Andaz London Liverpool StreetAndaz hotels are a small boutique brand under the Hyatt umbrella. The Andaz London Liverpool Street is in the heart of the City of London. This is a tasteful regeneration of the old Great Eastern, a classic Victorian Railway hotel. It manages to retain just enough of the original features to connect you to the heritage whilst creating a sleek, Berlinesque, cool modern ambience. Within walking district of Tower Bridge, London Wall, Clerkenwell and The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street there is enough of interest in the neighbourhood to keep the leisure visitor amused for many days. It is of course the perfect location for business in the City. The range of dining options in the locality is fantastic. If you've never been to a real English pub, here's your chance. Alternatively, entertain guests at Catch or 1901. It also has one of the best champagne bars in London. The hotel is adjacent to Liverpool Street Station, offering easy transportation within London and further afield.
On entering the hotel, instead of a traditional reception, you are encouraged to take a seat in the lobby whilst check-in is processed on a tablet computer. Although this doesn't always work perfectly during busy periods, it's a nice touch to relax with a drink instead of queuing behind a desk. The lobby of the hotel is better described as a living room for everyone, with pastries and juice available at breakfast time, cookies and soft drinks during the day and wine with cheese in the evenings - akin to a small club lounge. The standard upgrade for HGP diamond members is to a Large King room and, of course, complimentary breakfast in one of 2 restaurants or through room service. Andaz SuiteOur request for a different room was taken care of quickly. We had said we were happy to use points to upgrade to a suite.
The suite we were allocated was in a much quieter location (overlooking the quiet road by the entrance to the hotel) and had a bathroom more to our liking. One oddity to note is the use of water-saving features in the bathroom which means the toilet flush is a little like an aeroplane loo - not a problem but a surprise the first time you use it! Some people will find the lack of space for laying out toiletries an annoyance. In addition to a reasonable size bedroom, there was a small study and seating area in the suite (the hotel is located in the City so a study is more useful to most than a lounge). In contrast to the Andaz rooms, the suite had a Nespresso coffee machine, sweets in glass jars and the suite amenity included a bottle of wine. On asking to exchange the red wine in the room for white, we were pleased to be told to keep the red as well in case we wanted to try both. We were even more surprised to return to the room after dinner and find a bottle of champagne as well. The service in the hotel in this stay was near perfect and we felt valued as return diamond guests. Meetings and EventsThe Andaz has a number of traditional meeting rooms in a variety of styles and sizes, plus a few more interesting event spaces. One of these is the Andaz Studio, which has a more residential feel than purely meeting space. The Studio is a large room with a show kitchen located above Eastway restaurant. The room is decorated with portraits of the staff who work in the hotel, and has an interesting ceiling, as shown in the picture. This would be a great venue for a cocktail reception.
Perhaps the most unusual space in the hotel is the Masonic Temple. Never have we seen such an opulent and extraordinary event space - it would be perfect for an intimate wedding. The ceiling is grand with its gold and turquoise decoration (also mirrored in the gym) and space has a warm yet impressive feel to it. It was amazing to view the room and imagine the mysterious rituals which it has born witness to - this room is a real bonus to the hotel. We have never seen anything like it elsewhere. Overall Impression |
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The Andaz London Liverpool Street is a cool hotel in a great location. On previous stays we have had a few small problems (which have always been compensated generously) but this stay was perfect. The hotel is not just a boutique or stylish hotel, but a quality hotel with fantastic dining options, interesting event spaces and a reasonable gym. At weekends, the rates here are very good value; during the week the rate increases as expected due to its location in the city. We would strongly recommend staying here and exploring the local area, and look forward to returning.