Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre London Heathrow — Hotel in London

DO NOT RECOMMEND.

Arrived around 11pm and the check-in line was so long with minimal staff on the desk, which I can excuse because the self check-in kiosks were broken, stuff happens I get it.

But as I inched closer a couple of customers were off to the side getting visibly frustrated each time they were interacting with one of the employees as they were asking for a simple request, and the complaints just grew. This complaint wasn't even sorted by the time I was checked in like 20-30 minutes later.

When I finally got to the desk my room had been upgraded for free which would have been nice but when I arrived the room was insanely hot, no windows open, no AC turned on. Went to turn the AC on to find that its erroring out (Remember this is a giant heatwave and was the hottest day so far). I called the front desk and informed them of this and got the reply "oh yes we know, its impacting everyone. We've called maintenance but no eta on the fix. We can send you a fan", unbelievable that you dont mention this as im checking in since its a wide spread issue. And not already putting the fan in the room or giving me the option to take it with me.

After waiting 7 minutes with no fan, sweating profusely because the window opens like 2 inches, I walk down to the lobby and wait for someone to be free to get this fan and get told "yeah no worries, go wait in your room and I'll bring it up, give me 5 minutes". I told this guy thats what I was just told, so dont leave me hanging now.

Go back to my room, wait another 5 minutes and nothing. Its too hot to stay in the room so I go wait in the lobby to speak to someone again because this is ridiculous. Keep in mind its well past midnight now, all i wanted to do was use this for a quick rest for the night before flying out in the morning.

While waiting the complaints just kept growing, so many customers frustrated that theres no room service and no kitchen, no microwave in the room, being told to order uber eats if the want food.

Eventually talk to Mark Alvarez who is the manager and ask if theres any other room, any other hotel, and to his credit he said they were fully booked and so were all the surrounding hotels and he allowed me to use one of the phones so I could at least confirm this.

He then actually came with me to get a fan, and we talked about compensation since I'm paying for a room that isnt functioning fully and he offered a 30% discount on the room which I agreed, we shook hands. I asked if he'd be on the desk in the morning to sort out the particulars and he said he'd be here in the morning and if hes not, he'll put a note on my account and room anyway.

I wake up in the morning to find the AC still broken, the fridge didnt cool the water bottle I had put in there since that turned out to be broken too! I get ready and check out and the man on the desk didnt see any notes on my booking about a 30% discount and he obviously wasnt in a position to agree to that type of deal and gave me Marks email address to resolve at a later time.

After I get home, I emailed Mark and still havent received any replies. I called up AirNZ/Expedia helpline to get this resolved because at the end of the day paying $240NZD (120GBP) for this experience is a joke.

Since its now a game of my word vs the hotel, the hotel denied any type of refund. I'm raising a separate complaint with Expedia based on how they've handled it their side as it was also useless.

I have no desire to return and will actively tell people to stay away...

We have stayed at this hotel or the connected Radisson Red (previously Park Inn) many times the night before a flight. It is our go-to location as the facilities are nice enough, and it doesn't cost the earth. Also, The Three Magpies pub across the road is perfect for an evening meal and the petrol station opposite is good for soft drinks and snacks for the room.

My one complaint is the new check-in kiosks. This is my second time since these awful things have been in place and it was an even worse experience than the first time.

I thought I had learned to check in online to avoid the total faff that the kisoks make you go through to check in there - never seen such a laborious process on a check-in kiosk at any hotel we have ever stayed at. Probably online check-in is a good plan, normally, but not when the hotel is at capacity and you'll just get an error that says no rooms are available. That's fun.

The gentleman working the kiosks had the patience of a saint (which is the only reason I haven't given service 1*), but I have to wonder - what sense in this world is there for allowing guest after guest to approach the kiosks knowing they will just receive a rather alarming error? No heads-up that hey you're going to get an error and I can help you, or go to the main check-in queue. Just let guest after guest approach the terminals knowing what was going to happen. In the time I waited at the kiosks, my husband noted he could have queued in the main check-in line multiple times over. Turn the kiosk off if people aren't going to be able to check-in using them. Don't let them keep walking up and trying only to find they are now stuck and are thinking they don't have a room and then having to wait again for someone to help them. It's just a ridiculous way to handle the situation.

Other than the awful check-in kiosks which I now know to avoid completely, the room was fine, even if we were in the building with one lift serving our floor and that went out of service after we arrived and we had to take the stairs (thankfully, not until we had checked in and taken our cases to the room and the issue resolved itself before we needed the...

Unacceptable Service – VIP Member Treated Poorly

I’m a Radisson VIP member and I must honestly say that this was by far the most disappointing hotel experience I’ve ever had as a global traveller and hotel reviewer in my life so far.

On the morning of my journey and on my way to the airport to catch my flight to London, suddenly my prepaid reservation was cancelled by the hotel without any explanation. They falsely accused me of not having paid for the stay in advance. I took my flight anyway having a terrible feeling about being made to make a new reservation at the current daily rate which was exorbitantly high - especially in contrast to the total amount I paid when making the booking half a year ago.

When I arrived at 11pm, the VIP counter wasn’t available, and I was left waiting in a long queue with no information or support. There was no communication, no apology, and no urgency. Instead, when it was my turn, once again the receptionist made me feel like an unwanted guest!

During the day of my trip, I reached out to the global support team — sent 10+ emails and made 5 phone calls — and still received no proper resolution or compensation. Not even a basic gesture like a dinner or acknowledgment of the inconvenience was offered by the hotel (beyond the obligatory perks for VIP members) when I was finally able to check in after a lot of trouble and inconvenience like never before at any other place.

But problems continued even then:

In the room, the air conditioning only worked for one day, and the hotel was crowded, noisy and chaotic. There was no personal greeting or welcome, and the staff looked like they didn’t want to be there. Absolutely no guest engagement or sense of hospitality — which is shocking for a Radisson property.

This experience was completely unacceptable, especially for a loyal VIP guest. I expected far better from this brand.

Even two days after checking out the hotel went on sending me messages about the allegedly outstanding payment.

Instead of feeling like a premium guest I was made to feel like a fraudster.

I will never stay at this property again and do not recommend it to...