jpdx

Radisson LAX: This room was under my wife's name who was with me and she status matched to Gold during the last promo. We booked a standard room and received an upgrade to a junior suite, which was basically two rooms, that the connecting door had been removed from. Also, a fruit and cheese plate was left in the room at check in which was nice. The hotel is convenient to the airport as it its right next to LAX and we did have a car due to plans that night in Los Angeles before our flight out the next morning and valet parking at the hotel is $25 night. An ok hotel for an overnight, made better by the upgrade and welcome amenity.

(Moderator Note: Originally posted by vbkamb and spun off from this thread).

hobo13

This is the closet hotel to LAX. We stayed here in November, twice, to earn the original 50k bonus. We had scheduled overnights at LAX, so it was perfect.

The hotel is so close to the terminal that we just walked! I honestly think you could get from Terminal 1 faster walking than you could on the shuttle, even if it came at the same time that you left!

I didn't the rooms were anything special, but the location can't be beat. I'll be sure to stay here again, assuming they are running a 50K promo!

Sweet Willie

Upon checkin, gold status was acknowledged and I was upgraded to a Jr Suite. A jr suite is actually two hotel rooms next to each other with the access door between open, one contains the bedroom & the other room contains a couch/tv, etc. (there is a tv in the bedroom portion as well). Internet was free in the room.

Valet was north of $25, glad I didn't have a car.

As I didn't have a car, in the morning I tried the breakfast buffet for $17.95, good not great. The breakfast wait staff could not have been more prompt & friendly, really pleasing to come across non-surly waitstaff.^

Upon checkout I had been charged $2 for making a toll free call from the room (really, do hotels still charge for toll free calls????), said I wasn't pleased and the front desk staff quickly removed the charge.

A couple notes about noise, there were a LOT of young folks around, dressed to kill & party, perhaps I didn't have any on my floor but my room was very noise proof, despite being somewhat close to the elevators as well.

My room was on the North side of the hotel, opposite of Century Blvd, there was zero street traffic noise and only a few rumblings of aircraft taking off both ~10pm & 7am but nothing in between! So I was VERY VERY pleased with the lack of noise!!

A nice plus is that the Radisson uses a 'general' hotel shuttle, in other words a common shuttle that stops at many different airport hotels, because the Radisson is closest to LAX, it is the LAST shuttle stop so while you may not get a seat to sit down, don't worry as the terminals are so close you'll only be standing for a brief moment.

For my AAA rate of $74, I was quite pleased with my stay & would gladly stay again at this property.

volkswankin

Just finished a stay at this property. Was immediately recognized as Gold when I checked in and given an upgrade to a Jr. Suite. The room was not 2 adjacent rooms like the post above, but a very large single room with a dining room table, desk, and two couches.

When I arrived in my room they had left a welcome note for me along with a very large bottle of water and a plate with cheese, meats, fruits, and crackers. It was much more than expected.

Unfortunately the room was simply "ok." The TV remote was not working properly and one of the lamp lights was burnt out. Other than that it was fine, and I was shocked by how quiet the room was for being right next to the airport. I had a view of the LAX runway from my room.

Overall, I thought it was a pleasant stay, especially with the $100 rate I got using the 30% off coupon they send to email subscribers.

Jorgen

I've stayed at this hotel twice: once in 2002 and once yesterday. I was disappointed to note that they've closed down the top-floor bar sometime in the last decade, as it had a fantastic view. Not that I'm a plane-spotter by any means, but it's still kinda cool to watch a plane zoom past at eye level as it comes in to land.

Also in the last decade they've acquired those weird electric beds. Maybe there's a skill to operating them, but mine didn't seem to work properly. If Hilton, Sheraton, et cetera can give me a gloriously comfortable bed right out of the box I don't see why I should have to work to make my bed at the Radisson comfortable.

Unimpressed by the restaurant, which seemed to have been taken over by the waitstaff as a place for having LOUD conversations among themselves in Spanish. Maybe it's not so bad when there's more customers to go round. And what's with waiters in America constantly wanting reassurance that "everything is okay here sir"? (Inevitably at the worst possible time like when I've just stuffed my mouth with something...) The same waiter literally asked me twice within a 90-second period.

Alright, now I'm straying off topic. The two best things about this hotel are that it's cheap, has decent rooms, and is a short stroll from the airport. But if for some reason (e.g. too much luggage or flying out of a faraway terminal) I didn't feel like walking I'd probably stay somewhere else.

I'm confused by the people who say they don't feel safe doing the walk at night though... are muggers et cetera really likely to hang out within spitting distance of the airport?

OskiBear

Just stayed a couple of weeks ago to get my 50K bonus points.

A few thoughts after staying here for the first time since 2006 (when I spent the night before a trip on a sleep/park combo):

1. Construction is ongoing in the back for a new parking structure. As a result, the parking situation was rather stressed. It was all valet. Self parking was behind the hotel, across the street at a surface lot operated by a third party

2. Rooms seem kinda old/tired. I can tell they've been remodeled in the last decade or so but still seem tired

3. TV remote didn't work (as a prior poster pointed out) and I couldnt' get the volume to change with the remote or on the TV itself

4. WiFi was free and fine

5. Asked for a room on the north side so I could watch planes. Dual glass windows to keep out the noise but they were ridiculously dirty, ruining the view.

