More about Radisson SAS Hotel London Stansted Airport
W is for Wine tower babes at Stansted
by sourbugger about Foodcourt, SAS Radisson, Stansted airport, UK
High Jinx in the hotel next door
Just 2 minutes from the terminal building at Stansted Airport in deepest Essex is the new Radission hotel, where they have created a kind of up-market food-court in the Atrium around a central bar, with one rather special feature.
The restaurants themselves consist of NY style steakhouse an Italian and a Spanish Tapas bar. All a very trendy, and whilst not exactly cheap, not a rip-off either. Sample menus can be found below.
So, the special feature ?
This place is about people watching in the truest sense, well a beautiful individual anyway : the atrium is dominated by a Las-Vegas style 'Wine-tower'.
The 13 meter high contraption is loaded with thousands of bottles of wine, encased in a glass shell.
When you order a bottle an 'Wine Angel', although I prefer 'Wine Babe', glides up on a system of acrobatic pullies to retireve your desired bottle. The apparatus was originally developed for the show at the Millenium dome - at least they have found a good use for it now.
Very theatrical, very Las Vegas, very Kitsch - but great fun.
The Sample menus :
New York Grill Bar:
Starter: Classic Caesar Salad 4.50 pounds
Main: Rib Eye Steak (10oz) 15.95 pounds
Desert: New York Chocolate Brownie 4.50 pounds
TaPaell'Ya:
Typical Tapas price: 3.75 pounds
Filini:
Expect to pay around 7.50 - 9 pounds for a pizza or pasta dish
Breakfast is an amazing buffet of 90 different choices and is an event in itself (dont miss out on the five minute boiled eggs - perfection.)
Super super hotel! Will definately be back
by TripAdvisor Member icyoubaby
This hotel is great from start to finish. From entering the lobby, the hotel provides the necessary oasis of calm from the chaotic zoo that is stansted airport departure area. the staff were extremely polite and helpful and my room was furnished to a very high standard. the rooms were quite funky and unusual...definately not your standard drab hotel room. Also my bed gave me one of the most comfortable nights sleep I have had in a while. I will definately be back.
disappointing
by TripAdvisor Member BertieOxfordshire
Stayed here night before flight and did the deal for 14 nights parking.Very busy and took 40mins to check in.Room funky decor but comfortable enough. Excellent bath.Room service predictably average.Returned to find that the person who had delivered our car back to hotel for collection had been listening to our car radio(after retuning it) and drained the battery which was very irritating after a long homeward journey.
Overrated
by TripAdvisor Member NHamptonTraveller
My first little problem was finding the hotel. Sign posts ran out, and i ended up at rental returns. Once i negotiated that checkin was efficient and i was given an ocean room. Room service wasnt bad, but expensive for what i had (although lasagne was delicious) - took forever (50 mins)to arrive - i was just about to ring to find out what had happened to it when there was a knock on the door. Despite hotel being newish there was already damage down the hallways to the rooms - ripped wallpaper and marks on the paint which didnt give a great impression. Room size was ok not huge. Had good nights sleep - bed was comfy. Went down for breakfast in restaurant - told i could sit anywhere - anywhere i questioned, so i sat at the bar, to be told that it was closed - not my definition of anywhere. Whenever i dared to get up to get some food from buffet my table was ceremoneously cleaned/restored for next customer. This became a little irritating when i found someone in my seat when they'd also be told they could sit anywhere. There were plenty of staff looking busy, although not sure exactly what they were doing as i sat for sometime before i was asked if i wanted a tea/coffee. i had to ask for a second cup. Cannot even claim it was busy as there were about 6 other people in the restaurant at this point. Badly organised, poor customer service, i'd advise on staying at the hilton which seems to have got this right
Great Rack... otherwise a good airport hotel
by TripAdvisor Member Hypnos
The highlight of this hotel is undoubtedly the wine rack in the conveniently named "Tower Bar" - where an Angel flies around the wine rack in awesome acrobatics.
The gimmick aside, the hotel is an OK airport hotel, with the trademark of quality usual of Radisson. The room was small but well decorated and with all the amenities, and a nice bathroom - it was also not so noisy - the airplane noise was pretty much taken out although the aircon was a bit annoying.
Breakfast was nice enough. Service was OK although it seemed at times to be short-staffed.
Overall a good place to be after a late night flight.
Absolutely perfect!!!
by A TripAdvisor Member
Check in/out extremely fast. Staff very helpful and polite. Very clean and the rooms are stylish, super comfortable and spacious. Heating temperature perfect and the TV screen amazing...also its sound system (speakers in bathroom too so u can listen to what's going on in the news while having a bath. Lighting was really good. Storage space good and all rooms have an iron and ironboard and kettle and huge safe.
After what I experienced at Rome Hilton airport (a nightmare and a dirty and very expensive one -180 euro!!) I am in awe with this hotel. It is 100% what u need after a long day travelling and in between flights. Very convenient to the terminal (4 mins walk). I didn't find it pricey at all by London standards where in seedy B&B you can pay up to 40 GBP. I paid GBP 85 and its the rate they gave me when i turned up (had made no reservation).
I will definitely stay there again.
Ok But Not Great
by TripAdvisor Member Conquest1066
Used the Hotel as a place to stay and leave the car for the weekend. For this purpose it is very good as you only have to walk 5 mins to the check in desks from Reception.
The Staff were helpful and friendly.
We would like to have eaten in the restaurant but when we phoned down at 7pm could not get a reservation until 9pm in either the New York Diner or the Italian. The Tapas bar didnt have any food suitable for an 8 year old. In the room information the bar served food but it didnt really. The only option was room service which was expensive at £35 for 2 burgers 1 ham sandwich and 3 drinks.
The room and bathroom was OK but lacked anywhere to eat the room service apart from cross legged on the bed. The room was clean except for a strip of blue material which was lay along the bottom of the bed (not sure what for) which had some dubious looking white stains on it. We rolled it up and threw it in the bottom of the wardrobe before we used the bed as a table!
Would stay again for the convenience but would remember to reserve dinner at the same time.
Looking forward to staying again
by TripAdvisor Member polecater
I had reserved a room at this hotel for our late arrival back from Sardinia and, whilst waiting for our outbound flight from Stansted, we thought we would familiarise ourselves with the hotel. I called to the Tapas Restaurant and spoke to the charming manager there. I explained that we would not be checking in until quite late and would it be possible to reserve a table. He was extremely polite & helpful and on our return asked how how our trip had been & remembered where we had been to. The food was absolutely gorgeous & I loved watching the "Wine Angels" whilst dining. Our room was spotless and the bed was really comfortable. We enjoyed the fresh & extensive buffet breakfast.Unfortunately, we did not have time to use the leisure facilities but we hope to do so when we return again to this hotel on the 1st of June.
My young son loved the Wine Angels
by TripAdvisor Member SWalk
My young son and I checked in for the evening to avoid getting up too early for a flight. I found the hotel to be excellent, from the amazing wine angels in the lobby to the high spec room, which had so many lights that my son was kept amused for ages. Room service was prompt and tasty and all staff were courteous, extremely helpful and a credit to the hotel. Being able to park so close to the Terminal Building and being able to walk rather than rely on courtesy buses was a huge bonus.
