With 177 keys, The Radisson Blu at Granger Bay abutting the V&A Waterfront, is large enough to accommodate groups and airline crews but still manages to maintain the feeling of an intimate hotel.
The view from the Blu - the deep blue.
Whether this is a condition of a high staff to guest ratio or their Yes I Can-attitude and One Touch phone system that empowers every staff member to engage and deal with guest requests I cannot say. Each hotel's marque offers a signature focus around which they build their advertising and marketing campaigns. Radisson's is one of the few that in my experience as a traveller actually makes a difference to the guest.
Up close
On this visit we stayed in a two-bedroomed top floor suite. Like all the newly refurbished rooms, interiors are pared down with the focus on the sliding doors that open to views of the sea and Table Mountain beyond. There is more wave action to entertain Radisson guests than there is with other waterfront hotels as the breakwater wall cuts into the sea directly in front of the hotel. If you're swimming in their heated outside pool you can easily be visited by a gull or feel sea spray and on occasion, waves, splash into the pool.
The bedroom had bags of space - about the size of a large apartment it had two full bathrooms, a kitchen and dining room table.
As more people travel with their families, hotels that offer sleeper-couch accommodation and two-roomed suites are rewarded for their foresight. Our room, the size of a large apartment with two full bathrooms, also had a kitchen and dining room table. While there are some cooking and eating utensils, this kitchen doesn't encourage our inner foodie, but a well-stocked Nespresso machine does dramatically improve mornings.
A real treat
Reading the menu of Tobago's restaurant, situated on the ground floor that expands outside onto the ample deck with permanent umbrellas (and heaters and blankets), I was disappointed at the paucity of items that suited a low-carb diet. On chatting to the waiter though there was no problem mixing and matching dishes from the menu, without incurring additional costs. I can tell you that the Cobb salad is a real treat and plenty for a light lunch on its own. I started with the salad and opted for the Cajun grilled line fish but with a side order of broccoli instead of the starch offering.
Service with a smile - and going the extra mile.
The hotel is designed to look like a modern cruise liner and the Amani African Spa on the ground floor mimics the spas on the great cruise liners with their indoor pool and solarium.
I have a massage for you
I enjoyed the neck, shoulder and back massage very much; it, like all Amani treatments, starts and ends with a pressure points on the feet, the therapist's hands stretching your limbs and "walking" over the legs, arms and back ending with scalp pressure points.
I also had the opportunity to use their rasul steam chamber and applied the given "mud" scrub. This is ideal for people having a couple's treatment who enjoy applying the muddy scrub and rinsing it off in the privacy of the chamber.
Stand-outs from this experience include really chipper service, a blow-out breakfast buffet and their pool deck that has the warming rays of the sun even as it sets.
Contact Radisson Blu Granger Bay for more information.
