The Grand Rapids Radisson Hotel - BAD Experience!

Looks like a nice enough place, huh? It wasn't.

So the hotel...well first it took over an hour to check in. After standing in line for 30 minutes we go up to the room to find it's a king size bed - for 4 of us. Back to the line for another 30 minutes. That was the hour that the kids had planned on swimming before they had to get ready for the banquet.

Then after the banquet it was to the pool for sure! When we got down there was a group of about 12 kids in the pool ranging from about 5 to 14 years old all splashing and having fun. Motocross Boy jumps in and asks two boys about his size if he can play too (he's a pretty friendly and outgoing kind of kid). They said yes and he starts splashing and jumping around too. Well I guess they didn't like the way he splashed because I look up and the one kid is round-housing him with a blow to the shoulder!! Of course Motocross Boy swings back and catches the kid in the side of the head while the kid's friend jumps on him from behind and starts beating on his head and trying to push him under. That's about when they all finally heard me screaming to stop. I made Motocross Boy get out even though it wasn't his fault - those 2 boys had "friends and family" of 10 other kids there. So then he goes up to the hot tub with Equestrian Girl. Two seconds later, there go the two little boys he had been fighting with. I knew what was coming and was headed that way before they even started swinging and Equestrian Girl started pulling them apart. When I told them ALL not to touch each other the one little boy confronted me and said he could do whatever the hell he wanted to do!! I'm sure my mouth dropped open. So once again I had to take my kids out of the water.

I sent the kids back to the room and went to the front desk. When I told them there was a group of unsupervised kids in the pool causing trouble they told me they couldn't do anything about it because they didn't know what rooms they were from and if they told them to go back to their rooms they would just roam the halls causing more trouble than they could cause if they let them stay in the pool!!!

Then the Sleep Number beds...OMG. Equestrian Girl and I had it set for a reasonably soft yet uncomfortable 35. I woke up about an hour later and we were smashed together in a crater!! I think all the air leaked out of ours! So I look over at Scott and Motocross Boy and Motocross Boy is literally UNDER Scott in their crater. I started laughing so hard I couldn't climb out of my hole! Luckily the kids didn't wake up but Scott did so he could pull Motocross Boy out from under him. I don't think either of us slept the rest of the night - we felt hung over the next morning and were out of there by 8. NOT a good hotel experience!

This morning I received a survey from Radisson. I filled it very honestly and fairly pointing out that the food and staff at the banquet were very good and that the housekeeping manager had been very nice when we discovered the room with the king size bed - he had been in the hallway. Below is the response I received:

Dear Michelle:

We appreciate you taking the time to complete a survey regarding your recent stay with us. Jon, our Manager of Housekeeping is grateful for your recognition. In addition, I shared your comments and details with my team. We take these very seriously and thank you. In addition, as we roll forward into our future plans, it is comments like yours that validate the renovation we have planned this summer.

On behalf of our entire staff here at the Radisson Hotels & Resorts we apologize for the concerns you have about your experience at this hotel.

We appreciate the feedback and will use it to fine tune our operations in the hope that upon your next visit, we can meet or exceed your expectations.


Sincerely,

Todd Roesler
General Manager
Radisson Grand Rapids Riverfront Hotel
616-363-9001

Seems like a nice enough response but what a bunch of "corporate speak"!! "We apologize for the concerns you have about your experience..." Not that they apologize for the bad experience, just for my concerns. Blech. Thorsten Kirschke is the Executive VP and COO of Carlson Hotels which owns Radisson. I guess I'll have to contact him directly.