Radisson Blu Bucharest

“Enjoyable stay - would choose to stay here again”

The hotel's location is excellent in the more upmarket northern part of the city centre. When we arrived at the hotel at around 2am, we were gratefully upgraded to a very spacious suite on the 8th floor in view of my Radisson Rewards VIP status, which also gave us access to the executive lounge. … more

The hotel's location is excellent in the more upmarket northern part of the city centre. When we arrived at the hotel at around 2am, we were gratefully upgraded to a very spacious suite on the 8th floor in view of my Radisson Rewards VIP status, which also gave us access to the executive lounge. When we got inside the suite, the loud fan in the bathroom wouldn't turn off. This was initially frustrating so late at night when we want to sleep, but when I reported it, maintenance arrived within 5 minutes and fixed it immediately. This was very impressive service, particularly in the middle of the night. The temperature in the suite was ideal with very little need to use the air conditioning, despite hot outdoor temperatures in late May. The bed was very comfortable with a good quality of sleep, and the blackout curtains were effective, although the pillows could have been more comfortable. Although the hotel was holding a noisy outdoor event one night, this fortunately ended at 10pm. There were plentiful power sockets all around the suite in the most convenient places, but no USB sockets. The internet seemed to be capped at around 30Mbps upstream and downstream. As for the television, it is incredibly frustrating to find that a major European hotel fails to cater to English-speaking travellers from its own continent. Rather than offering relevant pan-European English-language news channels, the in-room television options are restricted to American news channels like CNN. These channels focus overwhelmingly on US domestic politics and local concerns, which carry little to no relevance for European guests. For a hotel operating in a major European market, providing a balanced selection of regional English-language programming should be a basic hospitality standard, not an afterthought. Of our four nights, we had breakfast in the executive lounge on three mornings and in the main breakfast room downstairs on one morning. Both were excellent. Although the breakfast downstairs had more food options on display, as to be expected given the additional space, we preferred the overall quality of breakfast in the executive lounge, as well as the view across Bucharest. A special mention must go to Marius in the executive lounge; staff of this calibre are more typically found at the world's top hotels such as the Ritz in London. Dressing gowns and slippers were supplied, but there were no flannels or bars of soap, which were significant omissions for a hotel of this standard. The bathroom in our suite, although very spacious, was not particularly well designed. The shower cubicle had only an overhead rainfall shower and no handheld shower. Presumably it was designed by a man who washes his hair every time he has a shower. The shower is impractical for female guests who don't want to get their hair wet every time they use it. Although there was a handheld shower in the bath, there was no shower screen so one couldn't stand up. This impractical design needs a rethink. The water pressure was low with both showers, possibly because of the choice of shower heads. A disappointingly unusual aspect of this hotel is its approach to the outdoor pool. Across the international hospitality industry, it is a well-established norm that a hotel's outdoor pool functions primarily as an included amenity for overnight residents, with commercial access for external non-residents serving only as a secondary revenue stream. Instead this property treats its outdoor pool as a commercial beach club first and foremost, charging standard overnight guests at least RON 100 for access and heavily prioritising external day-visitors. Deviating from standard industry practices in this manner is entirely unmerited for a premium brand, alienating paying residents who reasonably expect full access to core leisure facilities as part of their room rate. Fortunately Radission Rewards VIP members are not charged for access, but still need to reserve. Bizarrely given the hotel's monetisation of the pool, it doesn't open until 1st June, only 3 weeks before midsummer day, even when outdoor temperatures in late May are around 30°C with clear sunny skies. We gratefully received late checkout until 3pm in view of my Radisson Rewards VIP status. Finally a special mention must go to Mihaela, who not only found resourceful workarounds to issues above, but even gave us helpful advice about an unusual trip we made outside Bucharest.

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