ROOMZZZ... hmmm, a bit of a modish name, this, even in booming Leedzzz. And the website doesn’t dispel the doubts. “Roomzzz is choice-led not design-led or pretentious,” it says. Hmmm, again.

First impressions of these “luxury serviced apartments”, doubling as hotel rooms, aren’t too promising. Our taxi from the grey hyperactivity of Leeds station takes an “Integrated Transport Corridor” to an unprepossessing inner-city area scattered with multi-storey “lifestyle developments”.

Roomzzz Central, with its 109 apartments, is the bigger of the two Roomzzz sites (the other, with 22 apartments, is down the road). It looks smart, even swish, but anonymous.

We step inside, however, and things quickly improve, with welcoming smiles from the efficient young women at the front desk. We take the lift to the seventh of the 11 floors, unlock our door and are taken aback by the sense of space.

The apartment is large enough to live in, never mind stay a single night. The unit is divided into three areas: living, kitchen and bed. Wooden floor, cream leather sofa and armchair, bookcase, flat-screen TV, fridge-freezer, cooking hob, toaster, washing machine, microwave, dishwasher, pots, pans, plates, wine glasses... “Blimey,” says my wife, “this is more than we have at home.”

There are interesting Moroccan and Persian restaurants near by, and the city centre is 15 minutes’ walk away. But it’s drizzling outside, the front desk keeps a file of takeaway menus – the pizzas look good – and Mr Patel’s shop next door has a decent Valpolicella at £3.99.

The pizzas are delivered, we sit at our glass-topped dining table, grapple with the clumsy (“stylish,” says my wife) cutlery, discuss what to expect from the bed’s “body-hugging memory foam” and reckon that we’ve entered into the modern spirit of the place remarkably painlessly.

The bed delivers a good night’s sleep – must get some memory foam – until lorries start trundling around outside before 6am. And the bathroom has an excellent power shower, although the ceiling lights leave my face in shadow, which makes shaving a challenge.

For breakfast, we could make our own (Mr Patel opens at 7am), but settle for good-value £5 “snack packs” from the front desk: fruit juice, cornflakes, cereal bar, yoghurt and apple, though sadly no kipperzzz.

Bottom line: Standard apartments from £59 a night. Stephen McClarence paid £89 for a large corner unit.
Best thing: Smarter-than-home feel.
Worst thing: Location.
Access all areas: Wheelchair access to lifts and apartments.

Need to know:

Roomzzz Central, 2 Burley Road, Leeds LS3 1JU.
0113 2330400
www.roomzzz.co.uk

Room: 9 out of 10.
Service: 9 out of 10.
Value: 9 out of 10.

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