I arrived at the hotel to head to see Nathan Carter, first of all I didn’t even get into the hotel as the car park was full, I paid €7.70 for parking and it was all full. The staff member said that the car park was full and if we seen a parking space we were lucky. That is absolutely disgusting that they are taking money off people for parking when they know the capacity of the car park. I then drove around athlone for 2 hours looking for a parking space and I didn’t make the show. The parking situation needs to change it is a bloody joke 😡

Our concierges (Joy and Giovanni) were amazingly helpful and friendly (and even suggested dishes to try, and they were absolutely right). The food was wonderful, and the view of the River Shannon was beautiful and the room was huge.

When we arrived we had been upgraded without us knowing (thank you Joy) and we went from a Standard Room to a Junior Suite (my first time being upgraded, and was made even more special as we never asked for it, so was a very nice surprise).

The room as clean and tidy, it was also warm and well laid out. The Breakfast staff were also very helpful and very friendly.

We ordered Room service, and it arrived fairly quickly (especially since they were really busy at the time), and the food was absolutely incredible.

The only bad part of the whole experience was the next morning we had asked if we could get some directions to a local shop to buy some milk, and one of the morning Concierges convinced us that she would send someone up with some milk to save us going for a walk (I was happy to go out and buy some, but she was insistent). The milk never arrived, and we ended up having to leave and buy some anyway. They were incredibly busy, so I think some wires may have been crossed.

I would recommend this hotel to anyone who is looking to stay in Athlone... just avoid the R Roads in Ireland, they are tiny, so use the Main Roads into and out of Athlone. But, if you can, try and get a room with a view over the River, it is beautiful.

Definitely not like the photos on their website. The whole hotel is in need of serious refurbishment, inside and out. The decor looks like tattered 1980s. My room had a lovely view of the car park and a telecommunications tower. My colleague, who paid the same as me, was given a business class room with a view of the river, Nespresso machine, etc. Location is great as it's right in the centre. Traffic noise was an issue, but it calmed down after 11pm so I slept fine. Breakfast was adequate, but I've had better in 3* hotels. Staff were friendly and helpful. Room was clean, just the usual mouldy grout in the bathroom. The facilities for our training course were terrible, with a lot of noise from the service area and really awful sandwiches for lunch. In general, I expected better from the Radisson brand.