Radisson Hotel, Boston

...opt for on holiday. The Radisson was rated as a 3 ½ star on Expedia, it had a good feedback rating from past clients both on expedia and on "www.tripadvisor.com", the rate was $192 (£100 approx) a night and so I went ahead and booked.


===Location and arrival===

Boston is a small city and one would have to be quite unlucky to find oneself in a hotel in an inconvenient location for this reason. So, we ...
...planning to stay in a Radisson I would recommend asking for a regular bed if they still do them.

The bathroom was beautifully and newly done. The walls were white "brick style" tiles which I thought were very attractive with the chrome fittings, including one of those oversize shower heads. It was a tiny space though, I could easily touch opposite walls simultaneously without even stretching and the door opening / closing ... more

There are many advantages to living in Bermuda, as I do, however the shopping experience is not one of them. Being unable to contemplate life without regular shopping, it was agreed that our move to the island was conditional upon regular trips to the US to indulge my most favourite pastime. Well one of them.

I booked the Boston trip a couple of months in advance and as the intention was to make these trips very regular I decided to search for a three star hotel, rather than a four or five star which I generally opt for on holiday. The Radisson was rated as a 3 ½ star on Expedia, it had a good feedback rating from past clients both on expedia and on "www.tripadvisor.com", the rate was $192 (£100 approx) a night and so I went ahead and booked.

Location and arrival

Boston is a small city and one would have to be quite unlucky to find oneself in a hotel in an inconvenient location for this reason. So, we were perfectly happy with the central location of this hotel. Also it was only about a twenty minute taxi ride from the airport and that cost $25 with a tip. The hotel is a rather ugly concrete building, although I would not go so far as to say it created a bad impression as I don't judge a hotel by its cover. Stepping inside and the reception area was not particularly impressive either, it was quite large but the shades of brown and green décor made it slightly gloomy.

There were a couple of people ahead of us in the queue at reception, we were nevertheless attended to very quickly and were heading to our room within a few minutes of arrival. No bell service here, which is ok as I sometimes prefer to take my own bag anyway, however I mention it was a reminder that I was in a three star hotel this time.

In-room

Our room was on the 20th floor which we were pleased about although the lift service was pretty poor and we were not inclined to take the stairs. Our room had an accessible balcony, although it did not contain any balcony furniture and was extremely ugly. I was surprised to find that the doors to the balcony were not locked, particularly as the wall was only about hip height and there was a twenty storey unbroken drop on the other side. I would recommend extreme caution if staying here with children or after a few glasses of wine!

The bedroom was a generous size, contained two small double beds, comfy armchair and ottoman, desk, TV, all the usual things essentially. A bonus was a tea and coffee making machine as I have found hot drink facilities are not commonly available in US hotels. The furnishings in the room all looked to be fairly new and in good condition. The beds were the new "sleepnumber" beds which the chain has been advertising recently. Essentially it allows the firmness of the bed to be altered with the push of a button and the left and right side can be adjusted separately. A great idea as I personally find nothing worse than getting into my hotel room and finding a soft bed. Unfortunately, it seems that frequent adjusting of the bed's constitution in this manner is not conducive to a comfortable bed. No matter what we did we found that the beds were rock hard on the edges but dipped quite dramatically in the middle. It has to be one of the most uncomfortable beds I have experienced in a very long time and if you are planning to stay in a Radisson I would recommend asking for a regular bed if they still do them.

The bathroom was beautifully and newly done. The walls were white "brick style" tiles which I thought were very attractive with the chrome fittings, including one of those oversize shower heads. It was a tiny space though, I could easily touch opposite walls simultaneously without even stretching and the door opening / closing just about cleared the loo by about an inch. The width of the room made for a very tiny bath too and definitely too small for me (at 5ft 8in) to enjoy.

I did have a couple of plumbing gripes too, the toilet flush was like that in an airplane which made me jump every time and as it was so loud it meant that I heard all the nearby loos being flushed as well. Also one morning we ran out of water altogether, which was most inconvenient for my husband who was in the shower and had just shampooed up. It was restored reasonably quickly though after a phone call.

Amenities

I did not use any of the hotels amenities other than we ordered a room service snack one evening after returning from the Irish bar across the road. The room service menu was pretty good, reasonably priced and the service was quick. We had made some plans to go swimming as there is a pool and gym, however we didn't make it.

Service

I have saved until the last the most memorable aspect of this hotel. The attitude and service offered by the staff. When we arrived in our room we found that we were in a room with twin beds (small doubles) and not a king bed as I had ordered. I called reception immediately but they pointed out that in the small print of my booking with Expedia it mentioned that this was in fact a request and not guaranteed and indeed I found that this was the case. Nevertheless I countered that I had booked two months in advance and would have thought that the request could be accommodated anyway. Being a reasonable person, I probably would have accepted some half decent explanation as to why I could not be accommodated, however what was not acceptable to me was being spoken to as if I was some hotel parasite by virtue of the fact that I booked through Expedia.

In the same telephone call I spoke to three different members of staff as I was passed around. Independently and without provocation they all referred to me making bookings "on the cheap" and how I could therefore not expect to be treated in the same manner as a "proper" hotel guest who booked with them directly or through a "proper" agent and not the internet. One of the staff I spoke to even suggested that I was simply trying to get some cash out of them in the form of a discount or refund of some description and told me that this was "not going to work". For clarification, I had made no such suggestion and it had not even crossed my mind, my only goal was being moved to the room I had ordered. This person also suggested that if I didn't like the room I should call Expedia and go and find myself another hotel. This seemed a rather rude and unhelpful suggestion to make to a guest who has just arrived in a city for the first time and was politely and calmly questioning the room allocation and requesting a switch to the type ordered (sorry - requested) two months earlier.

Well I was most surprised at this treatment. Firstly I object to people who do not know me making assumptions about my personality and financial standing based on the fact that I find the internet a convenient hotel booking tool. Secondly, I did not think that $192 per night was all that cheap for a three star hotel anyway, a quick check shows the rates available with the hotel directly for a stay exactly one week later than mine are lower than I paid. But most of all it was alarming to see such an almost institutionalized hostility towards guests who have booked with Expedia or another internet company (they mentioned guests from hotel.com would be treated the same way as me) and my view is if Radisson don't like guests from Expedia then the answer is very simple, don't take them. But don't take them and then treat and speak to them like third class citizens.

Needless to say, the room issue was not resolved. The third person I spoke to said that he would call Expedia regarding my booking and would get back to me. He did not get back to me but at this point we decided to drop the matter and enjoy our weekend break.

From this point on we had very little to do with the staff who were actually quite invisible even in the reception area. Our next contact was the night before we departed when my husband called Guest Services to ask for a 6.30am taxi to take us to the airport the following morning. He was told that this was not possible and we would have to get up earlier to give us time to flag one down.

I called back to request again that transportation was booked for us and somehow this issue had to go to the hotel manager before they were willing to assist with what I thought was a perfectly routine request. The manager quickly agreed that a taxi could be booked for us, however guess what, when we came down the next morning it had not been. We found our own and departed. 

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