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Bistro serves breakfast through to late night dining
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Andaz was obviously designed with the 'bonus boys' of the city as a target audience - why else would it have a large pub, a cocktail bar, a champagne bar, an a la carte restaurant, a bistro, a fish restaurant and a Japanese restaurant with a take away counter? OK it is next to a main commuter station, but that has its own bars and restaurants,and the local area is not noted for high resident population. What it does have in abundance is a workforce whose reality is different to normal folks, where mega million bonuses are not unusual. It was estimated before the crash that thousands of people in the city earned in a year what it took most of us a lifetime to earn. Without them will Andaz succeed?
Andaz is a remarkable reworking of grand Victorian buildings. Whilst the results of the collapse of the magic world of the bankers may temporarily restrain the excess rewards of the city they will no doubt come back in a modified form. Greed is, like the poor, always with us (just look at our politicians).
The drop in the value of sterling is meanwhile pulling in visitors from the rest of Europe for whom London rates are 28% lower than a year ago. Also the Olympcis loom. Having marketed itself to the UK weekender successfully to be full on my visit, I am sure that the hotel will succeed.
Its interior design certainly sets a standard that makes many other high end London hotel bedrooms look very domestic by comparison.
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"interior design certainly sets a standard that makes many other high end London hotel bedrooms look very domestic"
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Fish restaurant is at the other side of the sprawling Andaz site. Click to see a part of the interior of the main a la carte restaurant
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Suites follow the same decorative scheme as the bedrooms but may add a larger bathroom or a dressing room , even a separate office, all depending on the space available in this very idiosyncratic building. Unlike some hotels where it is possible to have over 30 schemes in 120 bedrooms the simplicity and drama of the Andaz scheme brands every room. This has the advantage of simplifying housekeeping by reducing the number of spare bedspreads etc. that need to be kept. It was sometimes thought that guest would want to have rooms that differed from the neighbouring room but that seems a trivial consideration set against the savings of uniformity and the strength of brand creation. Of course if differentiation of room quality (Superior, de Luxe etc.) is sought then it may well be appropriate to vary the schemes, but design can be used to achieve this in other ways (see Park Inn Liege for example)
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Cocktail bar area outside the bistro and the a la cart restaurant provides the access route for both guest staying and outside punters to use. Click to see a part of the seating area
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Andaz
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