Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Galena, IL — Hotel in Rawlins Township

BEWARE FOR WEDDINGS!!!!!! If you’re just looking for a place to sleep and shower, this hotel is fine. Anything else, I would not recommend.

A year in advance, I booked blocks of rooms for my wedding guests. After the initial meeting, we had nothing but issues. Several guests complained that if they didn’t use our wedding code for a “wedding discount” in the rooms, it was cheaper just to book without the code.

I was told during the initial visit that for all the business we were bringing, our wedding night would be comped, it wasn’t.

Fast forward to wedding weekend, my guests were told they could not sit in the lobby and talk. My guests were forced to whisper or go to bed by 11 because they were “too loud”..granted while several guests were a bit noisy, these specific guests had 3 people in a room, all of which were registered to stay in the room.

None of the rooms were together, defeating the point of “block” of rooms. We were on 4 separate floors scattered all over the hotel. The pool was dirty, guests were fearful to even swim in it due to the murky water and green algae like look on the bottom- mind you, this is not a chlorine pool but salt water should be just as clean. On arrival of guests, the luggage carts were always “in use” and unavailable to anyone. …we later found them sitting, abandoned and empty in the 4th floor and 3rd floor on separate occasions.

The staff was unfriendly, harassing, and unhelpful. During my stay I informed the front desk I had Amazon packages arriving with items needed for the wedding (2 small packages). They told me they would bring them to my room when they arrived. Two days later on the day of the wedding, I asked for the packages. The front desk said they never showed up, despite the Amazon tracking saying they were delivered. One of my guests finally took it upon herself to check the hotel’s mailbox outside and lo and behold, she found my wedding items just in time to leave for the venue.

The staff told us we couldn’t hang out in any rooms, so we went out back where lounge furniture was provided. We were told we couldn’t sit out there either because it was 12am. The hotel acted as if they didn’t know a wedding guests would be at the hotel celebrating. The noise was minimal and outdoors but the staff still took issue. We rented out about 30 rooms and received nothing but harassment. We had family from 6 states that didn’t see each other for more than 2 years due to Covid and they were told they couldn’t hang out past 11pm because of the noise from their laughter and voices carrying..which could have been eliminated by booking the rooms near each other as requested.

When the hotel sent out reviews to the guests, my grandma, who was unaware of any of the aforementioned issues or noise complaints, gave her honest opinion. When the manager of the hotel read the comments she continued to harass my grandma by sending emails and providing excuses as to why the hotel should have been rated better and brought to light issues that did not relate to my grandma, her review, and should have been private.

The hotel manager, Emma Jane, could use a bit of professional training. Not only did she share private guest details, she also forward private email communications between her and I to my guests, allowed a guest to cancel a room that was not in her name and when the rightful room reservation showed up, they told the other guest her room was cancelled by a guest that was not named on the reservation. Further, Emma Jane was disrespectful and rude to my aunt that checked out, and made several snide comments to her and the groom’s family.

Again, if you’re just looking for somewhere to sleep and shower, this is the place. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND this hotel for wedding reservations or...

This hotel was absolutely incredible, and for the price I had paid and the amount of amenities it has staying at this place was well worth it. For anyone staying in the Galena area staying at this hotel is a total no-brainer especially if one has children. To be frank, this hotel is nicer than what would even find in Dubuque just over the border though it is a much bigger city.

The check in staff at this hotel are very professional, and it was no problem checking in and getting information about the area from them. The Staff were efficient and did their jobs exceedingly well, and they are very cognizant of the fact that they are in a tourist area resulting in their excellent customer service skills.

The location around this hotel is very convenient because there is a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Ace Hardware within walking distance of this property in case one needs to get supplies. Plus, there is a car dealer and some auto repairs places close to this hotel in case one needs to get service while staying here.

Downtown Galena is really not too bad of a drive from this hotel, and one is not talking more than eight minutes even with traffic. This hotel is close enough to Downtown Galena so that one can easily experience that area while being far enough away so that one does not have to worry about crowds spilling over into the area where this hotel is located.

For those looking for something to eat, there is a restaurant across the street from this hotel. Also, there is a very nice Culver's adjacent to this hotel which is convenient especially for those looking for fast food. Within five minutes of this hotel there are other dining options that are rather good.

The area around this hotel is very safe, and the neighborhood is super quiet. There is nothing problematic in the area around this hotel. Even though this hotel is nearby US 20 one cannot hear the traffic from it.

Especially for those with children this hotel has a wonderful water park with a large slide for older children and adults and a baby slide for small children. The water park feature of this hotel is really underrated, and it is a wonderful resource to have to keep children entertained. Also, there is a mini-golf place right next door to this hotel in case one wants to do outdoor activities.

This hotel is a great place to crash after spending a day in Galena or is a great stop off on the way to Chicago, Dubuque, and beyond. Anyone going up or down the Mississippi River Road definitely should consider this hotel as a good stopover place.

This hotel is very clean, and one does not have to worry about the property not being kept tidy. The rooms are spotless, and the common areas are in very good shape considering the amount of traffic that goes through this hotel. Everything in the rooms were in order and were working perfectly fine. The amenities at this hotel are excellent be it the exercise room, breakfast, and, obviously, the water park area of this hotel.

Honestly, the question is why not...

I read all the reviews saying how wonderful this hotel was. We were excited to get the room with the canopy bed, fireplace and whirlpool tub. Upon first entering the room, it was nice. Then, once, we starting unpacking, we saw how bad the room was. There was hair on the counter by the coffee maker. There was hair in the shower, whirlpool tub and bathroom floor. The toilet had not been cleaned. The shower had mold and there were still footprints in there from someone's shoes. The whirlpool was missing a head rest cushion. There were chips on the couch and the doors to the armoire with the tv would not stay open (btw no movie channels). The breakfast is mediocre - nothing special. The pillows are extremely uncomfortable. The faucet on the tub and the whirlpool tub were not fastened down so when they were turned on/off, they would rotate! What was also strange was the shower had two shower heads-but the water pressure blew you away which was nice. To enter the hotel on the side, you have to walk down a creepy walkway and half the time the key card will not work. To make matters worse, our room was by the dumpsters or something because at 5-5:30am we heard a loud truck and on our last night, the fire alarms went off after 10pm and everyone had to vacate the hotel. The hotel sends out a text asking if there is anything that is needed. I mentioned how the room was not clean. She came to clean it while we were out shopping but called when we returned to say that it is just dirty caulk in the shower? I know what mold is. It was mold that had grown into and under the caulk. Fortunately, while we were out, I bought some shower cleaner and cleaned the tub and the shower the best that I could but without a scrub brush there was only so much that I could do. The manager did, however, apologize upon checkout which was nice but that in no way makes up for how horrible our stay was! You can go to tripadvisor and see the pictures that...