ANdAZ, Liverpool Street. London

I was looking for a luxury type hotel in London which had availability at short notice and a good range of leisure facilities. I took my boyfriend here for a bithday treat.

It is a stone throw away from Liverpool St station and other tube connections so ideal if you want to visit theatre sites whilst staying in London.

We arrived at the hotel and were greeted immediately by a member of staff who made us extremely relaxed and offered us refreshments. Their reception is an informal area where you are checked in using portable laptops. We were offered a room upgrade which we accepted quite happily!

The room was fine all the usual mod cons flat screen TV and fridge where most of the drinks and food stuffs were complimentary no extra charge! The bathroom was nice it had lovely touches and again complimentary toiletries for you to keep. Both healthy ranges are on offer such as organic apple juice and biscuits to organic toiletries.

We dined in the 1909 restaurant all courses were brilliantly made, especially as I am vegetarian (one that does not like cheese!) they made a meal which was a combination of other elements from other menu dishes and they were most flexible in allowing me to make up a meal plan. The decor and atmosphere in this restaurant was fabulous, whilst you enjoyed your meal a cellist improvised to all kinds of music from mellow to upbeat tracks chosen by a trendily dressed DJ who manoeuvred around the room using a pace maker system (he controlled the order of play with a handheld device) you could if you wish choose tracks from the available music list. You could still enjoy a romantic meal or chat casually with your fellow guests.

We enjoyed a morning in the gym which is well equipped with cardiovascular and weight training equipment amongst free weights they had a Smith's machine and other

comprehensive items if you like to weight train for fitness you would not be disappointed here.

We enjoyed our time in the steam room which is very large. At the time we visited we were the only two people in there so we really chilled out here. Other guest s came by and used the gym etc.

There are massage and treatment rooms available too, at additional cost. We did not try any as they were quite expensive at L100 an hour for a massage, I am use to paying no more than L45 at my local gym. You can also have beauty treatments if you book with the spa staff. We did not try any as we were only there for the evening until mid-afternoon the next day.

We checked out about 11.00 am and were able to leave our bags in a storage room so we could do a bit of local exploring. We visited Spitalfields market which is under a roofed area. There were loads of places to eat and generally chill you can buy designer

goods made by the stall holders who were all very nice and friendly.

We got back to the hotel and had a late breakfast there in their Catch Restaurant, service was a bit delayed but again they accommodated my vegetarian needs effortlessly and although we had to wait some time between the first and second course the meals were healthily made and delicious.

I would definitely stay again at the Andaz again. We enjoyed this hotel it is somewhere listed in the 40's to 50's for rated hotels in London.

My wife and I stayed at the Andaz for 3 nights, and I have to say that there were plenty of positives, but a few head-scratching negatives.

The room that we got on the top floor was rather spacious which is understand is not the norm in London. The big ultra comfortable bed was fantastic (Hyatt always does this right). However, with this being on the top floor of a very old building, the only way to look out the porthole style windows was up, since they were high on the wall. That was strange.

We loved the free minibar and wifi (although it was brutally slow bandwidth for a hotel of this caliber). The flat panel TV was nice and large, however I believe that the list of available channels is very, very limited. I love the towel warmer in the bathroom - great trend in hotels.

This hotel has one of the best hotel gyms I have ever seen.

The downsides seem petty, but it made the trip a little frustrating.

First, we had to get a step ladder for the bathtub. It was a high step up and it didn't feel safe (especially since the handle on the wall was loose). After speaking with the hotel GM, they wound up also bringing us (my wife is short) a non-slip stool, which was better.

Also it appears that this hotel doesn't believe that travelers want to look pressed and clean as the rooms do not come with irons and ironing boards. Upon asking for one, we were given an old crusty iron and an ironing board that not only had a nice tear in the pad (try ironing on top of that), but it also appeared that it had been thrown down a flight of stairs on more than one occasion. When we asked for a replacement, we were given a more steady board, still with a torn cover and another beat up iron with a broken switch on it.

After much back and forth with housekeeping, they finally brought us one more set (after being told that there were no more available in the hotel and the hotel has less than one per room) that was a slightly better iron and an ironing board that had the cover put on backwards (I swear it was comical at this point).

The last issue was for my wife. The hair dryer isn't in the bathroom, it's in the desk - along with the makeup mirror. It's underneath the desk and it pulls up. We didn't know this and even asked for a makeup mirror to be brought up because my wife was having issues in the bathroom (again, she's short). Instead of telling us where the mirror was, they just told us that they didn't have a mirror to give us.

Now, in the hotel's defense, this could have been covered in the "let me show you to the room" that was offered when we checked in, but we declined after having gotten in on a very delayed red-eye. Who knows...?

Overall, the location was fantastic for getting around London and the staff was efficient and pleasant if lacking a certain feeling of warmth. The GM genuinely wants the guests to be comfortable and was incredibly helpful when speaking to him.

Just get your clothes pressed before you go.