The Andaz is continuing this early twenty-first century hotel's contribution to the renaissance of Old St and the surrounding area. The media and design crowd had a focal and gathering point as well as somewhere hip enough to stay after one too many cocktails.
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7618 5000
Url: www.andaz.com
Price: £160–720
Woah! Where’s the front desk? Where’s the concierge? You’re really offering bedtime stories? Andaz – the first of a brand new Hyatt chain – is getting brave with its concept. What was until 2007 The Great Eastern Hotel has done away with convention. With all physical barriers removed, things are meant to be a bit more personal (andaz meaning personal style in Hindi), and inventive. Hence short-term ideas like the ‘reader-in-residence’, drag-queen room service and beach parties in the foyer. For all that, it’s still a grand old station hotel: behind the Victorian redbrick façade lies a sleek, modern lobby, vast atrium and exposed glass lift shafts, which sit alongside original 1880s staircases and stained-glass windows. The 267 five-star guest rooms (including 25 suites) feature clean lines, dark woods, cream tones, chrome accents. The hotel also has an extensively equipped health club complimentary for all guests with personal trainers on-site. An array of massage and beauty treatments can also be booked through the health club. For business or social needs the hotel has 14 private dining & event rooms. Andaz rates are inclusive of WiFi, local landline phone calls and healthy mini-bar (organic juices, water & snacks). Its five bars and five restaurants include 1901, a recently re-opened, handsome, Grade-II listed dining room which still defers to its show-stealing proportions & striking glass dome, though a cheese & wine tasting area points to an interactive modern approach; Miyako, with its urbane buzz & attractive, simple decor, is the hotel's smart little bento box of a Japanese restaurant reminding fans not of Tokyo, but of New York: a place for health-conscious financial sector types to chow down on wholesome yet sophisticated raw protein while bemoaning the state of the markets; and Catch and Champagne Bar, a grandiose setting comprised of two beautifully restored rooms: the 70-seat fish restaurant with its magnificent crustacean display, and the dramatic 50-seat horseshoe Champagne Bar clad in aquamarine and silver mosaic. Andaz is keen that everything is all-inclusive, so extras such as laundry, movies and a non-alcoholic mini-bar are free. Perhaps that’s because they now have nothing to hide behind when guests balk at big bills.
