On the surface the hotel looked superb with a glossy reception area and attentive staff. However appearances can be deceiving. The room was okay as twin rooms go but certain touches were missing such as we had a kettle but no cups/saucers/teaspoons. The complimentary hairdryer was located in the desk drawer but the mirror was about 4 feet away, to one side, and the cord barely stretched that distance. As we were only staying for one night it wasn't too much of an inconvenience — the room was clean and the bathroom well equipped with towels & toiletries. The real problem came in the morning when we came down for breakfast. The woman in charge of welcoming guests and seating them seemed out of her depth and unsure of what she was doing. When we came down there were about 4 parties in front of us but within minutes the queue was out of the door. Most of the tables visible had obviously been used but not cleared and reset so they were preparing one table at a time to seat someone in the queue. Parties of more than 4 were having to wait longer & couldn't be seated together. When we were eventually seated they were still setting the table and we were offered tea & coffee but there were no cups & then no teaspoons. The juice bar had no clean glasses available but the counter behind was cluttered with dirty glasses waiting to be washed. When I asked for a glass I was handed one straight out of the dishwasher. The cooked breakfast buffet had half the selection missing so you had to wait while they brought more supplies out of the kitchen. All in all, total chaos! And then, while we were still eating our breakfast, a cleaner started vacuuming the area behind us and proceeded to use the floor hoover to vacuum the tables! Not what I expected at all. I did report it to the receptionist as we were checking out & she said that the dining room had been very busy that morning but it was more than just being busy — you would expect a central London hotel to be busy but most seem able to cope with it. It is a real shame that this experience has really made me think twice about booking into a Radisson hotel in future.
As we were only staying for one night it wasn't too much of an inconvenience — the room was clean and the bathroom well equipped with towels & toiletries. The real problem came in the morning when we came down for breakfast. The woman in charge of welcoming guests and seating them seemed out of her depth and unsure of what she was doing. When we came down there were about 4 parties in front of us but within minutes the queue was out of the door. Most of the tables visible had obviously been used but not cleared and reset so they were preparing one table at a time to seat someone in the queue. Parties of more than 4 were having to wait longer & couldn't be seated together. When we were eventually seated they were still setting the table and we were offered tea & coffee but there were no cups & then no teaspoons. The juice bar had no clean glasses available but the counter behind was cluttered with dirty glasses waiting to be washed. When I asked for a glass I was handed one straight out of the dishwasher. The cooked breakfast buffet had half the selection missing so you had to wait while they brought more supplies out of the kitchen. All in all, total chaos! And then, while we were still eating our breakfast, a cleaner started vacuuming the area behind us and proceeded to use the floor hoover to vacuum the tables! Not what I expected at all.
I did report it to the receptionist as we were checking out & she said that the dining room had been very busy that morning but it was more than just being busy — you would expect a central London hotel to be busy but most seem able to cope with it. It is a real shame that this experience has really made me think twice about booking into a Radisson hotel in future.