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Review – Radisson Hotel & Suites Gdansk 28,000 points stay

a group of buildings with windows

Radisson Hotel & Suites Gdansk, Poland is a new build hotel opened in March 2019 on the Granary Island riverfront. The property is within 250 meters of Radisson Blu Hotel, Gdansk, DÅ‚ugi Targ – Long Market Square. This is the primary street in Gdansk for tourists. The hotel is a good deal for Gdansk with reward rates currently at category 3 for 28,000 points. Reward rates at Radisson Blu Gdansk are category 4 at 38,000 points.

a group of buildings with windows
Radisson Gdansk Hotel & Suites

 

Granary Island, Gdansk

This was my third trip to Gdansk. Granary Island is visible from some of the main tourist sights in Gdansk when walking along the Motlawa River Canal, so I was surprised to look back over hundreds of photos I snapped in Gdansk in 2017 and not find any images significantly focused on Granary Island. Despite having walked by Granary Island dozens of times on my two previous trips, the main reason I did not snap any photographs of Granary Island is the entire half of the island where the Radisson Hotel & Suites Gdansk and Holiday Inn Gdansk hotels are located was simply a large construction site in 2017. I did not know the area would become the site of three major chain hotels with a Novotel Hotel too and a couple of other lesser known hotel brands.

Radisson Hotel & Suites opened in March 2019 and is still under construction with fewer than half the rooms open. A spa with swimming pool is scheduled to open in the latter half of 2019.

Holiday Inn Gdansk just opened in the past few weeks.

a river with buildings and a bridge
Granary Island under construction in June 2017 (beyond bridge on right side of canal).
a row of buildings next to a body of water
Granary Island July 2019 apartment construction. Radisson about 100 meters down.
a body of water with buildings in the background
Gdansk Granary Island July 2019 view of other end of island with Holiday Inn behind red brick building.

Wyspa Spichrzow/Granary Island History

Here is a quick history of why Granary Island is a significant new development for Old Town Gdansk. As the Soviet army approached the city Danzig in March 1945, tens of thousands of German s fled. Looting and burning of Danzig destroyed 95% destruction of the city.

Read: https://www.inyourpocket.com/gdansk/granary-island_16201v

Investment and labor rebuilt Dlugi Targ and a few adjacent streets from the 1950s to 1970s to resemble the historic grandeur of early 17th century Danzig, renamed Gdansk in the 1945 restored country of Poland.

Granary Island had been a site for warehouses for centuries and was one of the most important Baltic Sea trading cities of the medieval era Hanseatic League. The firestorm that spread across Gdansk in March 1945 consumed the storehouses of Granary Island. Only brick shells of buildings remained.

A major redevelopment plan for residences, hotels and shops began a few years ago and much of Granary Island has now been rebuilt.

An interesting academic paper on the ‘Disneyfication’ rebuilding of Gdansk is Authenticity of Architectural Heritage in a Rebuilt
City. Comments to Vaclav Havel’s Impression after His Visit in Gdansk in 2005 – Grzegorz Bukal and Piotr Samól 2017 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 245.

There is still a large vacant area on Granary Island across the street from the Radisson Hotel & Suites. Disappointingly our room had the construction side view rather than the preferred riverfront view of Old Town Gdansk.

a city with many buildings
Radisson Hotel & Suites room 5117 view
a body of water with buildings and boats
Radisson Hotel & Suites 2nd floor restaurant view

Radisson Hotel & Suites Lobby

We rode Uber to the Gdansk hotel from the Sopot Marriott for 35PLN ($9.25). Our non-English speaking driver could not find the hotel.  I had to keep motioning him forward to drive past the construction zone and take us all the way to the hotel based on Google Maps directions.

When we stood at the hotel drive entrance waiting for Uber, I watched the driver on the Uber app getting near the hotel, turning around, driving the adjacent street and turning around again. I was charged 0.55 zloty on the 10.00 PLN fare as an added charge for his delay and inability to find the Radisson hotel entrance.

a group of chairs and tables in front of a fence
Radisson Hotel & Suites Gdansk front entrance is 8th gabled building
a street with cars and buildings
Radisson Hotel & Suites Gdansk lobby entrance
a sign on a building
Radisson Gdansk sign

The lobby and lobby bar are decorated with loads of amber, one of the primary tourist collectibles sold in Gdansk.

a pair of metal containers with gold colored stripes
Amber decor of Radisson Gdansk reception desks

In the lobby on a table across from reception desk were pitchers of water with fruit and sparkling water along with trays of cookies and apples.

a room with tables and chairs
Radisson Gdansk lobby
a room with tables and chairs
Radisson Gdansk Hotel & Suites lobby bar dining
a chair in a room
Radisson Gdansk lobby
a bar with chairs and a table
Radisson Gdansk lobby bar

Our preferred way to exit and enter the hotel after check-in was through the hotel bar outside patio on the riverfront.

a white tables and chairs outside
Radisson Gdansk bar riverfront patio
a boat in the water
Radisson Gdansk Motlawa riverfront view

Room 5117

a long hallway with doors and lights
Radisson Gdansk 5th floor hallway
a bed with pillows and a picture on the wall
Radisson Gdansk bed
a couch in a room
Radisson Gdansk 5117 couch
a desk with a tv on the wall
Radisson Gdansk room 5117 desk and TV

The TV screen on the wall was obscured when laying in bed by the two lamps. I placed the small lamp on the floor and re-positioned the large lamp to clear the TV space. I found it curious the TV was so far left rather than centered over the desk. I assume the reason was to allow TV viewing from the couch when bathroom door is open. In my opinion, it would be better to have a desk centered TV and simple enough to close bathroom door when watching TV.

a desk with a few objects on it
Radisson Gdansk desk and refrigerator
a refrigerator with bottles of beer and bottles of liquid inside
Radisson Gdansk refrigerator with two complimentary bottles of water (Kozel beer my addition).
a bathroom sink with a round mirror
Radisson Gdansk 5117 bathroom
a shower with a shower head
Radisson Gdansk 5117 rain shower
a bathroom with a towel rack
Radisson Gdansk 5117 bathroom

As a Radisson Rewards Gold elite member I received a tray of chocolates and welcome letter.

a box of chocolates on a table
Radisson Gdansk chocolates amenity as Gold elite

Fitness Room

5th floor is also the floor with the fitness room. There are three rooms with equipment and a bathroom and shower room. At the time of my visit there were single women using equipment in two of the rooms, so I did not snap photos around them.

a gym with exercise equipment
Radisson Gdansk fitness room faces interior courtyard space
a machine in a gym
Radisson Gdansk fitness room weights
a shelf with exercise balls on it
Radisson Gdansk fitness room

Radisson Gdansk Hotel & Suites is a fine looking hotel still under construction and set to double in size in a few months. I would not hesitate to stay there again. If paying for the room I would probably pay a higher rate to have a river view, which offer terrific views of Old Town Gdansk.

Loyalty Traveler – Gdansk articles.

1 Comment

  • LauraPDX July 23, 2019

    We just completed a 4 day stay on points and were upgraded to one of the two apartments (for 3 of the 4 nights) for our anniversary. We were facing the river on those nights and had Splendid views. Our other room was similar to yours. All quite comfortable. We are one dinner in the restaurant at the hotel and thought the food was good
    I liked the truffles left as a welcome gift as well.

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