Radisson Covington KY (Cincinnati Riverfront) Guess what happened to me this morning?
 

We booked a couple rooms here on Priceline for 70 dollars each. For that price, it was a good deal. Nice clerk found us a non-smoking king room. The hotel was in good shape, the room was rather spacious if a little dated, but clean. We had a view of the back- Covington area and Interstate 71, not that great, but this was just a place to flop for the night.
This morning, I went alone to the revolving restaurant on the top floor for breakfast. I waited at the front, but no one was there. I thought they were closed. I finally walked in and saw a person who instructed me to "sit anywhere". I sat a few tables back from another couple and waited 10 minutes, while reading my paper. Finally, a diner told me that the buffet was down the wall bit and I should help myself, because they were understaffed. In all fairness, we had just been hit with a snowfall, and I'm sure employees were having a hard time getting there. However, they had a waiter, a girl serving coffee, a manager and a cook. There were only about 20 people in the restaurant. I helped myself to some very good fruit, mediocre buffet eggs, biscuits, etc. I don't eat meat. There were no potatoes.There was no juice on the buffet, and it looked like I wasn't getting any.The waiter, coffee person or manager never came to my table. I had to go to the station and get my own water, juice and coffee. There was also no salt, pepper, sugar or catsup on my table, I borrowed from another. The waiter waited on a couple at a table right next to me who got there after me. I don't get it. He saw me get up twice to help myself, maybe he just didn't feel like a single woman was worth the bother. This has never happened to me in a hotel. The buffet was overpriced at $10.55 total which I left on the table, cause he didn't come by to give me a bill- I checked on the price from another diner.You can bet he didn't get a tip! I am writing to the management about this experience and will let you know what they say. But snub LLindaC who always writes on Fodors and tripadvisor? Not a good thing!!!

I have to side with the hotel for once. Cincinatti is mostly KY and KY is mostly southern and JUST CAN'T HANDLE SNOW at all.

cincinnati

LOL I'm a spelling police, too. "Rebel" you are kidding, right? They might have been short on staff but to sit there for 30 minutes and have NOBODY stop at your table is okay, when they wait on a couple that walks in behind you? Doesn't this just scream of discrimination or do you think that's okay? Would you want your Mom to be treated like that?

As soon as I posted the last response, I got a reply from Radisson:

"We are very sorry to hear about the problems you encountered at the
Radisson Hotel Cincinnati Riverfront. We understand how frustrated you
must feel. Your comments have been shared with Management in order to
take corrective action.

To compensate you for your situation, we would like to offer you one $25
gift certificate that would be valid at any of our Carlson Properties in
the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. These include Radisson
Hotels, Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Hotels, Regent International
Hotels and TGI Fridays restaurants. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery
of your certificate.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to restore your faith in our
brand!"
Now, I'm not one to whine and complain a lot, I usually take little things in stride. But in this case, I was so surprised at the lack of professionalism that I thought it needed to be addressed. Had I been the GM of the hotel, I would want to know about this. I've been a musician all my life and worked in many restaurants and know a lot about the industry. I should mention that my husband came up there for the last 15 minutes, so he witnessed it and was shocked as well. However, I am happy with the quick response I received and I thought it was a nice gesture with the compensation. I will use it at Friday's where I've never had bad service and always tip at least 20 percent! End of story.

Whoops - I really was busted by the spelling police and I deserved it. But that area of the country just doesn't report to work in snow. Everything shuts down. I have been there during snow storms and nothing was even open to get something to eat so mediocre buffet eggs would have been quite the treat.

I'm glad the GM responded to you and I hope the rest of your trip went well.

First, $70 for that hotel on Priceline is overpaying. Biddingfortravel.com has most successful bids at around $45.

Second, I'd have just walked away, if I've received no service and no check. They don't bother to collect my money, I won't bother to give it to them. Simple as that.

"cincinnati" must be one of the most frequently misspelled cities.

i lived there for years, so it just hurts my vision!! otherwise i would never consider myself spelling police! i make more than my share of mistakes!

glad you got a quick response from the gm.

well...I would never have eaten and not paid. That is stealing, even if I had not been caught. I never steal or litigate on false claims. Shame on you...check the Commandments.

I have to say I've never been to the same situation, but let me quote from you:

"The waiter, coffee person or manager never came to my table. I had to go to the station and get my own water, juice and coffee."

and

"...cause he never came by to give me a bill".

Sounds close enough to a self-service breakfast included in the room rate (even if it's not).

BTW, not everybody is Christian here. I know stealing is wrong, and I don't steal. But in this case, I think more Fodorites will agree with me than don't.

Sorry, it would be stealing. In no more than 5 minutes after arriving I would have been over to speak to the manager, to find out what the problem was, to speak to the waiter to bring salt and pepper, and to speak to the coffee girl for coffee. Actually probably the coffee girl first. Later, I might complain to the manager on duty at the hotel but I would have probably just given them a break because of the snowstorm.

rkkwan. It's stealing.

rkkwan...I didn't really mean "shame on you" it was more tsk tsk. It would have been wrong for me, personally, that's all. And I wanted to explain that I tried to flag down all 3 of those people several times. I wrote to the management when I got home and I did it in a constructive, not angry, way. Still no excuse, IMO>

That's alright. But I'm really having some fun on this thread. Let me push my argument a little further, since some people don't agree with my point.

Now, if I understand this correctly, Linda left $10.55 on the table. Now, how can Linda or everybody think the staff will ring up that sum in the cashier. Do you really think those same people who didn't come to Linda's table once will bother to go write up a check and proper deposit the money?

Yes, I'm making a lot of assumption here, but my guess is that the staff will split her money 3-ways.

So, in her situation:

- Linda is out $10.55 and got her breakfast but no service
- The hotel lost $10.55 in revenue and got bad rap on this board and elsewhere.
- The staff provided absolutely no service, but got a $10.55 tip.

Now, if Linda followed my un-Christian-like advice: ;)

- Linda got her breakfast but no service
- Hotel lost $10.55 in revenue, but since Linda probably won't post here, it'll not get the bad rap
- Staff did nothing and received nothing

Now, compare the two above scenarios, which one do you think is more fair to the most parties? Hahhahah... :)

But, rkkwan, which scenario makes you a thief and which does not?

Linda, they sent you a stock form letter.

I'd write back and call them on that one.

Why would you not expect a form letter? Why would they need to be "called" on it?

Well, big confession time for this travel thief:

- I didn't validate my TrenItalia ticket on the Leonardo Express last Christmas

- I didn't buy a ticket to get on the train from Schiphol to Amsterdam in 1995, and again on a different commuter train

- Sometimes I stole shampoo and notepads and facial tissues from hotels' service carts

I've committed a lot more crime, but can't remember all of them now. I also never drive within speed limits. :)

Because if someone takes the time to notify a hotel of a problem they have had, the hotel needs to take the time to write a letter and specifically address with the problem.

I can promise you in my many years in the hotel business, I never sent out a form letter with a complaint.

Geez Mike, think about it.

Geez, Go. She appears to have sent it either by email or to corporate, not the local manager. Thus, a quick form letter seems appropriate until they have a time to investigate. I mean, it's a cheap Radisson not the Ritz.