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Hi all,
New to the forum but long time reader/subscriber. I recently took advantage of Radisson’s free VIP sign up scheme which gave anyone a years free VIP status which brings a huge amount of perks free.
This no doubt will have annoyed some loyalty members and frequent flyers who’d worked hard to earn their status. In a way devaluing their loyalty.
I had NEVER stayed in a Radisson before, and only travel for leisure rather than work.
The scheme works as having now got a taste for the perks I find myself treating myself to nights away with the partner – mostly for fun, but also to try achieve the 30night/20 stay annual requirement to keep VIP status. Which can be a challenge of not travelling for work but we’re getting there.
My mantra is simple. Only ever book the cheapest/basic room, and see what we get, treat it as a perk not a given.
One thing I have noticed when researching Radisson hotels is the lack of reviews/comparison between them. You can often have various hotel from the group in the same vicinity. Some have ‘lounges’ and some do not. But I can’t find anywhere a breakdown.
I’m going to document each one I go to- to help others who may be considering going. Enjoy
Name: London Riverbank Park Plaza
City: London, UK
Upgraded? Yes to a suite
Lounge Access: Offered but not taken
Service: 10/10
Overall rating for price: 9/10
Comments: Our 1st Radisson experience and was impressive.Name: Cardiff Radisson Blu
City: Cardiff
Upgraded? Yes to a suite
Lounge Access: Yes – 2 hour house drinks and nibbles
Service: 10/10
Overall rating for price: 8/10
Comments: More dated that LR Park Plaza but also half the price. Staff were very helpful, and made the extra effort when saw VIP on system.Name: Bristol Radisson Blu
City: Bristol
Upgraded? Yes to a suite
Lounge Access: No Lounge
Service: 6/10
Overall rating for price: 6/10
Comments: More modern than Cardiff and great location but staff a little disinterest compared to others and few mix ups with parking. Not sure I would return for the price paid.Amsterdam and Glasgow pending!
Good stuff. I’ve got 3 separate Radisson stays coming up this month, as I also want to check out how good it is with VIP status. Plus the rates I’m seeing with the discount booster are excellent, especially when compared to Marriott.
The Radisson Blu in Milan cost less than the bare bones Moxy next to LIN.
I thought only Radisson Collection had lounges though – but you got lounge access at Radisson Blu Cardiff.
Thanks for this, I await the next reviews. I’m also new to Radisson and received VIP status. London and mainland Europe hotels particularly of interest.
Got VIP status from a stay at Radisson Blu in Malta last summer. Not stayed at Radisson since then so not seen the status work in action. Booked Panasonic Suite for the Easter Holidays in the Radisson Blu Jersey – stayed many times in that room and it’s great. Fantastic views. We will get the free breakfast, but apart from that not sure – Think the only room above that is the Penthouse suite but there’s only one of them. See what happens, may get lucky 🙂
Good stuff. I’ve got 3 separate Radisson stays coming up this month, as I also want to check out how good it is with VIP status. Plus the rates I’m seeing with the discount booster are excellent, especially when compared to Marriott.
The Radisson Blu in Milan cost less than the bare bones Moxy next to LIN.
I thought only Radisson Collection had lounges though – but you got lounge access at Radisson Blu Cardiff.
Yeah they don’t seem to publish openly which have lounges as such. But Park Plaza London Riverbank and Cardiff definitely did. Albeit the Cardiff was a little make shift – a cordoned off/screened area of the bar. For a couple free drinks and food before an evening can’t knock it
I’ve stayed at Radisson Blu Manchester Airport and Radisson Blu Shanghai New World hotels since I got VIP status. The treatment I got was similar for both hotels:
Booked the lowest category room both times
Upgraded to best non-suite rooms, i.e. executive/business rooms
Executive lounge access
Free breakfast for 2 people in the room
Late check-out offeredSo I’m please they’ve offered the VIP benefits specified on the radisson website.
First data point for me courtesy of Radisson Blu Warsaw Sobieski
Booked cheapest room: the rate was £50 but it was my first booking and I’d forgotten to activate the discount booster. With the discount booster active they’d practically be paying me to stay there.
Suite upgrade: Yes
Free Breakfast: Yes (decent spread with a good selection of fresh juices on offer)
Lounge access: N/A
Welcome gift: Yes (bottle of Tyskie beer and some savoury snacks)
Late checkout: Yes (pushed the boat out by asking for 5pm, which was accepted)This coming weekend I’m doing a status run to LIN for ITA (Sky Team Elite Plus) and will need somewhere to overnight. It turns out that with the discount booster on I can get the Radisson Blu in Milan at a lower rate than the bare bones Moxy near the airport.
