The small silver columns are the bottom part of the air conditioning system. The bar area forms a successful busy hub to the public areas, and also serves for informal meeting and dining during the day. (see Wine Angels video)

In the bedrooms the free internet access is supplemented by a large business desk in all rooms. There are 500 bedrooms in this hotel and they are in four different types, with the Business Class rooms having the ‘runway views’. The styles are part of Radisson’s house range of room types and the rooms have different colour schemes and design details. Opulence and decadence compete, with beading on the curtains, ornate clear Perspex mirror frames echoing traditional style, but all giving a contemporary twist.

Other rooms are designed to be restful in blues and aquamarine and make and interesting comparison with the Hilton Relaxation rooms in our previous review of the Hilton Diagonal mar in Barcelona. These rooms all offer the standards range of accessories and services that one expects from this level of hotel, such as the free internet service, a safe large enough to accommodate a laptop, the iron and ironing board and so on. Despite the proximity of the runway no aircraft noise can be heard inside the hotel as insulation is so effective. In fact there is no reason to believe that this is an airport hotel until one steps outside the door, unless it is the number of aircrew to be seen in the public areas.

'Ocean' scheme - rollover to contrast with the Business room Perspex mirror lends an exotic touch whilst the use of the woven chair is a quixotic touch, giving a boutique feel - however all the functionality is there with the sockets on the desktop for easy access. Rollover to see the corridor

As with the previously reviewed Radisson in Krakow, Poland, the design is detailed well and is clean and contemporary in style. Krakow, originally opened as a four star has now been awarded a fifth star by the Polish authorities, saying something about the overall quality Radisson is putting into its buildings and their staff training programmes.

Many atrium hotels leave one feeling dominated and observed from the areas around the atrium, but that is not a problem here. Of the four restaurants for example, only one is in the atrium proper. Two others are open to it but provide discreet dining areas in some privacy, whilst the fourth is closed off from the atrium completely. Theatre it may be but there is no way that a guest need feel perpetually on stage. The result leaves the hotel with a comfortable intimacy whilst providing the drama that gives a sense of place to the building.

The planning of the building is very successful, with the reception being immediately evident as one enters the hotel. Then the sense of drama and theatre reveals itself as the guest firstly moves to the lifts and then emerges from the lift to walk across the links from it into the bedroom corridors. With some bedrooms opening into the atrium giving views internally, the majority of rooms are in two wings which go either side of the conference facilities. These open up externally onto a grass rectangle for the all important cigarette break outside.

Meeting rooms also front the driveway to reception and all are light and airy with natural daylight into most of them. The entrance to the Conference facilities is adjacent to the entry doors to the atrium, making the access simple for delegates. There is also a separate reception desk available for conferences that also serves as the reception for the business lounge. Rapidly becoming a standard item in most four star business hotels, this offers pc access, internet and print services as well as knowledgeable staff assistance if needed.