Firewind

Is there anyone who used to stay here when it was a Hyatt who could compare, overall? Since Hyatt quit it, I've kept hope alive that they'd develop another real airport hotel, but would be glad - I think* - to come back here in light of the new CC program.

In particular, but not the only question, did Radisson keep the lounge? And if so, and if you've stayed over the last decade, did they keep the staff? I stayed here a lot when it was the Hyatt, and remember the (decorated with a lot of Hyatt service pins) staff gamely saying that they'd be kept by Radisson.

Thank you.


* It sounds like they may not have done anything to it in the meantime?

Jasper2009

I stayed at the Radisson LAX last month mainly because the rate was very reasonble and it was convenient for a brief stay. I actually was reasonably impressed:

- staff were very friendly
- food ordered via in-room-dining was quite good
- they upgraded me from a standard room to a massive one-bedroom suite with large living room (3 sofas), dining table for 8 and 2 full bathrooms. Excellent treatment of a Gold member.^

Only downside is that they charge $6 for the "premium internet access" which you need if you want to do anything else than checking e-mails.

KiwiRob

Stayed in this hotel in September this year, it was a mixed bag really. Was upgraded to a jr suit, when my family and I went to the room, as described above, two rooms with the door removed, one room with the bed the other with a sofa and TV, now I booked a room for two adults two children, the upgraded jr suit couldn't sleep 5 people (2 adults, 2 children and a baby) so we ended up back in the originally booked room, which was booked with points plus cash.

The pool is decent, my kids really enjoyed it, its a crew hotel so there were a fair few nice young ladies in bikinis laying about. The location is very good, the rooms are dated and I think the hotel could do with renovating, but the price is ok especially when paying points plus cash.

Had diner in the hotel restaurant, ended up with a waiter who couldn't speak much English, he completely cocked up the order, we returned several dishes, the replacements were correct but the food was pretty bland. The next day when we went to check out I noted that the restaurant bill was higher than it had been the night before when I signed it off. The restaurant had added a tip, the service was so poor I felt a tip was not required. I queried this, the desk girl called over the restaurant manager, I asked why the tip was added, she said that a service fee was automatically added when the party was 5 or more, and she couldn't do anything, then walked away.

I pointed to the 100% satisfaction guarantee sign on the reception desk and told the reception girl I was not satisfied, could she call the duty manager, the duty manager arrived, I stated my case, she was pretty understanding and cancelled the restaurant bill. This wasn't expected, I would have been satisfied if the tip was removed.

So all in all you get what you pay for, I would possibly stay there again if I needed to.

Firewind

Indeed. Thank you, Jasper2009. Nice that they've kept that. I was blessed to stay in that room when it was a Hyatt - and one like it at the Hyatt in Vancouver. From your and KiwiRob's posts, it sounds as though there haven't been any renovations in the intervening years.

Jasper2009

Based on the furnishing etc. I´d guess the hotel hasn´t been renovated in at least 10 years, though they seem to have upgraded the bed (Sleep Number type) and TVs (large flat screen TVs) at some point. The suite still looked pretty good, but I guess some of the regular rooms would look more tired.

ORD-TGU

Rooms are pretty standard. In good shape, but pretty standard. Double windows, so pretty quiet.

Recognized as gold, the odd benefit is that I got a breakfast coupon for a free coffee and pastry at bar, but just one per night. I mentioned that I was travelling with my SO, she stated that only the gold member gets the coupon, I stated that she is also Gold (the agent didn't expect that answer), got it.

mintcilantro

I had a similar experience as well. Got upgraded to a HUGE suite on 12th floor. The staff was very accomodating. For anyone staying, I highly recommend you request an upgrade as they did not mention the gold status at check in. Also parking is $30/night

The hotel lobby is renovated but the suite was dated and tired. This will not be my first choice if I had to stay in the area.

I have seen room rates for this hotel at $80/night. So I think this was not one of my best redemptions (38k points for 2 nights). I decided to redeem because I have a huge stash of carlson points and will be getting another 40k points for $75 AF on the us bank CC.

All the Radisson properties I've been in the US have been run down or tired. My experience in London and Bangkok with carlson properties was great.

Jasper2009

Indeed, burning points at the Radisson LAX - even when getting the 2nd night free - is a pretty terrible value.

I agree the typical Radisson hotel in NA is quite unimpressive. However, as much as I enjoy staying at 5* hotels, some Radisson hotels offer a decent value proposition: rates in the $100/night range, a decent shot at an upgrade, free internet access and points that equal a ~20% discount. IMO Radisson hotels are no worse than the average Sheraton / Holiday Inn / Doubletree property - and surprisingly service and the overall value proposiion tend to be quite a bit better at Radisson hotels IME.

mintcilantro

They didn't give me points on the parking

But the value proposition keeps bringing me back to club carlson. I have quite a few trips planned for 2014 but club carlson hotels in those locations won't be a good fit for me. So I decided to burn on this stay.


I like courtyard marriott for my one nighters as I have experienced consistently better quality than other hotels of same price and their megabonus promo is nice.. I conserve my marriott points for the occasional night I need near airport or in transit. The lower end properties tend to be great value on points. Just stayed at courtyard bakersfield on the return drive from vegas for 10k points. I use other programs for higher end properties