Table of Contents
Recently, I (well, me and my little girl) had the opportunity to experience the Radisson SAS RED London O2. I booked tis hotel slightly last minute as I realised it would be just too late for us to catch a taxi or an Uber home to the suburbs, following the gig at the O2. Girlie turned 10 this year and for her birthday I got her tickets to see Katseye, her first big concert in the O2! So I thought, because the gig will finish really late, there will be no way to get back to Waterloo and catch the last train (even at peak times, the O2 is at least 40 minutes tube ride from Waterloo), let’s just book a hotel. The Radisson RED seemed like a good choice: paid about £135 via TrivagoDeals, walking distance to the O2 and looked good.
Review: Radisson RED Greenwich O2
So here’s what I thought about it
About Radisson RED Greenwich O2
Location
First and foremost, the location of the Radisson RED Greenwich O2 was very convenient to walk to the O2. Situated just about 15 minutes walk from the O2 Arena, it seems like a prime spot for those attending concerts or events. Being conveniently located makes it easy to explore nearby attractions as well. The hotel’s proximity to public transport options, including the North Greenwich station (Jubilee Line), the 188 bus that that goes to Tottenham Court Road via Waterloo is also convenient. Although, the bus took about an hour to get to Waterloo on Friday morning for us, it’s direct so you can just enjoy the free sightseeing.
Check-in
Upon arriving at the hotel, we checked in within 5 minutes, since the room was pre-paid. Nothing extra, although I had to call back from the room immediately and ask how to operate the air con (it was quite warm in the room when we arrived), still couldn’t work it out (called again and the receptionist picked up with: “is it still not working?”), so one of the hotel’s handy man came to help (within 3 minutes after I called again) and came to the rescue. Turned out, that the on an off button had tom pressed quite firmly with a fingernail….
There is a bar in the lobby, restaurant, express check out available and laundry service just to mention a few services, we didn’t use, but they are there.
The room
After check-in, we headed to our room, and I must say, I did like the decor (I don’t know if all the rooms look like this, but we got 110 and it looked exactly like on the photos. The king-sized bed was comfortable (although we requested twin, but not the end of the world), although the mattress was a bit hard. Two pillows were provided: a fluffy one and another one that was more flat (which is what I like, I really can’t sleep on too big, stuffed pillows), I thought that’s thoughtful.
A nice chair and coffee table was squeezed into one corner by the window. The room was a little bit noisy (first floor) but not too bad. Overall, it was similar to any 3-4* hotel room size in London.
Additionally, the room was equipped with a flat-screen TV, a desk , and an adequate supply of complimentary tea, coffee and hot chocolate, which Girlie had before heading out. There is also a small fridge, no minibar as per the latest, but despicable trend of London hotels. I despise the disappearance of the minibars!
The bathroom
The bathroom had a fun design too and it was the regular hotel bathroom size. The shower was so powerful, I had to grab the shower head and hold it properly. Seriously good water pressure. The only thing was, that it was connected wrongly. The photo above shows which way to turn the nob to use the hand held shower head or the above head shower head. At first, I thought: finally! Literally, the first hotel I found this. No more guessing which way to turn the button and trying to avoid getting cold water on my head! Problem is, it was connected the wrong way around…. So I turned the button to hand held – and got cold water on my head from above.
The bathroom had refill bottles of bath products fitted onto the wall, which is now thankfully more ore less standard, avoiding the mini products that are wasting so much plastic.
Check-out
Again, fast and easy, because we paid. We also didn’t have breakfast because we woke up late after being up later and breakfast was from 6:30 till 9:30 only.
Would I use the Radisson RED Greenwich O2 again?
Yes, definitely, it does perfectly fit the bill for an overnight stay after a gig at the O2. There are a few other hotels in the area, but not too many to choose from.