in to stop use of the pull out bed. The carpet was warm and bobbled. The bed was nicely made but only 2 pillows (we later found 2 extra pillows in the wardrobe, one of which had a dirty pillow case).

There was an musty smell in the room in addition to big wine stain on the carpet next to the bed.

The bathroom was lovely, the complimentary water was lovely, the complimentary tea, coffee and biscuits was lovely, the bed was comfortable, the view gave us a real feel for Cardiff and the bay.

Having said the most disappointing part of our experience was the atrocious telephone room service. We needed to call room service more than 5 times any time we wanted to order food to the room. We only ever got through to room service by calling the hotel externally from our mobile and holding on the line for 10 minutes each time. None of this indicates a 4 star hotel certainly doesn’t warrant a price tag of over £200 a night c.150 miles from central london.

On a positive note by highlighting the fact that the food prepared for our room service was of a very good quality and the lady that brought the food to our room each time was pleasant.

The breakfast service staff were also good. On the first day of breakfast we sat on the table next to the coffee machine and had a nice breakfast. We couldn’t help but notice that on morning two the chairs had removed from the table we sat on the morning before as if to say we cannot sit there.

I’ll certainly be taking my £200 a night elsewhere in future unless a genuine apology and remedy is afforded to me...

This was the 10th stay in a Radisson chain hotel during the last 12 months - and by far the worst. But first the positive things; Location. Very close to the railway station as well as restaurants and touristy sights. Room is large and so is also the bathroom. Good sleep in a very comfortable bed with good bed-linen. Good quality towels in bathroom. Nice welcome to the breakfast room. That’s it. So then the things this hotel really needs to improve; It feels outdated, smelly carpets (esp. the carpet in the corridor on the 12th floor smells unventilated basement). Old - not antique - but old furniture. Really lousy WiFi on the 12th floor, especially after 2100. In long periods the WiFi was non-existing and when existing really slow. Like the hotel a time machine back to the 1990s. See photo Not really understanding the difference between the standard rooms and the superior room with city view. When making a reservation I chose the more expensive superior room thinking the standards rooms will have a courtyard view and that i wouldn’t like for a 3 nights stay. When arriving I see that all rooms have city view. So might the superior rooms have a nicer view? Oh no my superior rooms was a superior room with a railway and dump site view. See photo. The standard and superior rooms are of the same size and with exactly same amenities. So why book a more expensive room when you get the same standard? See photos. Amongst amenities a rain shower would be included - nope. The shower was an ordinary shower. See photo. Body shower bottle was not refilled after the first day. As a Premium member I expected an upgrade to next level. That was not possible as no executive rooms were available. When this has happened on other Radisson hotels during a stay for more than one night - I have been told -“We can’t upgrade you today but as you are staying several nights we will give you an upgrade tomorrow”. Not here, instead the receptionist just stated “read the information on the website”. The “Glas Bar”. Written information “watch our skilled mixologists in action as they craft delicious drinks…” In reality the “skilled mixologist had no clue on what one of the world’s most known cocktails - Dry Martini is. He started pouring vermouth in a drinking glass over lots of ice. So a joint instruction from myself and his colleague saved that experiment. Breakfast is decent, but there was during 2 of the 3 mornings a buffet that was not filled constantly. No plates one morning and I had to remind 2 of the staff members before the plates were in place.

Sorry for a long review but I do want to give an honest feedback. There are lots of things this hotel really...