Our experience here wasn't bad at all, and if you favour style over substance, this very cool hotel may be for you. We spent 2 nights here, the first being in room 201 (the largest suite). We selected the room from the Design hotel website, based on it's square footage and the "balcony". The room was very large, almost too large, and definitely could have done with more furniture to fill the available space. A projector and huge TV screen was a novelty and all the gadgets (espresso machine, Bose stereo, iPod dock, jacuzzi, fitness analser) were impressive. The bed was huge and comfortable and another large TV was nice. The problem was that the room colour scheme was black and orange, and small windows and minimal natural light in the main part of the room gave it a dark, moody edge, which may be your thing but wasn't ours. We should have guessed from the website, which shows the interior of every other room except this one, instead showing the elegantly decorated outside wall. We felt that the room was more like a nightclub than a comfortable haven. The balcony was accessible through a small window, and was a total waste of time, having neither a view nor any furniture whatsoever. The bathroom was great.
We swapped rooms the next day, this time going for room 102, which was lighter, brighter, smaller, cheaper and yet so much more welcoming and comfortable. I would recommend this room.
The western breakfasts we had were very good indeed and I can't vouch for anything else because we didn't have dinner or even a drink in the bar. The hotel was practically empty, but it was a Monday and Tuesday and could conceivably pick up at the weekend. We saw nobody in the bar during our stay. There's no doubt they're touting for cool types with money, but it's entirely possible they're not hitting the mark and with this hotel being so expensive it remains to be seen if it will survive. I should add that we liked the look of the top floor outside bar terrace, but the hotel rather shortsightedly want another £25 to join as a day member and needless to say we didn't join. I'm fairly sure that no one was up there when we were there.
The staff were helpful and friendly and we had no problems or issues changing rooms or communicating in English.
So, in summary, some plusses and minuses. This hotel is trying hard. Perhaps too hard. If this place isn't to your liking for the same money you can go large in the fantastic Hyatt regency where we were treated like royalty and upgraded to the best suites on two occasions!
Jonny
