Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester is one of the few luxury "five-star hotels" in Manchester…read more Located on Peter Street, just off Deansgate in Manchester city centre this stunning hotel, opened in 2006 is somewhere I've wanted to visit for a while. In the past, it has even been home to footballers including Benjamin Mendy, Leroy Sane and Zlatan, it is also a regular haunt for away football teams including PSG who stayed here ahead of their game versus United, I even managed to see Kylian Mbappe in the lift!
Considering this is a "five-star" hotel, it does sometimes have good, affordable deals, I paid £100 for my room on a Sunday in early February, with breakfast costing just £12.50 more for two people, but rooms do often go much higher often costing between £126 and £200, and sometimes going much higher than that so the hotel is generally on the pricey side most of the time. I still don't understand why third-party booking agents are so much cheaper even by 20%+ in some cases, which was the reason I booked my reservation through Hotels.com
Check out is far too early at 11, but they had no problem extending it to a more suitable time.
Upon arrival at the hotel, I was greeted by a lovely employee who helped me into check-in and then shown me my room, kind and helpful, making sure I had everything I needed, including lowering the card hold from £100 to £1.50 because I didn't plan on any extras. The service in most cases was impeccable, one of the maids even offered to turn the bed over after emptying my minibar.
The hotel lobby is also stunning, I was offered water on check-in which was infused with mint and lemon and tasted great. There was also two bottles of complimentary water in my room including fresh fruit accompanied by a personalised, hand-written welcome note, a lovely touch.
Sadly they could only place me on the second floor, however, the room seemed to be mostly quiet as there were multiple doors between the lift, there was standard corridor noise but this wasn't as bad as other hotels, every door and lift in the hotel did require the room key - inconvenient but a safety feature.
This hotel is stunning and modern, with large smart TVs including all Sky Sports channels (best TV in a hotel!), USB and European charging plugs. (I would have liked one closer to the bed!) The room also has a nice glass desk which is a perfect, spacious work area.
Other modern features include a switch to open and close the blinds in the room, as well as a "do not disturb" switch rather than the sign which is used in 99% of hotels. I also liked how the hotel relied less on natural light which many modern hotels do now, hence having lights around the room including above each individual bed which can be turned on/off in parallel, making the room much brighter & nicer.
I found my room to be warm and spacious, the heating system was easy to use and much quicker than other hotels I've stayed in again. The large bathroom with a stunning walk-in shower also was excellent.
Information provided to guests from the excellent staff at reception and even through the live-chat system either with a senior hotel staff member or Edward, the virtual assistant which can answer most problems instantly which all hotel guests get. If the issue is too complex for Edward, the hotel gets back to you quite quickly such as when I had an issue with the fire drill - I was phoned in under an hour to confirm it is generally around 2 pm on a Monday. The hotel operator when needed, answered the phone quickly even at busy times.
My room was almost perfect with a great TV and a comfy bed. I would have liked: having a pen instead of a pencil, earl grey tea in addition to English Breakfast & Chamomile and a larger bed. (I was given a room with two twin beds.) The tea however from the high-end Newby brand was fantastically luxurious.
The wi-fi was super fast, with download speeds of around 90 Mbps, it is by far the fastest wifi I've experienced in a hotel.
A decent breakfast is served in the Peter Street Kitchen between 7 and 10:30 Monday-Saturday (+1/2 an hour for Sundays & bank holidays). I added it at a reduced rate of £6.25 from £20. (see https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/peter-street-kitchen-manchester)
Overall with a comfy bed, I did have a decent sleep but struggled down to the size of the bed and slight corridor noises.
I was told it wouldn't be possible to put an extra bed into a double room - therefore I was offered an upgrade for my next visit to the hotel later that week to the stunning Junior Suite. It was simply spectacular with a huge, comfy bed, an even bigger TV, coffee machine, a personalised housekeeper & more.
In over 2100 reviews and close to 50 hotel reviews, I've never seen a hotel like this - luxurious, fantastic and with my only complaint is there's nothing to complain about, so with great delight, I am awarding the Edwardian a coveted five-star rating with the only main improvement being to keep working at this standard.
