I stayed in the hotel during October of 2004.
The hotel property itself has alot of eye appeal once you walk through the doors.
In my opinion, the ownership of this hotel could either take this hotel to a 4 star property with some modest capital improvements.
IF they do not fix the little problems then the overall rating of which I gave 3 stars, will quickly become a ONE star hotel.
The staff is very good. They are friendly and helpful. My room included tips and all the little things, yet since I did not want to give them more money the staff kind of stopped offering to assist me any further while I was there.Maid service as good as well.
There is a major problem with the two elevators they have on this property. They are slow and undersized for a property of this size and they do not work properly. A huge risk for a law suit is waiting to happen with them unless they get them replaced and running properly. Again they were very slow and the doors would open and you would be about an inch or so from the elevator car being level with the floor. Also I could hear the pullies on the elevator struggling at times to pull or drop with 3 to 5 people in the elevator.
The beds are very poor. Very hard matress with only about a 5 inch thick matress on my king size bed. Also the matress does not sit on a box spring, but a flat board.
The bed spreads on the beds are also very poor and aged. The room furnishings are good. The room was clean. Nice large bathroom and over-sized shower.
I had my girl friend who lives in Cancun that came to pick me up every day at the hotel. There were times when the desk staff treated her like she could not come to my room. At one point they asked me if I was staying alone or were their 2 people in the room. I told them the truth, only me. My girl friend came in the mornings and we would go up to my room for awhile in the evenings. I just did not like their attitude on this matter.
In waiting around one morning and walking the property I noticed that the security men go in SOME rooms while house keeping is in a room cleaning. I noticed the security guys looking around in the rooms at the same time. My thought was this is not good. I was told that security men look in rooms when house keeping notices "suspicious" things while cleaning a room. I had nothing to hide so I was not concernced in my room but, the idea of a room search without me knowing about it is not cool !!!
The restaurant food was very good but over priced for the Hotel's location. You can walk 3 blocks or take a cab or shuttle and eat for half of what the restaruant charges.
Finally the pool area. WOW what a beautifully done area. While I was there the pool was not busy, very much yet the pool water was not clear as pool water should be. I checked it for 3 straight days...and said...naaaaa ..think not.. The water was cloudy in its color and not clear as it should be. Either it was dirty OR the clorinie levels were way out of control.
In conclusion, a good ownership team AND a good American lead hotel manager and a hand picked support team with knowledge of building maintenance along with ALL new and real matresses,, and new bed spreads,,, and a new elevator system COULD make this Raddison a great reason to stay in the downtown area.
AS IT IS,, it is the equivilant to an hotel property that is will quickly develop a poor reputation for its guests. This Raddison hotel has so much potential yet needs the ownership of this property to step up to the plate WITHOUT raising rates drastically. Due to it's location away from the beach it will never be a $90 + per night place to stay, but this Radisson could certainly be a nice $79.00 per night place IF they get it FIXED..Good luck to them.. I hope you are paying attention. Respectfully submitted.
