The Radisson Edwardian Hotel Manchester, is a busy modern hotel, staff are friendly and helpful.
Rooms are modern and well equipped but a tag on the expensive side, price does go up for premium stays such as when Man Utd are playing at home (but that is the norm), but a perfect place to stay if you are from out of town coming over to watch as game.
Well located also if you are going to the nearby theatre.
The hotel has ample restaurants and bar facilities and an excellent gym and spa.
I will definitely stay there again when visiting for the football.

When visiting Manchester,we usually stay in the ibis but decided to upgrade this time to the 5* Radisson.it really wasn't worth the extra money and the hotel did not compare to any of the other 5* hotels we have stayed in either in the UK or abroad.
when checking in the receptionist asked us to enter our credit card but the amount was a lot more than the price of the room which i queried.she said our rate of £96 was exclusive of 20% vat and didn't include breakfast and the rest was in case we took anything from the mini bar! i said that the price was £80 without vat,£96 with and she asked for my confirmation.while i was getting out my bag she said "oh yeah right,i see what you mean" and agreed on £96 a night.However you are still expected to sign for a lot more which i found a bit rude,it is as if they suspect you are going to steal the contents of the mini bar and all the bathrobes.even if they said something like we will keep your bill open in case you wish to dine in the restaurant or have a spa treatment and charge it to your room-it would sound like less of an accusation.
The theme continues once you get to your room.there is a price list if you wish to purchase things like the throw off the bed for £300! who comes to a hotel to buy soft furnishings?! and like other contributors have mentioned,the non-luxurious shampoo and shower gels are screwed onto the wall and refilled.
As we were going out for the day and the weather was grim,I asked if I could borrow an umbrella.The receptionist asked for our room number and scurried about for a while before producing the cheapest plain black brolly with their logo on it.Instead of perhaps"have a nice day" she said "I've charged a £10 deposit to your room for the umbrella"!!!
on the second morning we decided to eat breakfast in the hotel.we were given special offer cards when we checked in - £12.95 per person rather than £18.95.the service was below average and no where like value for money. we waited for 15mins before i managed to catch someone's eye to order tea and toast and no one cleared our empty plates.i could see everyone else around us having the same problem.the tables were small and crammed together and the food was nothing special at all.
Check out was rather early these days at 11am and I had thought of asking for a later check out and perhaps having a quick swim after breakfast however on leaving the breakfast room there was a notice to remind guests that check out was at 11am and you would be charged £20/hr if you were late. there was another notice at the lift so we took the hint and left at 10.45am.
On a more positive note - the hotel is in a lovely building and is clean and fresh.I liked the décor and the layout of the room.The location is also a bonus as the free bus stops right outside and you are handy for the city centre.The pool,steam room,sauna and jacuzzi are excellent and nice and quiet when we went down.The concierge and the doorman were courteous and safely kept our bags for us.Also fresh milk was provided as requested to make coffee in the room.
Compared to the other 5* hotels that I have stayed in, I would say that this was the lowest standard I have come across,maybe it should get re-assessed as a 4* and drop their prices accordingly.

I stayed here one night for a nearby function, and loved it!

Staff were human, welcoming and friendly - uncommon on some large upmarket chains.

Parking in the nearby Gmex complex is a pain but understandable -3-5min walk to my car.

Bedrooms were stylish, practical and lovely (all my work colleagues agreed with this) Loved the separate dressing area with washbasin and separate bathroom.

The bed was very comfortable, but could be a little firm if you like softer beds. IPOD base was a nice touch, as was the large bottle of still water.

What I really loved was the room order breakfast, where if you are leaving early you can order a breakfast bag to be delivered to your room, or collected at reception. I enjoyed a smoked salmon bagel (huge!) for £4.95, plus juice at £1.95 - all waiting for me at 6.45am when I checked out. I wish more hotels would offer that option, but I would have preferred a bottle of juice rather than a cup with lid, bearing in mind I had to walk with my luggage, handbag and brekkie bag to the car, down steps at the car park, put everything down to pay the car park machine etc A bottle of juice would have been more practical to avoid spilling...

Really loved this hotel, for location (great restaurants and shops nearby) and because I had a lovely stay.

I wrote this letter to the Manchester Radisson-Edwardian after I stayed one night on business on in Jan 2012.

Dear Sir,
Smart hotel in good location. All staff very polite, helpful and friendly.

Room service food for dinner and breakfast was first class and brought by nice staff. I mentioned this when I phoned to have the tray collected and the staff member on the other end was very pleased. It was really excellent food.

Bed was comfortable and room was very clean.

My only complaints are probably impossible for you to to resolve and they are:

At check-in I was asked for my credit card. That was OK as it seems normal nowadays for hotels to do this. However, the receptionist said I would be charged £195 immediately. When I asked why I was told that unless I agreed to this I would be unable to sign for anything on room service, etc.. I have never had this happen before. As I had already booked my room online with my credit card I think that this is an unwarranted imposition. When I paid my bill at checkout, I was told that, as my bill was less than £195, my card would be credited with the unused amount. I have no reason to suppose that they will not do this but I do not believe it is reasonable to charge guests at check-in for things that they might not have.

