Review: Andaz Liverpool Street London

It sounds like a real mixed bag of a hotel! I can offer an answer for one point though: under British building regulations it is illegal to have a plug socket within three metres of a bath or shower which is why you never find sockets for hairdryers in bathrooms of hotels or even people's homes. That's why the hairdryer is always elsewhere.

Sounds like an all rebound disappointing experience.

Just to let you know though, you will never find the hairdryer in the bathroom in the UK. It is a legal requirement that you can't have power points (aside from shaver outlets) in the bathroom. Even in private residences, you need to have outside of the bathroom. Hence why the British are so big on dressing tables I guess .

I stayed at this Andaz (on Hyatt points) in June and had a very different experience. Spacious room not far from the elevator, big window, very comfortable. My only problem was the bathroom had a very tall tub/shower combo, and I had a challenge climbing in and out! Being just a oneminute walk down the block from Liverpool Station is a huge plus. I would certainly stay here again.

The gatwick express is a bit of a scam, much better to purchase a ticket for the Southern or Thameslink train it's cheaper and not much slower. Plus for Liverpool st you'd have been much better served by taking the Thameslink to St Paul's then getting a cab or Farringdon and hopping a few stops on the circle line. Gatwick can be a much better choice of airport if you are heading to the city, east or even some bits of north london.

I think Thameslink will drop you off at London Bridge, which would be better in this scenario than dumping you off at Victoria.

$3.50 for a tube ticket sounds very cheap compared to what writers on Lucky's blog seem to be spending! You will also eliminate any time spent on ticket purchases if you get an Oyster (can be mailed to you in advance).

How did you get internet to order Uber at Victoria--is there wifi at Victoria? It sounds like you were dependent on hotel wifi when checking out of your hotel, so I'm just wondering how you were able to do it earlier in the trip.

Another top tip: You no longer need an oyster card for the tube, any contactless credit card will work in place of an oyster. Just make sure your card doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.

Why didn't you just ask for a room change rather than wish for it?

Ed mentioned this earlier, but I just want to emphasise what a scam Gatwick Express is. There is absolutely no reason to go to Victoria when you're heading any further east than W1.

Victoria is a hellhole that I'm sure us Londoners deserve in some ways, but everyone else should avoid it if possible. Thameslink and Southern are so much better.

@Lucky's Reader - Yes, Victoria Station has its proprietary, free of charge WiFi. Moreover there are lot of fast foods and restaurants in the station that offer their WiFi too, so it's quite easy to get online. Plus most of London's major stations offer free "The Cloud" WiFi (it just requires a simple registration).

Strangely, I'm somewhat relieved to read this review. I stayed here a year ago (my first Andaz stay ever) and got a similar room to what you got (minus the shower problems). It did not leave me with a good impression of Andaz at all, which left me wondering what the fuss was about. After reading Ben's review, I was more perplexed, but assumed that part of the difference was that he had a better room. Reading this suggests to me that the Andaz Liverpool Street is hit or miss, but it is not reflective of the brand overall, so I shouldn't write off Andaz altogether solely because of this place.

As others have said, either get an Oyster card (still makes sense if traveling as a family as you need a separate one for wax person) or use a contactless credit card for the tube in London. There's no point to ever wait for a tube ticket machine.

Also, the train to Farringdon would have been a much better option.

Staying here for two nights next weekend and using a DSU. Rates are really good on weekends, and it's the perfect location for where I need to be. Nonetheless, I'm glad to see this helpful review - sorry you had a clunker.

I stayed here and had a suite and basically just hated the hotel...... the bed was fine, the bathroom hospital sterile and the suite part was an textra 9x9 room hat there wasn't any use except to put a desk there.
The staff seemed to not to care about anything.... I guess I would have uber-hated it if if I had been in a regular room.
ok... I give it a thumbs down and don't recommend it unless you really need to be in the area.
(This post is against my "if you don;t have anything good to say " principles)

What's a contactless credit card? Is there a US contactless credit card?

It is not just an Andaz thing, cutting the internet connection the minute you've checked out. Have noticed this particularly across all Hyatt brands.

@glennpokk contactless payment card - ExprsssPay, PayWave or PayPass. They certainly exist in the US, I had a chase and a citi card with the tech before I left the US a few years ago.

Egads! You typically don't expect to fight with your hotel shower lol. Sounds like you definitely suffered some bad luck there Nick.

Always an issue in that - even within a room grade - all rooms within a hotel are not created equal (it's a surprise when it is). Sounds like you lucked out with the dog room (that gets minimum TLC - I mean, the shower in that room has serious design problems if pipes just work free).

Two free beers, in my view, is less than what the hotel should have done to restore good faith - but, alas, it's the trend these days (no responsibility).

Gotta get T-Mobile dude. Or even Sprint at this point.

Definitely not a great stay with the shower fiasco! As others have said a contactless card is the way to go on the Tube - you get the cheaper Oyster pricing, no hassle to top up etc, and still get the daily cap if making lots of trips. Not sure which banks offer them in the US though - they're pretty much ubiquitous in Europe and Australia for the last year or so though.

@Ed, Emily- thanks for the data points. Very helpful. Anyone know how to get one of these contact less cards (strange name-not very catchy) in the U.S.?

Thanks Nick for such a helpful review! I will be staying there two weeks later. I think customers staying at nicer hotels expect all same-type rooms to be similar... but I guess Andaz Liverpool st is not the case.
Now only thing I can do is to pray that I will get nicer room.
On my last visit to London, I stayed at ME London. I never got to visit the Radio Bar and stuff like that cause I was pretty exhausted (it was something in line of business trip). I liked the hotel since it was very modern and sleek, but ME did lack some "poshness" that other 5-stars have.
Overall thx for a great review

Yeah... London hotel rooms are, in my experience, very ordinary unless one is spending upwards of one-thousand quid per night.