I suppose it's all down to first impressions. I travel to the USA up to 18 times a year. Until May our company travelled from Manchester Airport but with the advent of MAXjet Airways and their excellent, sensibly priced, business class service we thought we would give Stansted a chance.

My colleague and I were on the MAXjet Washington flight at 1pm but we decided to fly from Manchester the evening before to avoid missing the connection. The bedrooms in the hotel are pleasant and comfortable, no complaints there. My gripes come from the service received.

We went to the bar in the lobby to order 2 pints of Carlsberg lager, we were a little thirsty and wanted to quench our thirst, it was a Sunday evening on bank-holiday weekend and the hotel was quiet. We waited about 4 or 5 minutes for a member of staff to arrive to take our order - I was a little annoyed to find that the two people stood a short distance away from the bar chatting to each other were in fact the bar tenders.

The lager was poured from the tap but it dropped cloudy, I pointed this out to the bar tender (who told me it was supposed to be like that! ) and I explained that lager should drop bright every time and if it was ever cloudy there was something wrong with it. I asked him to change it - he asked me to wait. He then set about serving several other customers before coming back to me, he left me waiting for approximately a further 5 minutes. When he finally came back to me he then told me again that the beer was fine - it wasn't, you only needed to smell it to know that was not correct. He then asked a young lady to go to the cellar and change the barrel - I was left waiting at the bar for a further 5 or 6 minutes - a total of quarter of an hour. The beer eventually dropped bright so I paid and took the beer to my table. No apology was offered and neither was the beer offered free of charge for my considerable inconvenience. After a few minutes, the original barman came over and asked for payment again! I told him I had already paid and he asked me for my receipt, this did not please me. In the end, I left the beer and went to the airport terminal to have a (more reasonably priced) drink there. We had intended to take a meal at the hotel but after the problems with the service and beer at the bar we thought better of it. One would have thought given the high price they were charging for the beer, they would ensure the quality and freshness would be just right. Several other customers also complained about the beer.

Later in the evening I retired to the bedroom and decided to take a pack of pringles from the mini-bar - again, they were priced high. On opening them they were soggy, probably due to the fact that they were stored in the refrigerator for a prolonged period. They ended up in the bin.

The morning arrived and down we went for breakfast, it was a quiet restaurant. After waiting for a few minutes to be seated at the table we ordered a tea and coffee and went to the buffet for a hot meal - when we brought this back to the table, apart from the beans, the breakfast was lukewarm. We mentioned this to the waitress and asked if we could have fresh, hot food. She said the breakfast was already out in the buffet if we wanted to replace it, she further said that it was probably 'a little less hot' because the restaurant wasn't busy.

On check-out I mentioned the problems but the young lady simply said that it was 'unusual' and charged my card. It may have have been unusual, but the service I experienced at this hotel fell well short of the standard I expect from a 4* property. The rooms were fine and up to standard - but the service was very disappointing.

As I said at the opening, it is probably all about first impressions and my first impression of the Radisson was very disappointing. As it is, there is a Hilton close by to the airport and our company will now use this for our future trips through Stansted.

it took over 20 minutes for waiter to come over. One hour for food to arrive. When it did arrive the portions were small. i do not recommend this hotel at all. Rooms were nice, but bathrooms small

I stayed at the Raddison, Stanstead for one night before travelling next day.
Could not fault anything at all.
Bedrooms/bathrooms very clean and very tastefully decorated.
Very comfortable beds.
Food was excellent, especially the extensive range for breakfast.
The Wine Tower and the wine 'angels' was a very unusual feature and these 'angels' were fascinating to watch. How do they know what wine to get from all those bottles?
The following day after check out there was only a short walk to the airport terminal.
This was no hassle at all as there are trolleys available for your use to transport luggage.
Also, you are able to leave your car at the hotel whilst you are away for a very resonable charge.
All in all a very pleasurable experience and will definately warrant a re-visit should I be flying out of Stanstead in the future.

Stayed 1 night due to early flight. Used 14 day parking option, hotel parks your car for you & returns it when you get back.

Did not eat at hotel (expensive) but had a drink in the bar with the impressive wine tower & angels.

Room was very lovely & clean & the hotel is very convenient - 2 minute walk from terminal.

No problems with checking in or out or car parking arrangements, all handled very efficiently.

The only thing we can think to complain about is the lack of clear signs for the hotel once you get onto the airport site. We ended up in the adjacent hire car return car park & couldn't get out through the barrier without a code.