Radisson Blu Hotel, London Stansted Airport — Hotel in Uttlesford

An Absurd Exercise in Bureaucratic Incompetence – A Masterclass in How Not to Run a Hotel

After a long and undoubtedly exhausting journey, arriving at Stansted well past midnight, my daughter and I finally staggered into your establishment at the ungodly hour of 1 AM, hoping for nothing more than a smooth check-in process and a bed to collapse into. What we received instead was a baffling, Kafkaesque ordeal that defied all logic, common sense, and basic hospitality principles.

Upon presenting my passport—a globally recognized form of identification that has, for five decades and across countless countries, sufficed to confirm my identity and reservation—I was met with a demand that left me utterly dumbfounded: "What is your reservation number?" Now, let me be clear: in half a century of traversing this planet, staying in everything from roadside motels to five-star resorts, never once have I been subjected to such an asinine interrogation after handing over my passport. My name, my face, and the document in their hands should have been more than enough. But no—apparently, your staff operates under the delusion that travelers, bleary-eyed and jet-lagged, carry their confirmation emails etched into their eyelids.

When I politely explained that I did not have the reservation number immediately at hand (shocking, I know, given the hour and the fact that most humans don’t memorize such things), I was met with the kind of inflexibility usually reserved for HMRC investigators and totalitarian border agents. "Sorry, sir, we can’t check you in." Let me reiterate this madness: You have my passport. You have my name. And yet, because my first name wasn’t magically missing from your system, you deemed it impossible to verify my identity.

Cue the arrival of the "manager," who, rather than displaying an ounce of critical thinking or customer service acumen, doubled down on this nonsensical "policy" as if it were handed down by the gods themselves. I attempted—with the patience of a saint, given the circumstances—to explain that perhaps, just perhaps, the issue lay not with my inability to conjure a random string of digits from thin air, but with their own laughably inadequate systems integration. If my first name didn’t appear on the reservation, that’s your problem, not mine.

Thirty agonizing minutes later, after sifting through a backlog of emails like some sort of administrative archaeologist, I finally unearthed the sacred reservation number. Only then was I granted the privilege of entering the room I had already paid for.

Final verdict? The hotel itself may be perfectly adequate, but any establishment that subjects weary travelers to such idiotic, self-inflicted hurdles—while smugly hiding behind "policy" instead of exercising basic common sense—does not deserve their business. The staff’s robotic adherence to protocol over reason, coupled with management’s refusal to acknowledge how utterly flawed their approach is, ensures I will never darken your doorstep again.

Do better. Or better yet, let a competent hotel...

I couldn't have made a better decision than to stay at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Stansted Airport. It's right by the terminal so excellent location. The Radisson Blu here was opened in 2004, and is a grand and open building with lots of natural light in the lobby. I also find the suspended bridge corridors incredibly aesthetically pleasing along with the tall wine tower as the centerpiece of the main bar. The rooms are well furnished and have good tv channels and toiletries are provided.

I booked a runway view and there are good views, although the Stansted Runway doesn't extend far to the northeast, this means that you're not actually looking across runway tarmac but grass, you can see planes landing (when approaching from the north) and can glimpse planes landing (when taking off to the north) but due to the satellite terminals you can't see the south end of the runways.

I was travelling with my Mother who has limited disability so I booked over the phone for an accessible room. I had no idea what room would be in store for me as there were three of us but was very pleasantly surprised when we were given two connected rooms. I felt so unbelivably cozy in these rooms and would definately book again at this hotel or another similarly branded hotel.

I'm not someone who critises more retro furniture and I don't believe hotels need to constantly renovate, nor do I expect military precision cleaning, according to an online wiki the hotel was last renovated in 2017, thats ok, however they could replace some of the carpets in the room as stretches of the carpets have been worn off, but the hotel experience was so good in all other aspects that I'll still give the hotel a 5 star review.

We also booked breakfast which was good, I feel like if I remember the glasses for fruit juice were rather small but other than that it was superb, I felt there was a very good selection of hot and cold foods including all major components of a full English Breakfast.

Finally I felt the staff were also kind and helpful, there was disruption at the airport and it was one of the cleaners who first told us what was going on which was very...

The hotel itself was nice. However, staff member Janet was incredibly rude, as well as we were lied to about the air conditioning multiple times.

At first, we were told they added a note to housekeeping to leave it turned on as the room was incredibly hot the first day we got back from exploring. That didn't happen. Then we were told that it had crashed, and that's why it was shut off. Not a big deal, right? Stuff happens. We then had a different staff member tell us "no, the AC should of stayed on, I see the note right here and it didnt crash".

So, they comped our breakfest for our last morning. However, no where did they make a note of that. I was bounced between reception and the restaurant until they finally figured it out, and had the displeasure of dealing with Janet who was rude as can be.

We also had an incredibly disorganized, confused, and unsanitary waiter at the restaurant (he was leaning directly over our food while sweating and seemed to not have a very good understanding of the English language). However, he said he had only worked there for 2 days, so I can't blame him. What restaurant has a new server with only 2 days under his belt working on his own? He didnt even know his own menu.

Ive never stayed at a Raddison Blu before. However, this will be my first and last time staying with this chain due to the incompetence in the staff and lack of communication between them. Save your money and stay at any other hotel than this chain. I'd rather sleep in the airport before I return to this hotel. At least there, the employees aren't lying with every other word they say.

This hotel needs to get their stuff together. I was looking forward to adding a new chain to the hotels ill stay at, however this expierence will prevent me from returning to any hotels...