The weekend after that I’ll be checking out the higher spec Radisson Collection (also in WAW like Sobieski). They’ve already confirmed I can access the exec lounge as VIP.
What a good idea for a thread @RadissonReviewer and thank you to the posters who are contributing.
Also a nice way of giving a bit of publicity to Radisdon since they were kind enough to make the recent offer and it will help people on HfP readily see good options to consider with Radisson.
I’ll certainly move a number of stays this year, that Accor would most probably have got, in Europe, even if the Radisson prices will be mostly higher.
I stayed one night at Radisdon Red in Liverpool. I activated the discount booster and paid £70 for the cheapest room category. I got early check-in, offered late check out, discount voucher for food/drinks, upgraded to a Suite with a view of St George’s Hall, which is their highest category room and was being offered at £400+ on their website for the day in question. There is no lounge. The person on reception was very welcoming and made a fuss of my VIP status. The only negative for me was the bathroom. I just don’t like bathrooms with glass all around.
Great idea for a thread, thanks for starting it. I’ve also acquired VIP from another offer, we don’t have very many Radisson hotels in Australia (3 I think, and they’re hardly mind blowingly exciting), so my most recent would be the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel in Longyearbyen – but interested to see if I can make use of it some how and, if nothing else, good to read about others’ experiences.
Could always go to Fiji I suppose, there’s one there, I’ve passed it many times but never stayed!
Name: Amsterdam City Center Radisson Blu
City: Amsterdam
Upgraded? Yes to a Premium Room
Lounge Access: N/A
Service: 9/10
Overall rating for price: 8/10
Comments: Really quaint building with the hotel build into existing traditional houses with an under street passage way connecting different halves of the hotel. Upgraded form a basic room to Premium, with a hand written note and welcome gift of chocolates from the manager for loyalty. Breakfast was included and had a great selection. Really pleasant location in the city centre. Bar looked lovely but dry January meant I couldn’t enjoy! Would most certainly return.Gatwick offers a couple of Radissons: a Red, for which the Tripadvisor reviews are not rave; and an Individual at Charlwood, round the perimeter, where the VIP upgrade might make more difference. I have never noticed Radisson at Gatwick before. I’m not flying; it just offers more choices than Brighton. So I would be interested if anyone tries their premier.
How long did it take for Radisson to progress the membership upgrade in the first place, please?
Name: Amsterdam City Center Radisson Blu
City: Amsterdam
Upgraded? Yes to a Premium Room
Lounge Access: N/A
Service: 9/10
Overall rating for price: 8/10
Comments: Really quaint building with the hotel build into existing traditional houses with an under street passage way connecting different halves of the hotel. Upgraded form a basic room to Premium, with a hand written note and welcome gift of chocolates from the manager for loyalty. Breakfast was included and had a great selection. Really pleasant location in the city centre. Bar looked lovely but dry January meant I couldn’t enjoy! Would most certainly return.Here we go, reduction in suite upgrades in major citiey I think. Did you check if any suites were available at check-in?
Name: Amsterdam City Center Radisson Blu
Here we go, reduction in suite upgrades in major citiey I think. Did you check if any suites were available at check-in?
Where does it say you are entitled to an upgrade to a suite when booking the cheapest room in the hotel?
And they call BA Silver and Gold leisure travellers ‘freeloaders’ LOL
Name: Amsterdam City Center Radisson Blu
City: Amsterdam
Upgraded? Yes to a Premium Room
Lounge Access: N/A
Service: 9/10
Overall rating for price: 8/10
Comments: Really quaint building with the hotel build into existing traditional houses with an under street passage way connecting different halves of the hotel. Upgraded form a basic room to Premium, with a hand written note and welcome gift of chocolates from the manager for loyalty. Breakfast was included and had a great selection. Really pleasant location in the city centre. Bar looked lovely but dry January meant I couldn’t enjoy! Would most certainly return.Here we go, reduction in suite upgrades in major citiey I think. Did you check if any suites were available at check-in?
