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Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Overlooking the River Wear right in the city centre, the Radisson Blu Hotel in Durham is the perfect place to unwind. Durham, in the northeast of the country, is a quintessential English city peppered with historical and cultural charms. Shop, dine and explore before taking a short walk back to your room to relax. Radisson Blu. Lucky you.
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Nestled close to the heart of Durham, the Radisson Blu Hotel garners applause for its stellar location, which allows guests to easily explore the city on foot. Its amenities, including the spa and diverse breakfast, are a hit, though some guests point to pricey parking. The rooms, praised for their spaciousness and river views, sometimes receive criticism regarding comfort and modernity.
Cleanliness is well-regarded, with a few calls for updates. The hotel's ambiance is noted as inviting, and while the staff is often commended for their professionalism, there are mentions of occasional slow service. Concerns about value, particularly related to costs, are echoed by guests.
Location
Convenient
Atmosphere
Inviting
Rooms
Comfortable
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Satisfactory
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Booked a Wowcher Deal to stay here, this included a 2 course evening meal and breakfast.
We arrived early but managed to get in our room. We got a river facing room which was lovely to see the view of Durham.
The room was nice & spacious. You got some nice added extras with complimentary water, a variety of teas & coffees. The bed was really comfy & had a great nights sleep.
Great location for walking into Durham, just across the foot bridge & a short 5 min walk you’re into the Gala Theatre area.
The evening meal was lovely. The hubby ordered off the main menu at an extra cost but his steak did look really good!
Lots of varied selection at breakfast too. Full English breakfast choice, cold meats, cheeses, pastries, cereals, fruit juices.
Only negative is I think £14 to park your car overnight is extremely pricey! On top of what you’re already paying to stay at the hotel this is a charge I think is excessive.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from CatherineDraper1, Front Office Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 9 Feb 2020
Thank you AlisonWolsy for your lovely review, I am so pleased that you got checked in nice and early to start you break. I do hope that we can welcome you to the hotel again in the near future. Kind Regards Catherine
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I have stayed here a couple of times. My last visit was the first in some time, and the first under the world of COVID.
Check in was smooth, and I was advised I was upgraded, which was very kind of the hotel. Check in staff were also very friendly and polite.
Like in other hotels, daily housekeeping has been abandoned, but I was advise I could request it the night before. I did not need to, but one morning did have to request toilet paper and a bin emptied, which was done by the time I returned to my room.
The room was nice, with the facilities you need, including a secure safe, though how to launch the TV channels was a little confusing at first.
The only disappointment was breakfast. I ordered the night before for one day, but the price is a disgrace. £13.90. An extra £5.00 if you want it take to your room. That is around twice the price of the Premier Inn, across the footbridge, and around £9.00 more than establishments five minutes away. I booked it for convenience, not checking the price until I had paid. For that you got one sausage, one egg , one mushroom, one hash brown, one tomato, two bacon, beans and toast and tea and or fruit juice. That was probably enough for me, but nowhere near the worth the price. The quality only matched the Premier Inn too, who also give you two of most things. It is for that reason I have knocked a point off.
I would stay here again. It is. It cheap, but it is nice. I would avoid the breakfast though, unless you get a good room and breakfast included price.
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Date of stay: October 2020Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Catherine Draper, Guest Services / Front Office at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 1 Nov 2020
Thank you for your review male_scotland, I am pleased to read that your stay was enjoyable and that the check in staff were friendly. I am sorry that you found the breakfast disappointing, we will address your comments and make any required improvements. We do hope that we can welcome you again in the near future. Kind Regards Catherine
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We booked an excellent last minute deal with MyHotelBreak and got bed and breakfast and a complimentary room upgrade for about £50 less than if we had booked elsewhere. The hotel is in a great spot for exploring the city and our room was a great size with a nice view of the river. What i liked was as well as a good range of toiletries in the room- there was also a bottle of sanitising gel as well which was a nice touch. Parking was easy, right in front of the hotel and £14 a night. We were able to use the pool and jacuzzi during our stay with the spa staff ensuring that not too many people went in at one time. Breakfast was cooked to order and table-served. We found all the staff very approachable and friendly. We would certainly recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Durham- it ticked all the boxes.
