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Radisson Hotel & Conference Center
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9 reviews for Radisson Hotel & Conference Center
My colleague who lives in Fresno told me the Radisson was "the best place to stay in Fresno," so while I was less than thrilled with my work trip I figured at least I would have a decent place to stay.
Not so much.
First, the OK things-- the $3 beers at the lobby happy hour were cold, the parking and wifi were free, and the sleep number bed worked just fine (although I still have no idea what "number" I am.). Also, had the Grizzlies been in town the Radisson could not have been more convenient to the ballpark (of course... they weren't. just my luck).
The not-so-good:
1. Despite being one of the largest buildings in downtown, the Radisson only has four elevators, of which only three were working during my stay. Since the Radisson caters to large tour groups (who are, presumably, there for Yosemite and not the greater Fresno area) this frequently resulted in long lines outside of the elevators. I kid you not. Most of the time I took the steps.
2. My alarm clock could not hold a station no matter what I did, and when I called for a replacement I was told none were available.
3. My room on the 4th floor of the building was apparently located right above the building's AC/furnace room. Which emitted a LOUD high pitched whine, all. night. long.
4. My room's bathroom had apparently not been updated since the 1980's-- the fixtures were dated and the showerhead was covered in hard water crust.
5. 3/4 of the cardio machines in the gym were broken. And since there were only four machines, and one was in use I missed my workout.
6. The staff was nice enough but completely incapable. When I went to check in the desk girl could not figure out how to deal with my conference group rate. When I informed the desk that all of the machines in the gym were broken the young man shrugged his shoulders and looked lost. And when I asked for some food recommendations I was met with a lot of "um, er, um..."
And finally-- I really take issue with the enormous (and tacky) waterfall in the lobby. Look, I know the thing has probably been there since the '80's, and it would be difficult to replace, but DID NO ONE NOTICE WE'RE IN A DROUGHT SITUATION? You have no idea how frustrating it is to leave Oakland, where my water bill includes "drought pricing," and get to the Central Valley WHERE IT DOES NOT RAIN (but remarkably enough all households pay flat fees for water and don't have water meters) to be greeted by a 40 foot tall water waster. Add to that the fact that it was kind of dirty and contributed nothing to the lobby besides pervasive humidity, and it was just maddening.
All in all, I'm not sure there are better hotel options in Fresno, but that does not mean you should get your hopes up for a good hotel experience.
Used to be 4-5 stars, now 2-3, rounding up for nostalgia at this point.
I've been here several times with my husband when he's had to come down here for business trips. It's great, he goes off to meetings all day, while I lounge around the hotel, drinking Fresno cocktails,* grateful to finally have nothing to do because that's real vacation for me.
Unfortunately, what used to be a snazzy jewel of a hotel, is now a faded has-been of a second hand plastic ring, complete with odd colorings and scuff marks. Observe:
1. Sleep number beds may seem like a good idea, until they spend years in a hotel room. I just don't think those things were made to be changing #'s all-night long every single night. (Because naturally, every guest has to try out *all* the numbers, comparing & contrasting a la Goldilocks until they find the number that is juuuuust right.) Ours was broken on one side on our most recent visit.
2. Glass elevators are gorgeous, and allow plenty of time for guests to survey the lobby furniture and carpet - which is great when it's all new. Not so great as things begin to fade inconsistently across the floor.
3. Leather lobby furniture. Fancy pants! Except now those pants are clearly from thrift town, with scuff marks and scratches from somebody else's hard clubbing nights (or something like that).
4. Tiny, depressing little pool and hot-tub, right next to the parking lot. Well, this was always a bit of a draw-back next to all the grandeur of the main hotel area. Now it's even dingier and the hot tub motor for the jets wasn't working when we were there.
5. An indoor waterfall is stunning, refreshing, & provides a pleasant ambiance in the airy lobby. Ok, that part is still pretty awesome. I do enjoy curling up on a couch with a book, with the water sounds providing nice white noise.
All-in-all, fairly over-priced for a faded glory. They would do well to invest in some remodeling/recarpeting, particularly if they want to continue to charge the relatively exorbitant prices that they do.
*Fresno cocktail: drink we invented for this trip: 1 part raspberry vodka, 1 part peach schnapps, 2 parts soda water. Yum! Sweet and refreshing. Just lovely on a sweltering Fresno day.
Federal Jury Duty. Everyone's favorite. After driving 4 hrs round trip to get to Fresno, I thought, "Oh hey, a hotel! They reimburse you." And to the Radisson I went. What an interesting stay that was.
80s fabulous lobby... but decent food.
Nice employees at check-in... but barged in on by housekeeping after I yelled "no thanks, occupied" at the door.
Comfy sleep number bed... but only 10 channels on the TV.
Clean room... except for the bloodstain on the dust ruffle of the bed (honestly, I wish I'd had a camera).
This trial will be long, and I think I'll try somewhere else next time.
Having a meeting late the night before and another one early the next morning, I asked my administrative assistant to book me a hotel near my meetings instead of driving home. Upon arriving, I was not that impressed. Although it had the potential to be a nice place, the lobby, check-in, and hallway carpets were a bit worn-looking. (I also didn't like the hair in the bathtub.)
