Radisson SAS Hotel - Manchester Airport, Manchester

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Close to airport and railway station, high quality hotel
Disadvantages:	Quite expensive, adjoining rooms are noisy !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Radisson SAS Hotel Manchester Airport is conveniently located between all three airport terminals, the coach and rail stations within the Manchester Airport complex. It seemed ideal for an overnight stay as we had to be at the airport at 5.30am for our flight to Portugal. It is just 12 miles from the centre of Manchester.

There is direct undercover access via the Skylink walkway. There is a moving walkway for those who want to use it. I did find it needed some ventilation as the temperature was very high on our return.

There are 360 air-conditioned rooms in a variety of styles. Italian, Scandinavian, Maritime and Oriental. Ours was Scandinavian! There are Standard, Business rooms and Ladies Business room! Designed especially with a business woman in mind, the Business Lady Traveller rooms come with special amenities such as up-to-date women's magazines, fresh fruit bowl, beauty kit and 10% of beauty treatments at the beauty salon, and this upgrade can be added for an extra £35. Plus six luxurious suites with separate sitting rooms and all the Business class amenities. The Business class are on the ninth floor and have a few more luxuries, like a newspaper, super buffet breakfast, a coffee machine and bathrobe and slippers, as well as a Panoramic view. There are a few family rooms and some specially equipped rooms for disabled guests.

Reception
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Strangely enough Reception is not on ground floor level and as we didn’t arrive by car, I’m not sure what it is like at that entrance level, but we walked from the airport Skylink and found a busy reception area. There were four reception desks, but only 2 staff, after filling in our address details and our credit card was swiped, it was suggested we might like to complete a gold points card, which we took away with us. There were television screens with details of flights, which I thought was a useful addition to the area. The member of staff was efficient and friendly, he offered us a newspaper for the morning, and a morning call, which we accepted. There were glass cases with items for sale and I noticed some toilets as we made our way to the lifts. No offer was made to help us with our cases, as we had had at another SAS Radisson, but as we had wheeled them from the airport we were quite able to deal with them ourselves. Check in time is after 3.00pm and check out time is before 12 noon.
The concierge will arrange theatre tickets and assist with flight changes. The Radisson accepts credit cards from all major companies.

Scandinavian Room
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The key card worked first time, and we walked into a large bright room. There was a Queen sized bed, with a white quilt and small blue and gold check cover and cushions. Wonderful, there were 4 pillows on the bed, we didn’t need to find out where they hid extras! The wardrobe was almost walk in style and divided into two sections. There was an iron, ironing board and trouser press in one half and 2 drawers on the other side, with space for shorter clothes and both sides had shelves at the top. Not a lot of space, but for most people this would be just an overnight stop and I had no intention of unpacking.
There were tiles at the entrance and a blue patterned carpet, of high quality covered the remainder of the room. There were two bedside tables, a case rack, and a dressing table in modern wood and very stylish to fit in with the Scandinavian style, with a mirror on the wall, the chairs also were modern style and an unusual design chair was beside the coffee table. There were several telephones and lamps.
The mini bar, tea and coffee making facilities, nice touch they provide mugs! and the safe were all housed in a wooden tower block which also had the television fitted in which could be moved to face where you were sitting. A very neat addition to the room. There was a selection of British channels, SKY one and news and various French, German and Italian TV programmes, as well as radio and Pay TV if you wanted.
The bathroom was tiled in a natural colour, and had a bath with power shower over it. There were nice white towels and a selection of toiletries. These as in other Radisson hotels we have stayed in are like little tubs with peel off lids, there were 2 apple liquid soap, 2 zest of lemon conditioning shampoo, 2 gentle orange bath/shower gel, 2 cool cream hand/body lotion and a shower cap, plus green vegetal base soap which was nestled in a lily folded flannel. There were also tissues and a phone in the bathroom, in case of emergency. If you have forgotten something like a razor or toothbrush, “one touch” service will oblige.

We didn’t use the mini bar as they are always overpriced, but there was an ice bucket and ice was available on each floor in a small area near the lifts, along with the shoe cleaning machine. Just a little further on was a lovely Japanese display.

Room service is 24 hours a day but limited menu after 11.00pm.

