In conversation with the GM of Andaz London Liverpool Street

How did your career in hotels begin and what makes you stay in this industry? I, like most people, stumbled into this industry by accident. I started as a porter in South Africa, which was followed by concierge roles doing a lot of special events and special projects, such as million-dollar golf. Then I worked in the rooms division section of hotels until I joined Hyatt in Johannesburg. I came to London in 2010 as the manager of The Churchill, and then moved over to Birmingham for a general manager position in 2013. I joined Andaz London Liverpool Street in 2019. Previously, you’ve piloted a £6m hotel refurbishment. Can you tell us more about the project and what this experience taught you? That was a great project and I think what really excited me about it was bringing a lot of Birmingham’s local story within the design of the building. The entire project was a lot of people doing refurbishments and trying to repurpose parts of the venue. In this case, we also focused on the guest journey, asking ourselves what we could do differently to make the guest’s experience more seamless, what our offers are for relaxation, as well as if we have conference spaces for female travellers and if our hotel is a secure place for our guests. We did a lot of research into the guest journey, with the other side being the employee journey as well. We were asking ourselves how best to make it easier for housekeeping, too. But at the same time, we were also looking at things from an owners and asset management perspective. If you look at what we've done with our rooms, we made them look more spacious by just changing the layout. We also found that you can use big windows more effectively on the higher floors, as well as how changing the placement of furniture makes the room more effective and efficient. For families, by adding better and bigger beds, you can actually put two or three people in the room because you don't have to get roll-away beds into rooms, just make the layout better to improve the product. That was quite interesting. Can you tell me a little bit about Andaz London’s facilities and offerings? The Andaz is quite a unique brand. We've got five bars and restaurants, and each one is a unique experience. One of them is Miyako, an authentic Japanese restaurant that has street pricing and only seats 26. It's a difficult one to get into, so we get bookings out two weeks in advance. The venue is very small, very tight, but it serves proper, freshly-made sushi from our amazing chefs. When people walk through the back door of it, they discover that they're actually in a five-star hotel. In London, but especially in the region we’re in, we also have a traditional City of London boozer, Lady Abercorn's. It has a great atmosphere with five-star facilities behind it and pub comforts such as televisions for football. We've also got the Eastway brasserie, which serves grilled steaks from lamb cutlets to salmon, as well as other vegan dishes, with the chef's authentically cooking those seasonal products to the table. It is very popular with our local business community around us as well and just a very casual restaurant, nothing too fancy with great and wholesome service. What industry trends are Andaz London anticipating for 2023? My view on industry trends right now is that there are a lot of people coming up to London and there’s a lot of things happening all over. I think the biggest focus, as it’s the biggest trend, is on enhancing our wellness side of things. This includes our fitness rooms with peloton bikes and a yoga space, as well as our offerings of cereal bars, energy bars and shakes. Our chefs can also produce specific menus depending on your training plan and what your diet requirements are. Fitness is a big thing, because it’s a trend that the Andaz has experienced. How has Andaz London changed since pre-pandemic times and are there any areas it has improved upon? I think a lot of hotels have struggled to reopen because they struggle to retain employees and get the right people trained up. I am really proud of the team for what we've managed to do, because of the brand like Andaz I think we've managed to get through this difficult time faster and better than most people within the industry. The reason why is because our main focus is people. We managed to find the right people, purely for the fact that they were different, and they were inspiring. They have an aptitude and we can train them with those skills. There's people that love people and those are the people we employ. Can you tell me about any of the hotel’s upcoming plans? We're doing a big refurbishment on the Masonic Temple and we’re also constantly doing things with the temple to show it off. It’s going to hold a speakeasy, as well as pop-up murder mystery nights, and other totally differently and unique things to that, creating opportunities for people to come and experience the building.