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Date of stay: September 2020
Value
Rooms
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Stuart Lloyd, General Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 28 Sept 2020
Dear maling45, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and recommendation, I am pleased to read you enjoyed your visit to Durham. The team will greatly appreciate your kind comments and your fabulous 5* review, I hope we can welcome you back again soon. Kind Regards, Stuart
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We were visiting beamish museum, and decided to take advantage of a wowcher overnight stay with breakfast deal. We arrived late afternoon/ early evening, to find out we had to pay an additional and unexpected £14 parking fee, which we weren't aware of on booking. We were quickly checked- in, and made aware of the spa/ leisure facilities been open. We didn't use these, due to me having an arm cast. We were Offered in house dining, but at £16+ plus for a burger, we politely declined and ate elsewhere. We had room 328, which was lovely, and had an amazing view of the river. Which looks beautiful at night, when it's all lit. super large bed, pristine white bedding (with a protector), coffee pod machine, a selection of drink sachets, and a kettle. The only downside were the throw away cups, but a trip down to the bar, and this was rectified by friendly barman. TV and sanitized tv remote, iron and hairdryer, ice cooler bucket (ice machine available on the corridor). The bathroom was wonderful, no funny stale odours, just a fresh, clean bleachy smell (throughout the hotel, really), 2 big bath sheets, 2 hand towels, 2 face clothes, a good size bath with shower attachment and glass screen and a easy up rail too. A selection of toiletries were provided, which was a nice touch. We had a good, sound sleep, and despite waking on the Monday morning, and building work being carried out nearby, were not disturbed any. Breakfast was lovely. We were seated, our juice orders and hot food order taken, and explained to help ourselves to cereals, pastries and hot drinks. This was a one way system, and guests were asked via posters, to wear face coverings when up there (covid-19) pretty standard. This let me down somewhat. It was the older, parent aged guests, who you would've expected better off, just popping in the exit only, and leaning over, to get pot of fruit, etc. They do have gel and sanitizer wipes, and ask that you wipe the machine handle, use and wipe again, but the majority didn't, and continued to touch, rummage the packets, and then move on the wrong way. Maybe a member of staff to over see this area...? The hot breakfast was delicious, and the choices were porridge, omelette, full English etc. My partner opted for the omelette, with was jam packed with ham, tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese, peppers. I had the full English, which was 2 tomato halfs, 2 hash brown, 2 sausages, 3 bacon rashers and beans, and a choice of poached, fried or scrambled egg. The scrambled was delicious, light and fluffy. Our toast order was taken, by the waitress. All in, we had a wonderful stay, and would love to come and stay again
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Date of stay: September 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Stuart Lloyd, General Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 15 Sept 2020
Dear stoneangel85 , Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. I appreciate the detail within you review and all the feedback is useful to us. I'm delighted you had a wonderful stay and we look forward to being of service again in the future. Kind Regards, Stuart
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My sister and I enjoyed a one night break at this hotel on Monday 23rd August. We don't live too far from Durham and just fancied a change of scene. We had got a great deal with a voucher code so we didn't mind paying £14 for 24 hours parking. I was aware of this charge before visiting. Our check in time was 3pm but we arrived just after 2pm. I popped into Reception to sort out my parking charge and the Receptionist (very friendly young woman) told us our room was ready for us. Brilliant!!! The room was lovely with a brand new carpet and everything we could need; bottles of water, tea, coffee, hairdryer, toiletries etc. The beds were clean and extremely comfortable. Our room didn't have the best view as there is a lot of building work nearby. Luckily the builders were pretty quiet in the morning and we slept well until after 8am.
Durham is a beautiful city to visit. This hotel is walking distance to the city centre. Lots of shops, bars, cafes and restaurants. We looked around the Cathedral; wow! It is amazing. We enjoyed food and drinks at The Slug and Lettuce (2 for 1 cocktails so why not?). As we had checked in early and had a lovely late checkout time of 1pm we used the pool and spa facilities on the Monday evening and again the next morning. The sauna was particularly nice! Breakfast was good. Plenty of choice and kept being re stocked. We did have breakfast during a busy period but the young woman in charge was super friendly, helpful and chatty. She seated everyone as quickly as she could. She kept her cool although others could have found it stressful in her position. I would definitely recommend this hotel and Durham as a city if you fancy a break. I would love to go back in the near future!
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Date of stay: August 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Stuart Lloyd, General Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 25 Aug 2021
Dear Northeastlass1, We really appreciate the time you’ve taken to review your visit and it is great for the team to know you enjoyed your stay with us in Durham. I hope we can be of service again soon. Kind regards, Stuart
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Recently stayed for 2 nights in this large and stylish hotel located by the River Wear overlooking the World Heritage Site of Durham Cathedral and castle. We stayed in Room 354 which had the view we wanted - a large comfortable room with all the amenities you would need. This is a competent 4 start hotel. Breakfast was self service and the quality of food good - we were not given the full opportunity to sample what was on offer because of the current restrictions (coronavirus). Car parking is secure and situated within the hotel grounds - maybe the car parking should be free for guests otherwise it is a hefty £10 per day (or £14 if you do not take advantage of their offer) I would recommend this hotel as a comfortable modern place to stay in this historic and interesting city.
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Date of stay: March 2020
Rooms
Location
Service
Room Tip:Â Pay a little more for a river view
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from StuartLl, General Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 20 Mar 2020
Dear Eric S, It is a pleasure to read how much you enjoyed your visit to Durham and our hotel. Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us and I do hope we can be of service again soon. Kind Regards, Stuart
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From the moment we stepped into the foyer we had a lovely warm welcome. The receptionists were very friendly, our booking wasn’t easy as 10 of us were checking into 5 different rooms, arriving at different times. 1 room still wasn’t ready after 4pm so they deducted the price of the car park from one of the cars. Our meal we had at the hotel…wow…. Amazing. Everyone of us really enjoyed our starters. For the main I spoke to the head waiter as I had recently had surgery and couldn’t eat anything too large. He recommended that I had the beef as it just drops away as you put your fork into it. We will definitely be coming back. All the waiting staff were so helpful and cheerful, we couldn’t single one out. I didn’t get the name of the lovely young lady who checked us in, Erin and Dana checked us out and where as lovely as our check in.
