Diggin the blues

Can a big hotel chain really do a ‘lifestyle’ brand? Rachel Roberts checked into a Raddison Blu to find out…

"Lifestyle hotels may be considered ‘hot’ in some quarters, but they can leave me cold. Overkill equals tackiness; underbaked equals lameness. Striking the right balance between the two takes skill and design chutzpah. So was the Radisson Blu Riverside hotel in Gothenburg going to make me, well, blue?

The four-star hotel is a relative new kid on the block – opening its doors in March 2013 in Lindholmspiren, a regenerated ship building area on the bank of the G-‘ta River opposite the city – and is already racking up industry accolades. It was named winner of the best design bar category at the European Hotel Design Awards last year and recently made it onto TripAdvisor’s list of Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Sweden.

As you would expect from a hotel designed by one of Sweden’s foremost architecture companies (Reflex Archtitects), first impressions were good. The Radisson Blu is a slick affair; its skewed rectangle shape enhanced by the pale blue and silver geometric metal tiles that cover it like a second skin. I arrived on a summer’s day when the sun bounced off and shimmered across the tiles to dazzling effect.

Things got even sunnier when I checked in and the lovely receptionist said that magical word. ‘Suite’. My inner child wanted to squeal with excitement; the adult managed a nonchalant ‘Tak’ (Swedish thank-you) instead.

The hotel has 265 rooms in total. Eleven suites are situated on the eighth floor and all enjoy panoramic views of the river, the working shipyards and the city.

My suite showcased the hotel’s signature style. Think ‘Nutty Professor Chic’. But it’s bonkers in a good way. It’s all about traditional, study-style furniture with a zany twist: I particularly loved the oversized lamps, giant velvet pouffes and heavy circular mirrors hung with leather. Thanks to the design list in the welcome blurb, I was able to find out where I could buy them, too.

Six uniquely designed wallpapers decorate the walls of the hotel’s bedrooms and hold the key to the quirky theme. They feature complicated equations, microscopes and laboratory flasks; all the tools of the scientist.

The overall feel of the hotel is the brainchild of award-winning Gothenburg-based designers Stylt Trampoli, renowned for creating restaurants and hotels through storytelling. And Lindholmspiren is an area rich in inspiration. Also known as the Science Park, it’s home to many important businesses, including communication giant Ericsson, and one of Sweden’s most famous exports, Volvo. The Chalmers University of Technology is also here.

Back to my suite, and I have to say I fell in love with my bathroom, which was like a set of Russian Matryoshka dolls and boasted rooms within rooms. The highlight was the tub. When it takes a good 10 minutes to draw your bath (and not because of a wonky tap), you’re on to a winner.

My only tiny gripe was the hairdryer, which looked like something that would have come with a Girl’s World circa 1970s. For the low amount of heat and air it feebly puffed out, it would have been quicker to have hung my head out of the window to catch a passing wind! With everything else so on-point, this seems like a needless oversight. (Although I later discovered it’s because so many higher spec hairdryers were stolen; surprising given the moneyed clientele).

Although it was hard to leave my suite, I took a scoot around the other rooms and the standard was just as high. Guests just don’t get as much space as the rooms move down through the scale. An average room can be booked for a reasonable 1490 KR a night (around £140).

More Mad Scientist-style can be seen in the Cuckoo’s Nest bar and restaurant. It was named to suggest the fine line between genius and madness; and Albert Einstein’s universe-expanding equations are scribbled all over the front of the bar and adorn coffee cups and plates too. The designers have borrowed heavily from the movie A Beautiful Mind, too. ‘Conspiration’ boards similar to those worked on by Nobel Laureate John Nash, played by Russell Crowe, pepper the walls.

When it came to dining I would have liked more choices on the menu, although to be fair I’m probably not the Radisson Blu’s core customer. Their typical diner seems to be businessmen chewing the fat after a long day of meetings in the Science Park. They’re probably not interested in fine dining on a school night. The Chicken Dumplings I plumped for really did hit the spot, as did the staff, who were laidback, efficient, and friendly too.

Those wanting to concentrate on the body beautiful will be in heaven when they discover the super-modern gym on the lofty heights of the hotel’s top floor. Kitted out with super-modern equipment, you can drink in superlative views of Gothenburg while working out on an elliptical trainer. The BodyLab spa is gorgeous, too. It’s small and intimate and boasts two hot tubs, five treatment rooms and a bar offering healthy drinks – plus champagne for those who like to sip their bubbles in the bubbles!

So yes, in the end, I did feel blue – but only because I had to check out."

Rooms start from around £140.