My room, 721, had a bank of four floodlights outside my window which illuminated my room all night even though the window blinds were closed.

Bath-tap/shower fitting was impossible to use with wet hands as the taps were round, and it was difficult to set water temperature for same reason. No hot/cold directions were marked on the unit.

Flexible shower head was difficult to use at it was almost impossible to see where the water came out.

Washbasin was silly as the main water pipe stuck out in the middle exactly in the right place to PREVENT you washing your face.

Knobs on drawers ands cupboards were also round and impossible to grip.

Lack of a door to the washbasin area would mean no privacy if one was not alone.

Bed lamps in the ceiling means difficulty for a couple if one wants to read and one wants to sleep.

The 6 inch cable on bedside phone made it impossible to move even slightly. No phone number or markings on this phone at all. Phone on main table was the same. SIlly short cable meant that the phone was stuck in the middle.

TV top of refrigerator unit was too high to watch comfortably without getting neck-ache. When I rotated it slightly to be able to actually view it, ALL the cables fell out of its back and I had to reconnect them.

Room was stuffy. Air-con unit only went down to 18°. As it was impossible to open a window I did not get a decent sleep at all.

Swimming pool was very nice but I did not enjoy being greeted by the receptionist with: 'You alright there?' That is not a professional greeting.

There is no shower beside the pool. This means that after using the saunas, one has to go back through a maze of corridors to the changing room to use the showers before re-entering the pool. I do not go into swimming pools covered in sweat but several other guests did. Disgusting.

No spin dryer in changing room.

No electric door at the main entrance meant that I had to fight the doors in a high wind with my baggage to even get in the building. Later, the rear glass doors were locked which meant that I had to walk all around the building in the most appalling weather to get in. No signs to say which way the entrance was.

My conclusion are that this hotel has incredible architecture but has been designed, like many hotels, to look good rather than be comfortable and pleasant to use. All very smart but useless.

Many hotels have nice buildings but are let down by hopeless staff. Yours has great staff who are let down by the building.

As a British Airways pilot who has travelled the world for the last 40 years and stayed in many of the world's best hotels I can only say that It would look great in a magazine advertisement but as for somewhere comfortable to stay – no thanks.

I sent the above comments to the manager and received what appeared to be a standard response. I wrote again and received this:

Dear Mr Jay
I am sorry that you are disappointed with my recent reply to your comments, please be assured that my response was not standard, as the issues you raised were quite unique in the fact that none of them had been raised previously. I would however like to re-iterate my thanks for taking the time to provide your feedback.
I am now surprised to read your comments regarding the credit card payment procedure which I can assure you is common practice among hotels chains both nationally and internationally. As you quite correctly highlighted, not everyone is as honest as you, which is the reason this procedure is in place. The extra amount is authorised to cover any incidental charges which may occur and is not taken from your account but simply held in your account until the bill is settled. At this time, the remaining authorised balance is automatically released, at no point do we have unwarranted use of your funds.
As a seasoned traveller I recognise the experience you will have gained of staying in hotels, I too have spent many years in this industry and can confirm that this is not sharp practice but a standard and trustworthy procedure.
I trust that this alleviates your concerns but please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.
Best Regards, Stephen Miles

I wrote again saying:

Dear Mr. Miles,
Thank you for your reply.
With reference to credit cards, I have now had the opportunity to check some other hotels, including senior hotel manager friends of prestige hotels, and have been assured that it is not standard practice to put an amount on the initial card imprint at check-in. I have never had this happen in 40 years of travelling around the world.

While I do not imply that anything dishonest is taking place, I do not see why it is necessary to register an amount at check-in when you have the card imprint. It immediately gives the impression that the guest is being treated as dishonest.

I see from your website of board members that they are replete with experience, diplomas and design qualifications. So much so that I am amazed they cannot design a washbasin which you can use without smashing your face into the water pipe. The guest information folder in the room is another example – all the pages laminated and bolted ,yes, bolted, together so it is impossible to open, let alone read. And how about the slippery dressing table chair, the back of which tips backwards and makes you slide to the floor? And the blinds which allow the building floodlights to illuminate your room all night? And the silly shower head and taps? And the bedside lights in the ceiling – hopeless for a couple if one wants to read and the other sleep. All great in photographs. But user-friendly? No.

While I admire your loyalty and enthusiasm for your very smart hotel, I must say that self-satisfaction unfortunately always smacks of smugness. I must reiterate my assertion that I feel that the room I stayed in was designed by an architect to look good rather than be comfortable and useable by humans.

I repeat that the staff were charming and the room service food really excellent – as I am sure the restaurants would have been if I had had more time.

But we must agree to differ. Your view is as a manager and mine is as a guest. But I am afraid will not be a guest again.

Yours sincerely, Michael Jay


I will not bore you with Mr. Miles’s next condescending replies except to say that I found his self-satisfaction and smugness show that I, as a guest, am wrong and that his hotel is the best – better even than the Hyatt, Hilton and Keio Plaza in Tokyo all of which have been, for many years, at the very top in Japan, a country unequalled for its service.
I am sure there is no dishonesty involved but the credit card antics are simply not acceptable.
He’s lost me as a customer.