Radisson Blu Plaza Bangkok

I've always stayed at the Radisson Suites in Bangkok, but this time, I also gave the Radisson Blu a go. The price difference was only £4 a night here, but the Blu is much posher. Excellent service, nice breakfast (sorry... but I really didn't like the coffee though), and on the 30th floor, they have Brewski Rooftop Beer Bar, a rooftop bar with great views and craft beer (for about £10 a pint). Even better, because I'd booked the Blu hotel directly through the Radisson app, they offered me a room upgrade, including access to the Executive Lounge for just £9 a night. Oh my God, yes !! That upgrade included small hot & cold snacks, tiny desserts and free alcohol in the Lounge from 5pm-7pm, plus 4 pieces of laundry done for you each day for free. My only issues: on arrival, they told me I had to pay a deposit (which is quite normal), but at a cost of 1,000 THB (£25) per day. Huh ?! So, for a 5-day stay, I need to pay a 5,000 THB deposit ?! In the end, they just charged me 2,000 THB for my 5-day stay, but I've never seen a deposit depending on how long you're staying there. I don't quite understand that logic. Oh, and I wasn't the only guest who noticed that the air conditioning panel in my Business Class room (2401) did nothing. You couldn't make the rooms hotter or colder, but had to ask reception to come and manually change the temperature for you... I did like the fact that, next to the bed, was a master light switch for *all* of the lights. When I was at the Radisson Sites, I used to have to walk around the room each evening, to work out which switches I needed to turn off! And a special mention to the staff. They are friendly, and they all smile. Working in a hotel and in a restaurant is long, hard work, yet somehow the Radisson staff never falter: they are always friendly, happy and super professional. One last thing: you'll see on the hotel bedroom photos that the bathroom has a huge glass window facing the bed, so your partner could be lying in bed watching yon on the toilet. There IS a blind that comes down, to give you privacy!! The Radisson Blu is a beautiful hotel. I do prefer the Radisson Suites for it's location, but neither will disappoint. Just one huge tip when booking it: forget about the cashback sites (QuidoCo, TopCashBack, etc) and book direct - but using the Radisson App. Register for a Radisson account and *make sure* you turn Discount Booster on in the app settings. This'll give you the cheapest prices by far, even compared to Radisson's own website. You'll enable Discount Booster, but often see prices without this discount applied. If your quoted price doesn't show "Discount Booster applied" next to it, try again. Yeah, the app really isn't user-friendly. And another big tip: there's a doctor's practice right next door, WellMed, and they are awesome. I got an appointment within 1 hour, paid about £20 for a 30-minute appointment, and the doctor spoke perfect English, and was really helpful.

I had a very frustrating experience at this hotel. The front desk service was extremely slow. I requested an official receipt at check-in and was told to wait a bit. Since it wasn’t ready, I said I would come back to collect it during check-out. However, when I checked out at 10 AM, they claimed there was no record and I had to provide the the information again — clearly, the staff had not passed the request to each other. I told them I’d come back around noon to collect it. When I returned at 3 PM, it still wasn’t ready. They just said they were “still writing it.” It’s just a receipt — how can it take that long? It really wasted a lot of my time. The banquet service was also disappointing. Staff were slow in preparation and not very supportive. Compared to other hotels I’ve worked with, this one lacked professionalism in event service. As for the room, the wooden floor was warped and creaky with every step. So now I understand why the price is cheaper than other nearby hotels. But… if you’re on a tight budget and enjoy a “slow life” vibe, maybe you can give it a try 🤣. Just not recommended for anyone who’s on a tight schedule or needs fast and reliable service.

I am writing this review while currently staying at this hotel. We booked for 9 nights. We arrived at 8:30 a.m. after a very long overnight flight. We asked if our room was ready and they said “Yes but check in is at 2 p.m.”. I said well if its ready can we check in now. They said “You can check in now but we will need to charge you a $60 early check in fee”. I was like…”We booked here for 9 nights…the room is ready…but we can’t check in unless we pay $60?” I said so if we don’t pay you will require us to sit in the lobby for 6 hours even though the room is ready? They said “that is correct”. I asked to speak to a manager. The manager refused as well. I said “I want to clarify…our room is ready? But we can’t check in until 2pm unless we pay $60 early check in fee?” The manager confirmed. So we paid another $60 as we were exhausted. I said “Since we are paying can we at least get the breakfast included in our stay. The manager said that was only good for the following days. I asked if we could at least get coffee. The manager said there were coffee pods in the room. Such an awful initial impression of this hotel especially after a long flight. Poor customer service. The room is large but dated. The toilet was plugged upon arrival. Had to call front desk to declog. Included breakfast is mediocre. Pretty disappointed overall. But man…the arrival reception was just awful.