Stay Report: Radisson Hotel Baku
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When traveling to Baku, there are many hotel options available covering all price ranges. I was traveling with a friend so I was looking for a hotel that was near them but also affordable. I found a couple of options and when I went to communicate with them, the Radisson is the only hotel that responded in a timely manner and provided good communication (one hotel never even responded). I have limited experience with the Radisson brand as my first experience was with Radisson hotel in Brunei (see review
here) and my other experience was with Radisson Blu in Stockholm (see review
here); both of the experiences were average or underwhelming so I had low expectations of my room and stay.
I had booked the hotel through the Radisson website. It was very easy to book and manage the hotel through the website, and there are member-only rates available online or through the app. As I mentioned before, the hotel was very communicative in responding to queries and provided a lot of good information and that is something I greatly appreciated. The hotel did offer airport pick and drop at an additional costs but I did not avail of this option. The hotel is located on the main boulevard in Baku and has a small driveway for car drop-off. From research, the hotel used to be a Park Inn by Radisson but then changed to Radisson (on some ride-hailing apps it is still listed as Park Inn). From the outside, you climb up 5 steps (or take the ramp) and enter the hotel.
From the outside the hotel looks very big but the lobby is narrow and does not have a lot of space to sit nor congregate; if there is a big group checking in then it gets very hard to navigate in the lobby. There is a narrow lane of sofas in the middle of the lobby and to the left are the check-in desks while to the right is the restaurant. Straight ahead, beyond the sofas, are the elevators. I checked in at 8am in the morning so there was no one in the lobby; however, when I left at 5pm a group had come in to check-in and it made navigating the lobby very difficult. I checked-in, received my key, and proceeded to my room.
The room was in the middle of a long hallway;it seemed that the elevators were at the beginning of the hallway and the rooms proceeded that. Once I entered the room, there was a small entryway for the door before getting into the main part of the room. In the main part of the room, on the left was the entryway to the bathroom while on the right a closed closet which contained places to hang your clothes, the iron and ironing board, and I believe a safe. The bathroom contained a sink with a long counter, a toilet, and a shower stall with refillable amenities. The bathroom was basic and the size was bearable but a bit on the cramped size; and even though I had just checked in some of the refillable amenities - body wash, shampoo, conditioner, lotion - had not been refilled. Once you entered into the room, there was the queen-size bed on the left with a nightstand on each side. Across from the bed, on the right side, was the TV mounted on the wall. Further along into the room, on the right was a couch and a table while on the left was a nice size desk with a chair and the tea station. There was a huge window that looked out onto the street and it was actually a small balcony so you could open up and enjoy a breeze or the view from the outside. The space of the room was good, decent for 1-2 people and plenty of room to store your luggage. The bed was comfortable enough and provided a good nights sleep. Overall it was a comfortable bed in a decent size room and good enough for the price that was being charged. Was the room worth a higher price, no and that is because it was the little things that made the room feel more like a 3-star hotel including the quality of the furniture, the not refillable of the amenities, and other such small things. Its a basic and decent room but keep expectations at check.
The hotel is a full-service hotel and thus provides the following amenities: free wifi, airport pickup and drop-off for a charge, fitness center, meeting rooms, restaurant and bar where breakfast is served (you can book a room with breakfast or add it later for a charge), and luggage hold. I did try the wifi which was decent and you can connect as many devices as you would like, and I did do the luggage hold as they were very strict on the check-in and check-out time and were not authorizing either early check-in or late check-outs without charging for them.
Overall, it was a decent stay at the hotel. The room was clean, a decent size, and provided a good nights sleep as well as providing complimentary wifi and luggage hold. The service was a bit lackluster and the other finishings and services were minimal; but given the price it was a decent nighs stay. If you keep your expectations to a minimal, you will have a good nights stay.
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