Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton Review

If you’re following me on Twitter and Instagram (@arumlilea) you will have already seen that Ryan and I checked into the Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton for the weekend week before last.  I last stayed at a Radisson hotel in New York City so I was looking forward to staying in the hotel chain here on South African soil.  We were really excited to enjoy a “staycation” in Sandton even though I spend majority of my time in the area.  It’s amazing how you see a city from a completely different perspective when you’re looking at it through a tourist’s eyes as opposed to a local’s.  We decided to share our personal experience of the hotel in the event that you may be looking for a hotel within Sandton.  

Our initial impression as we drove up to the Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton in our Uber ride was that the hotel is beautiful and it is in a wonderful location directly opposite Mushroom Park and within walking distance to the Gautrain station, Nelson Mandela Square and Sandton City.  On arrival, however, we were both disappointed by the amount of time it took before we were greeted by the hotel staff and assisted with our luggage.  The hotel reception was quiet and we could see the staff inside but they weren’t in a rush to help us so, unfortunately, the initial impression set wasn’t a great one.

After a quick and easy check-in we were shown to our room.  We filmed a room tour to share with you so you can find that in our vlog.  We had a beautiful view looking away from Sandton.  The bathroom was beautifully lit which is something I always appreciate.  We had a wonderfully large bed which was very comfortable however the linen was torn and dirty.  The tea cups were badly chipped and we were only given one wine glass both evenings even though we had requested two.  After settling in we popped down to the hotel bar for a cocktail before returning to our room and ordering room service for dinner. The room service was, unfortunately, very poor.  We received the wrong order and the portion sizes were tiny.  On pointing out that our order was wrong, the waitress was rather impertinent which was disappointing.  

In the morning we went down to the hotel restaurant for their buffet breakfast.  This was the highlight of our stay.  There was everything you could possibly imagine for breakfast and more. We were able to eat until our hearts content however again the sourness of some of the staff members put a damper on the experience.  Following breakfast, we nursed our food babies and took a walk to Sandton City to do some shopping.  The walk is about fifteen minutes and very pleasant. There is also a shuttle service if you feeling lazy.  The location of the hotel is definitely a major positive feature.

Ryan loved the fact that the hotel offers access to the Planet Fitness gym on the 10th floor of the hotel.  To him it was three floors of muscle and fitness heaven. It has all the latest equipment and amazing views of the Sandton skyline which makes for a great workout.  While he enjoyed the gym, I enjoyed the pool area.  It, too, offers a beautiful view and such a peaceful atmosphere.  You may recognise the pool from this outfit post.  The hotel also offers an incredible spa which is a great perk.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton however there were a few details that really disappointed us considering the Radisson hotels are generally of a high standard that people rely on the name and look for the Radisson hotel in every city they may be visiting for this reason.  The biggest criticism of the hotel that we have is the service we received.  Overall our review was as follows:

 We hope our review of the Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton was helpful to you.  Thank you so much to Ryan for helping me with this post.  We’ll definitely be doing more of them together.