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Date of stay: November 2021Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Stuart Lloyd, General Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 23 Nov 2021
Dear Juliepools, We are delighted to know you enjoyed your visit and the food in the restaurant. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to mention those team members that stood out to make your stay extra special and we hope to welcome you back again soon. Kind Regards, Stuart
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My mum booked and paid for this hotel through a wowcher deal for our Xmas present. I emailed the hotel ahead of time to reconfirm the reservation and was told all OK. I was therefore very annoyed to realise after check-in that I had been charged for the room again, I tried calling and received no answer. I emailed to complain and received a very apologetic email however two days later I am still awaiting the funds to be rereleased into my account. The lobby area is pleasant but the rooms are very basic and dated. Our king size bed was two singles pushed together so it was impossible to lay in the middle. The shower screen didn’t meet the bath so kept swinging into you as you were showering, I had to stuff a flannel underneath to wedge it. Breakfast was OK, the bacon could’ve been revived by a decent vet but other than that it was pleasant enough. I was told our parking fee had been waived for the inconvenience over the room rate, the funds are still pending on my account so we’ll see, but I do find paying £100+ for a hotel room, to then have to pay £14 per night parking ridiculous. Should we return to Durham again, we’ll stay over the road at the premier inn as when I checked the room rate it was £70 per night cheaper and this hotel offered nothing superior
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from StuartLl, General Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 5 Jan 2020
Dear SezHow, Thank you for your feedback following your recent stay, I appreciate your comments and this will be shared with the relevant teams to identify any improvements required. In comparison to budget chains we do offer in many cases considerably larger rooms along with leisure and spa facilities. Kind Regards, Stuart
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Just come back from a weekend in Durham. We stayed at the Radisson Blu. Firstly the hotel is perfectly placed and we had a lively view of the river. The room was clean and spacious but the tv kept switching itself off and the bathroom door looked like it had been chewed at the bottom.
We spent the first day visiting the sites in Durham. When we got back to the hotel we decided to have a drink in the bar and look at the menu for the restaurant, but it wasn't inspiring. We asked for the drinks to be put on the room bill before we could have the drinks we had to go back to reception to register a card which was a bit be used as when we checked in we asked for the parking to be charged to the room and although we had our card ready we weren't asked for it. The receptionist implied it was our fault.
We are out that night best decision we had made not only did we thoroughly enjoy our meal but the breakfast at the Radisson was so poor. Warning if you want poached eggs order long before you want your breakfast and they were clearly overcooked.
We had a spa day booked at the hotel, although we had email confirmation saying the treatments we're booked for 12:30 the receptionist insisted it was 13:00 and we had to provide the email to prove we had the correct timings before they acknowledged they were wrong. The treatment however we're lovely and the spa is nice and clean.
Nobody at any time asked us how our stay had been, so instead of me writing this I would have fed back to them.
Radisson will need to up their game when the new hotel next door is built competition maybe just what it needs.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from StuartLl, General Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 13 Jan 2020
Dear Bernadette S , Thank you for your feedback following your weekend in Durham. We'll ensure your feedback is used constructively to improve the consistency of our service offering and naturally I am sorry that you were disappointed with some aspects. I hope we can be of service again soon. Kind Regards, Stuart
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We use this hotel a few times a year and every time we have nothing but excellent service. This time we booked a wowcher deal for £112 for bed breakfast and evening meal with a standard room. We were slate checking on and all the other standard rooms had been take so we got upgraded to the junior suite, which was out of this world! We've never had a meal there but I got the crab linguine and my husband got the ranch burger, both were delicious and staff could not be more helpful. To be honest I'd come here for the breakfast Alone! So much choice, help yourself service with continental meats and cheeses, grains seeds and cereals, yoghurts, fresh fruit salad, toast with every topping imaginable, full english, soft boiled eggs, choice of fruit juices and drinks, fresh fruit and every tea and coffee you would like(I'm passionate about food 🤣). The spa facilities are second to none and we always enjoy relaxing after a sauna, jacuzzi and swim. It speaks for itself the reason we return time and time again and the city of Durham is so Beautiful, you can never tire of it.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from StuartLl, General Manager at Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
Responded 5 Jan 2020
Dear Mr-n-MrsBurton, Thank you for your continued loyalty to the hotel, It's great to know that the service provided is well received and the team will enjoy reading your kind comments. We hope to welcome you back again soon whether it be for breakfast or an overnight escape to Durham. Kind Regards, Stuart
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There are more places to choose from in the Durham area.
PRICE RANGE
£89 - £108 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
radisson blu hotel, durham hotel durham, radisson durham
LOCATION
United KingdomEnglandCounty DurhamDurham
NUMBER OF ROOMS
207
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