My First Stay at a Radisson Blu
When looking into my hotel options on the west coast of Ireland, I was sad to see no Starwood or Hyatt. Then it occurred to me to check out my Radisson options and I discovered the Radisson Blu Limerick Hotel & Spa for only 15,000 points a night. With my Club Carlson Business Rewards credit card, I would get a second night free, so I was only spending 7,500 points a night to stay at the best brand in the Radisson chain!
The hotel had the added bonus of being less than half an hour away from the airport – a perfect distance on my first day of driving.
I’d never stayed in a Radisson Blu before and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would it just be like a really nice Radisson? We arrived, I was a trifle confused as to which entrance was the main entrance (its the one of the left), but was soon checking in in the very modern lobby.
They greeted me as a gold member, but there no mention was made of any welcome amenities or upgrades other than free internet. I’m new enough to Club Carlson that I’m still not quite sure what is standard.
We made a beeline for our room. From the outside the hotel didn’t appear big, but once on the third floor we discovered it had three wings. And to my jetlagged brain, the doors looked more like service doors than entrances to the corridors. 🙂
When we got to the room it appeared they had upgraded me to a business executive room! Unfortunately they had not given us two beds as requested and when I called down, they had no “family rooms†available. Oh well. At least we had an amazing coffee machine and fluffy white bathrobes (and bright blue slippers) to relax in!
And two bottles of complimentary sparkling water.
The room itself was great! Not quite as posh as I might have thought it would be, but on par with European rooms and very modern. The internet was fast and had no problems logging in. We had a pleasant view of a pasture and old tower house in the background.
In addition to the exciting coffee maker we also had great tea making facilities, including a loose leaf tea pot with loose leaf tea!
The only less than ideal thing – other than neighbors who, unlike us, were quite enthusiastic at midnight about having one bed – was the bathroom. It was clean and modern enough.
But the shower leaked. No matter how hard we tried to position the nozzle or adjust the glass screen, the floor flooded. Extensively.
It made the sign in the bathroom pretty amusing.
We didn’t have time to check out the spa or pool facilities, though guests have full access to the indoor pool and sauna. We did check out the in-hotel pub, Quench, which we really liked.
And not just because part of the modern décor included a display of champagne including Dom Perignon.
The food was good – particularly for a hotel restaurant away from town — and not more expensive than other restaurants we visited. My friend ordered the potato and leek soup (which she raved about for the rest of the trip) and the House Club sandwich.
I ordered the Fillet Steak Sandwich, which was rather like a really good cheese steak.
The service was great and when we were checking out the next morning, the bartender from the night before came out to wish us a good trip. Though we eventually wound up only spending one night there, in favor of spending the second night closer to the Ring of Kerry, 15,000 points instead of $150 was well worth it to me for this trip.
Not a hotel I would want to visit for it’s own sake, but the Radisson Blu Limerick is a really solid option if you’re staying in the Limerick or Shannon area. Even more so if you’re redeeming points.
Thanks for the report. Looks like a typical Euro Radisson Blu. Weird, hard to find the entrance and average but fun and nice. Oh and with better food than I’ve found at other Blu’s it looks like.
The half glass door shower-tub seems to be quite common in non-U.S. hotels and definitely does not keep the water in. I do wonder why they don’t go with the the curved rod shower curtain system that seems to be the most effective (but admittedly not always attractive).
I think it’s to shame those of us who like to shower for longer than 90 seconds 😉