Radisson Hotel Bismarck — Hotel in Bismarck

Formal Review of a Recent Stay at a Hotel in Bismarck

I regret to report that this property was the most unsatisfactory hotel experience I have had to date. The premises were unclean and poorly maintained; operations appeared disorganized; and several practices struck me as misleading. By way of clarification, I offer the following specific incidents from my stay: Misleading Breakfast Representation. The hotel’s materials indicated that breakfast was provided and described it favorably. Only after check-in did I learn that breakfast was outsourced to an off-site/third-party provider and was not included in the room rate; guests were expected to pay separately. This was never disclosed in advance. Inability to Curtail Reservation. I booked a two-night stay. Upon arrival I found the overall environment substandard: the guest room was very small, lacked both a microwave and a refrigerator, and the parking area was cramped and difficult to use. Despite these conditions, the hotel declined to permit an early departure or any form of refund. Unexplained, Recurring Credit Card Charges. My credit card was charged daily without prior notice. When I inquired, the front desk attributed the charges to “pool use.” I had merely looked at the pool—a small, cluttered area with no guests using it—and did not swim. No one had informed me that fees applied. A further charge of $62.25 appeared the following day even though I did not return to the pool. Staff offered no satisfactory explanation and stated that a refund would be issued; no refund was processed. Absence of Housekeeping Services. Throughout the stay, my room was neither cleaned nor restocked. Towels and other essentials were not replaced. Multiple calls to both the front desk and housekeeping went unanswered. Chronic Parking Obstruction at Entrance. Vehicles routinely idled or remained parked directly in front of the main entrance, impeding guest access and making lawful or convenient parking difficult. Persistent Bathroom Odor and Inadequate Ventilation. The bathroom emitted a continual unpleasant odor, and there was no functioning exhaust fan to ventilate the space. Excessive Noise. The hotel environment was frequently noisy—both within the corridors and from outside traffic/parking activity—making rest difficult.

I share these observations solely as an account of my personal experience, in the hope that they may assist others who are considering lodging options...

Beware. This hotel used to be great 15+ years ago, but its really gone down hill & was beyond disappointing. It'd been a few years since we last stayed here & were going to be in town for a hockey tournament so we booked as part of a block of rooms (15) & planned accordingly. We were very surprised when we arrived for check in that our team was spread out between 4-5 different floors of the hotel & were not all on the same floor much less same hallway. That was a bummer. It was even more of a shock when we entered our room to get settled only to realize it didn't have a microwave or mini fridge. The coffee pot was also missing from the tray on the desk. The desk as well as the nightstand was sticky!! So much so that the tray the glasses & ice bucket were on was stuck.

The bathrooms were the tiniest & least functional of any we've ever seen. The pool area left alot to be desired as far as cleanliness, and there wasn't a towel to be found all weekend long in that area. We went to the front desk to ask for some at one point & were given floor mats for the bathroom to use at pool towels. The gym also didn't have a single towel during the course of our entire stay & the water cooler in the gym remained empty the entire weekend.

We tried to order food at one point, but was told the kitchen was closed even though we were within the advertised hours they were open and leaving to go get food & return was a nightmare. If you use the parking garage BEWARE! The front desk & garage are absolutely NOT on the same page. The front desk did not provide a parking pass, yet the parking attendant insisted that we should have one & was going to charge us for parking because we failed to get one issued to us. We did that song & dance all weekend with trying to get a pass, the attendant wanting to bill us, even though parking should of been included.

And then there were things like the room size being beyond small & outdated, the curtains being broken and not able to close, etc etc. We were set to be in Bismarck again in two weeks for hockey again & had pre-booked to stay there again. The entire team agreed & cancelled the upcoming reservation. We are now going to pay an additional $65 per night for a stay somewhere else, but all agreed it'd be worth the additional...

We arrived at midnight. While the night staff was pleasant, when we arrived in our room it was incredibly dirty (especially the bathroom-yuck) and had not fridge or microwave even though it had said there would be. We had things that needed refrigeration. We were so tired, we decided to deal with it in the morning. We were moved to a different room later the next day that was cleaner and had a fridge and microwave. Those things we needed refrigerated had already gone bad so we had to toss them. The next issue was with parking validation. That day my husband had grabbed the last validation sticker when we left in the morning. The staff commented on how it was the last one and they needed to get more. When my husband left again around 11:40 (he had a lunch meeting to get to by noon) there were still no validation tickets. We waited at the front desk while the person checked on this and en was told HE needed to go to the parking authority himself to get the validation tickets, pay himself to leave the parking garage (that is supposed to be included in our rate) and then go through the hassle of trying to collect reimbursement from the parking authority!! She was giving him directions and everything. Mind you he had a lunch meeting to be at by noon! When he arrived back to the hotel and then needed to leave by 430 to be on time to pick me up by 5 they STILL did not have any validation tickets. He again was told he would need to go and get those himself. He was not happy about this. He did call the parking authority and they brought it over and he then was late to pick my up from my conference. This was a mess, completely uncalled for. We do feel we should be given reimbursement for this stay and the poor service and dirty room, loss of food, etc. We don’t know if this is what Raddison has turned into. We have had a good feeling about the brand but this has definitely left a very bad taste...