While I must admit that the the "sleep-number" bed was nice and I slept peacefully (until someone took a shower above me at 3:30 a.m.), the place did not match the cost of the room ($159/night + tax.)
How not to introduce guests to your hotel when they walk into the lobby:
Me: I used your on-line "express" check-in [where, a week ago, I indicated I wanted a nonsmoking room on the highest floor available] and would like my room key please.
Hotel: I'm sorry, we don't have any nonsmoking rooms so we're going to put you on the 1st floor in a smoking room. M'kay?
My reaction to this was what many of you would predict. While somehow refraining from using any cusswords, I mustered the dirtiest, angriest look I could come up with and said that putting me in a smoking room was *UNACCEPTABLE*.
Somehow, magically, they found me a nonsmoking room.
UPDATE 5/13/08: My experience only got worse with each interaction I had with the staff. Downgrade to one star. Examples:
* Advertised all over the hotel is some website called "http://printme.com" which allows you to print documents from your laptop that you can pick up from the front desk (charge: 50 cents/page). In a hurry for my court hearing, I printed one last document I needed and rushed downstairs to pick it up on my way out, only to be surprised with, "Oh, http://printme.com doesn't work here anymore. You can email your document to me and I'll print it for you instead." Granted, the latter work-around was free. But I had to go back to my room and reboot my laptop, wasting time and adding to my stress level since I was now dangerously close to being late to court. Remove the fucking ads for http://printme.com if it doesn't work, people.
* Significant amount of dried urine visible when I lifted the toilet seat to go to the bathroom
* Someone's long brownish hair stuck to a towel that I only discovered upon drying myself with that towel. Disgusting.
* At around 6:30 a.m., an employee knocked on my door. Turned out he was looking for another room. I was already up preparing for my hearing but if I wasn't, I would've been rudely woken up.
* I decided to take advantage of the Pizza Hut room delivery service, which was promised to me within 20 minutes. 40 minutes later, it showed up. Cold.
Total cost of staying here for one night before tax: $129. Not worth it. You may as well stay in some pissy two-star hotel since you'll be getting the same treatment, but without the 4-star cost.
I was pretty impressed by this place as soon as we walked in. It was much nicer than what I was expecting. It is literally right across the street from the Selland Arena in Fresno. We had gone there last night to see Lil Wayne, and having a hotel room directly across the street from the venue made it easy for us to really relax and enjoy ourselves at this concert.
The rooms surround a large atrium with a bar, sitting area with couches, restaurant and waterfall fountain in the middle. It is really quite nice. Our room was on the first floor, opened right out into the atrium/ restaurant area, which actually was very convenient for in-and-out access. The room had a king size bed, and a little partition wall separating the bed side of the room from the desk and couch side. This would be a good room for a bunch of buddies who want to squeeze into one room and split the cost. Because of the partition, I think it offers a little more privacy than your average hotel room.
The bathroom was nice, the shampoo dried out my hair but how many hotels leave out shampoo that doesn't overdry hair? The Radisson is your average cookie cutter hotel chain, not exactly luxurious but they've basically got everything you need. I was satisfied with my stay, and the fact that it was directly across from the Selland Arena makes it a good place no matter what, since this type of convenience really is priceless.
I've booked their conference facilities five times. Three times there were problems with the food service. One time they sat up dinner in the back of the small conference room while the training was still going on, which was quite distracting for the attendees and presenters alike. Two times they were late getting dinner to us; we ate at 7:45 or so when we were supposed to sup at 7:00.
5/22/08 update
At the Frezno dance convention. .
pros
Phone hotel staff has been nice about changes to my reservation
security man to check cars coming in
Like the sleep comfort adjustable beds
Can hear the neighbors talking and hallway conversations
Convention rate $99
cons
fridge is $10 a day, beat up, smells of mildew and missing trays and door dividers.
Scared for car if they need a security man to check cars coming in
Friends in Room 421, AC isn't very good, muggy in their room
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I have a dance event here in May and the dancers take over the hotel. Atrium style, you go outside your room and can see down to the lobby and atrium where we have a second dance floor set up, the main dance floor in is in the ballroom. Also a smaller conference room as a small dance floor for a club feel.
Get a $85 convention rate. Rooms are average, more of a motel feel but we aren't in them much. Parking has gotten better with their added parking structure behind the hotel. Front desk is friendly and welcomes our rowdy, demanding group. Bellboys are busy, so takes a while to bring our stuff from the car to the room and visa versa. Doesn't seem like they ever have enough since it can be a long wait.
The restaurant is average and their buffett is just ok. What is nice is their pizza, we order it to go and eat it in the room. Not much in the area, across the street from the Schoettler Conference Center. http://www.fresnoconve... Nothing nearby, pretty industrial, you need a car.
Not a bad hotel for what it is. We chose this hotel for its convenient location to Selland arena. Being able to walk to the concert was very convenient. Very clean hotel from what I saw (or didn't see), and the room service wasn't bad either. I liked the wide open space in the middle of the hotel (it kind of reminded me of a mall, though thats not the reason I liked it). Next time I'm in Fresno, this hotel will be considered, depending on why I'm in Fresno.