Hotel Venue Focus Magazine Feature, Spring 2006 - 'Suits You, Sir'

Hotel Venue Focus Magazine Feature, Spring 2006 - 'Suits You, Sir' Information:

The new Apex City of London Hotel seems perfectly tailored to the Square Mile, says Astrid Mannion

The sleek newcomer Apex City of London Hotel should go down well in London’s business district. City boys have already discovered its onsite fine diner, Addendum, where top chef Tom Illic (ex of Bond’s in Threadneedle Street), serves up gutsy food in well-spaced, masculine surrounds. But this is also a property that’s serious about events and its convenient EC3 location, between Tower Hill and Fenchurch Street, is a real draw for local companies.

Particularly well suited to meetings, the hotel is perched at the end of peaceful Seething Lane and its five function suites all boast natural daylight and beautiful views over St Olave’s Church and Trinity Gardens. Each space comes equipped with hi-tech conference technology – think LCD projectors, drop-down screens and wi-fi – and can easily be transformed from a daytime business retreat to a smart private dining or reception space come evening.

Just like the function rooms within the Apex chain’s Scottish properties, all are named after major world cities. But here, the likes of Sydney and San Fransisco have been replaced with financial centres such as Geneva and Hong Kong, again emphasising that the hotel has been designed with business in mind. The City Suite is the largest, seating up to 70 people in chic, wood-panelled surrounds, accented with striking pictures of London, as well as three cool modern lamps. The 40-capacity New York room, meanwhile, opens out onto a small private patio where delegates can catch a few breaths of fresh air between meetings or enjoy alfresco evening drinks in the summer. Completing the range are three smart boardrooms, seating 16, 20 and 24 delegates respectively.

As can be expected from a business-orientated four-star deluxe, the hotel’s 130 bedrooms are suitably polished. Done out in soft neutral colours like toasted almond, taupe and slate with walnut furniture, all have large desks with built-in dataports and high-speed internet access, as well as widescreen TVs, plus CD and DVD players. While many rooms offer panoramic views of Tower Bridge and some even have large private balconies, it is clear that the focus here is on business rather than romance, though a well-equipped gym with a sauna, steam room and three treatment rooms ensures it’s not all work and no play.

So, the hotel pushes all the right buttons in terms of design and facilities, but as general manager Yousif Al Wagga explains, it also puts great emphasis on service. ‘We have selected some of the best people to work for us. They are all passionate about customer service and take the time to understand and satisfy the needs of our guests,’ he says. This investment has clearly paid off. An events manager from Barclays head office in Canary Wharf, who recently ran a four-day event programme at the hotel, had nothing but praise for the service it provided. ‘The staff at a venue can influence the success of an event and the Apex team didn’t miss a beat. They would turn on a dime and seemed to understand that what the customer wants is what the customer should receive,’ she said.

Despite its young age (and the fact that it’s the first London hotel of an otherwise Scotland-based group), this exciting newcomer has clearly already tapped into the needs of the capital’s corporate market and tailored all its facilities towards a City audience. Considering that the area is also notoriously short of quality hotel options (Great Eastern and Threadneedles are the only real competitors in the immediate locale), Apex should prove a very welcome addition to the Square Mile.

Hotel Venue Focus Magazine Feature, Spring 2006 - 'Suits You, Sir' Location:

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