Food!
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Always important when staying anywhere, unfortunately due to our early morning departure we were unable to sample breakfast, but as we checked out I noticed a “Grab and run” service of tea and coffee and pastries, which many of the airline cabin staff where taking advantage of.
There were two restaurants, the Phileas Fogg restaurant which boasts an AA Rosette award-winning a la carte menu, while the Runway Brasserie serves a range of snacks and meals in a more casual setting. As I wasn’t feeling too hungry after grazing most of the journey south we choose the Brasserie. There were grills, pasta, pizza, salads and a selection of sandwich and burger type meals. The bar was a central feature in this area and you could see the comings and goings around you, plus two large screen televisions. Although very busy the service was quick, and as more people arrived the tables were in constant use. Coffee could be served at your table or in the lounge bar area just outside both dining areas, called Passé Partout. The Brasserie closes at 11.00pm on Mondays – Thursdays and at 10.30 over the weekend. The Phileas Fogg restaurant serves Breakfast from 6.30 – 10.30 and from 7-11am at weekends. Dinner is from 7-11pm. They use local produce with a contemporary twist.
My husband chose a spicy Penne Arrabiatta dish at £11.50 and I had a Club sandwich at £8.50 which was enormous! I chose what I thought was the smaller, lighter option but the plate was piled high with the layered sandwiches and a huge amount of delicious peppery crisps. The dessert menu was reasonable and although I resisted temptation by husband had a Roasted Almond and vanilla bread and butter pudding served with cinnamon ice-cream at £4.50. A glass of wine was £5.25 and a bottle of sparkling water £1.85. Coffee was £2.50 and served with a light and crisp orange shortcake biscuit. Not a cheap meal and if a family were staying overnight it certainly would add a lot to their holiday. I noticed some families sharing starters.
Champagne was very popular the evening we were there, and was very over priced, also served by the glass which did surprise me and I saw one glass being thrown out as it was very flat and the remains of the bottle emptied down the sink. Not a lover of champagne I wasn’t tempted.

Update.
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I spent another night at the SAS Radisson at Manchester airport, check in was again carried out efficiently and a change of room as we had been put into a smoking room and we prefer non-smoking. Unfortunately it was adjoining a suite and although the door was securely locked, the noise carried through, as we discovered at 3.45am when the mother and daughter had an early morning call. I do hope they enjoyed their holiday as the Mum was quite annoyed regarding which shoes her daughter was wearing and said several times “ This isn’t a very good start, is it?” I was tempted to suggest she wore whatever shoes she wanted! Fortunately we did get back to sleep after she had dried her hair and left! Needless to say that went on the comment form and was mentioned when we checked out. We were advised next time to check that it didn’t have an adjoining room!

The Phileas Fogg restaurant was our chosen place for the evening meal as it was our anniversary and my sister and husband had joined us. We had booked, and it was noisy at first with a family party, but the food was lovely, and very innovative . Waitresses were Polish , but understood most that was requested, but not everything!I do think when paying about £19.95 for a main meal it could include vegetables, a portion of potatoes was £3.50, and the same for a portion of creamed spinach. I decided to share the starter with my husband, but we had a plate of warm bread between the four of us, this was £3.
2 starters, a plate of bread, 4 main meals, 3 on the side portions of potatoes and vegetables, 4 sweets, 4 coffees and 1 bottle of wine, averaged out at about £40 per person. Things were drizzled and stacked, garnished with comfits and tasty dressings. The delightful hot lemon soufflé, served with a tiny jug of lemon sauce, plus a raisin Florentine with mascarpone ice cream and twirl of spun sugar was a work of art and delicious.

Breakfast which was included in our weekend stay was served in the Phileas Fogg restaurant too, and had a very substantial buffet with all the usual fruit, fruit juices, hot and cold dishes, breads and pastries, too much list , but if you wanted something special like Kippers or Eggs Benedict these could be ordered.

Leisure Facilities
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There is a swimming pool at Level 0 and a health and relaxation club, with Sauna, Steam Room and Solarium with qualified staff. There is beauty salon and fitness equipment. I think some of the many airline customers take advantage of these facilities to revive them after long flights. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to try these facilities out but hope we may one day.

Conference facilities
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There are 32 conference and meeting rooms for small groups to international conventions. A useful place as it is within walking distance from the airport and railway station. The Business Service centre on Level 1 has full secretarial services, photocopying etc.

Car Parking
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There is car parking for 260 cars and if you want to drive and stay over leaving your car whilst on holiday it will be kept in a secure park nearby and you will be transferred to the hotel. Here I can add an update too, My sister and brother in law were charged an extra £10 to park their car whilst staying overnight!

And now the best bit!
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The cost is the all important bit, we have stayed at other Manchester airport hotels and been a little disappointed, so we paid more for what we hoped would be a good experience to start off our holidays. We weren’t disappointed, the hotel was quiet and the bed very comfortable, it was close to the airport and so we paid our £115 for the room quite happily. We have booked another stopover here soon, and as it is a weekend we have a better rate - £125 including breakfast!

Or should I say it was quiet on the first occasion! There is a points system and because we joined the first time we got a percentage off the bill for food too!