No i didn’t ask. I was automatically upgraded before arriving (the booking was amended to the room type). If there was no upgrade at all I would have probably queried… but a room two specs above what I paid for, free breakfast, top service and a discount on room rate – plenty for me! I was content
@RonnieB read the T&C and it says to best category in the hotel subject to availability (with few hotels not participating). I have stayed at Radisson hotels even before this new status match with just Premium status (and before that Gold) and I was upgraded to suites 100% of the time.
I also think that this status match has devalued the programme even further as now everyone has a status so slowly the suites won’t be forthcoming and breakfast quality will be eroded.
@RadissonReview 20% discount booster is a feature of Premium and above.
@RonnieB read the T&C and it says to best category in the hotel subject to availability (with few hotels not participating).
Which is followed by:
Upgrade to suites not always guaranteed: it may vary by property and seasonality
The following line is just a clarification of subject to availability. I have 100% success rate of upgrades to suites even as Premium so with VIP it should be better, but obviously isn’t as I’m sure there were just too many status holders.
Has anyone stayed at Radisson Blu Gdansk? I have an upcoming stay but not until June.
The following line is just a clarification of subject to availability. I have 100% success rate of upgrades to suites even as Premium so with VIP it should be better, but obviously isn’t as I’m sure there were just too many status holders.
I never had a suite as a Premium, neither has my wife AFAIK (who does more Radisson stays than me, mainly Hamburg Airport). Can’t even remember a report from anyone who got one, which is why we are so neutral about it in our ‘are the Amex hotel statuses worth having?’ article.
I mean, let’s be serious here.
Premium requires THREE STAYS. That’s it. Three stays in a year, or five nights. You could do a one night stay every 4 months and still earn Premium. No hotel is dishing out suites to anyone with that level of ‘loyalty’.
Well, I guess you don’t stay at the right hotels at the right time. You can’t make conclusion based on staying mainly at one airport hotels. In fact, I think it’s rather poor of you not to have negotiated upgrades at Hamburg Airport since you stay there a lot as you say.
In the last six years I have stayed as Premium at Radisson Blu Madrid Prado (junior suite, 3 times), Radisson Collection Seville (1 bedroom suite, 2 times), Radisson Blu Amsterdam City Centre (Mezzanine Suite), Radisson Blu Dubai (one-bedroom suite), Radisson Blu Cebu (1 bedroom suite with lounge access). These were all upgrades from base rooms. I certain now that everyone has the status and starts staying there will be a drop in this.
It doesn’t matter how easy it is to obtain the status if no-one does it. It’s not one of the major loyalty programmes and also separation between US and the rest of the world programmes didn’t help either.
Has anyone stayed at Radisson Blu Gdansk? I have an upcoming stay but not until June.
You should be ok for a good upgrade as it’s not a major city.
Well, I guess you don’t stay at the right hotels at the right time. You can’t make conclusion based on staying mainly at one airport hotels. In fact, I think it’s rather poor of you not to have negotiated upgrades at Hamburg Airport since you stay there a lot as you say.
In the last six years I have stayed as Premium at Radisson Blu Madrid Prado (junior suite, 3 times), Radisson Collection Seville (1 bedroom suite, 2 times), Radisson Blu Amsterdam City Centre (Mezzanine Suite), Radisson Blu Dubai (one-bedroom suite), Radisson Blu Cebu (1 bedroom suite with lounge access). These were all upgrades from base rooms. I certain now that everyone has the status and starts staying there will be a drop in this.
It doesn’t matter how easy it is to obtain the status if no-one does it. It’s not one of the major loyalty programmes and also separation between US and the rest of the world programmes didn’t help either.
Thanks for sharing the hotels you got this upgrade at 🙂 hopefully it helps others.
I think your right of course it’ll vary per hotel. Some are more likely to give you what they ‘have to’ versus being generous. Of course a lot probably comes down to availability – if you stay at an off peak time on a Sunday you’d probably more likely to be treated well. Park Plaza London Riverbank was certainly my top rated so far – we booked three rooms for z family trip and all three got upgraded! Wasn’t expecting that.
I’m off to Glasgow next weekend and have 6 rooms booked for a trip – interesting to see how that’s handled!I stayed twice at the Radisson Hotel and conference centre Oslo airport, once as a premium member, once as a VIP. As a premium member I asked for a free upgrade from a superior to family room. As a VIP they upgraded me to a junior suite, but I took the family room again as my son likes the bunk bed. Breakfast was pretty good, the hotel is a short covered walk to the terminal. As fully flexible rates hover around £100 or lower I thought this was a good option for accessing cheaper premium fares from Oslo.
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