It’s already been a week and a half since I was in London for Meet the Blogger. Today I will show you another Hotel gem in London, the Andaz Hotel.
When you walk into the Andaz Hotel you see style, elegance and friendly concierges, as do you in any other 5 star Hotel. What sets the Andaz apart at first glance is the 21st century feeling, there is no reception really, just a large island with glass cookie jars on it (I was sold right then, you know me, gimme a cookie and I will love you forever 😉 ). The concierges were floating around the whole lobby area carrying iPads. Welcome to the future! We were checked in via iPad and even our credit cards were swiped on the little tablet computer. My inner gadget girl was in heaven. But really the first thing I said to Bridgee and Louise was “It smells good in here!”. It did, they have a custom designed scent that is spread all across the Hotel. And did I mention cookies!?
The rooms are exquisite, the bed comfortable, and the minibar full of complementary goodness like the best hand selected farm pressed apple juice of all times. The brand is called Chegworthy Valley. Speaking of food and drink, the Andaz Hotel inhabits 5 different restaurants and bars. This is the Catch Restaurant, closed for renovation, but just look at the lighting in this room.
Sunday morning, Vladimir Susko the Guest Service Manager gave us a tour of the Hotel. We got to peek into a suite.
He also gave a brief history of the Hotel. It is quite interesting! Back in the day around 1880, each large train station in London had a corresponding hotel right next to it. That’s why it was called the Great Eastern like the railway company who owned Liverpool Street Station. Once air travel became more predominant the glorious Hotel just fell into despair, in the 1960/70s it wouldn’t have gotten half a star. It eventually closed down in the mid 90ies. But fret not. In 2000 the hotel underwent a massive restoration of its Victorian style elements and also got some new and modern features.
The best was yet to come. In a Dan Brown fashion, we were shown into a large and majestic room. It was uncovered during the restoration and after cleaning layer after layer of dirt from what were thought to be hard wood floors, the marble tiles of an old Free Mason’s Temple appeared. The ceiling is just breath taking, the whole room does have a mysterious vibe.
A feast for all senses. If you are in London stop by and please make sure you try the small chocolate short bread cookies (by the coffee maker) in the lobby. They are divine. The friendly concierge said “Take as many as you like”, so instead of one I took 3 when really I wanted to dump the whole jar into my purse – I will post the recipe once I’ve cracked the code – you know, going all Dan Brown on this cookie 😉
Andaz Hotel Liverpool Street
40 Liverpool Street
London
EC2M 7QN
Hugs!
Dani
