Right hand bedside table doubles as a small dining table. Lighting is in the ceiling only, with switch positions sometimes awkwardly placed.

The rooms are generously sized but after two years of use are already showing signs of wear, having been decorated in just a paint finish that is marking up rapidly, and with minimal skirting boards to protect it. The light paint colours and medium wood with the pale brown patterned carpet and mustard coloured settee give an acid feel to the bedrooms. With all the lighting from above, and few pictures, the overall evenness of the light and colour tug at the corners of vision uncomfortably. The light colours are part of the contemporary styling that has been so popular in recent years but they are uncomfortable in their minimalism in the bedroom, although they work very well in public areas. They also reveal all the marks left by the passage of guests in an hotel that has high occupancy levels, as one would expect in the heart of one of the worlds greatest cities.

Bedrooms have generous space and are stylish - rollover for another look Simple designer touches give character - the carpet pattern centred on the bedroom door openings, an iconic piece of furniture in the Reception Lobby...

Strangely whilst the minimalism of the public areas is countered by the effective use of art the bedrooms have many large blank areas of wall as can be seen from the panorama of the business room, which contribute to a slightly bleak overall feel to these spaces. The rooms lack emotional comfort for the guest, and physical comfort is not as indulged as it perhaps might have been – in fact I have not sat on a chair as hard as the one at the desk since I was a lad in school. On close inspection the seat covering appeared to be just leather stretched across timber, without an upholstered pad. It gives a bit of a shock if you plonk yourself down on it expecting some upholstery – and doesn’t get kinder as time wears on.

The bathroom is similarly minimalist, with white tile and chrome, but here the design works well. The bathrooms are clean and efficient – two things that are absolutes for hotel bathrooms and where sometimes a search for luxury compromises them. Not here, where there is a separate effective shower as well as a shower over the bath. The generous washhandbasin provides plenty of space for soap bags and accoutrements, and there are plenty of large mirrors for the narcissistic. In the special apartments which form the upper floor of the hotel the bathrooms switch from tile to stone and achieve a luxury feel whilst remaining clean and efficient. In these rooms too the colour scheme works better – perhaps because the scale of the spaces is smaller allowing the warmth of the wood to dominate rather than the pale paint finishes.