"The vibe: Japanese calm Location: Marylebone Top amenities: Turndown tea Best for: A meditative take on London Akatoki is derived from the ancient Japanese word for “dawn” and this really was a new dawn for boutique hotels in London when it opened in 2020: an 82-room taste of Japanese hospitality and a bubble of tranquillity, just two blocks from heaving Oxford Street and Marble Arch. This is the first UK property for Japanese hospitality doyens Prince Hotels, and they’ve gone all out to showcase their decades of expertise. The calming rooms are dressed in lots of light wood and neutral tones, with barely-there images of tranquil landscapes split across panels behind the beds, and simple wooden furniture bringing the outside in. Downstairs, the whiskey-specialist Malt Bar & Lounge fuses Japanese ingredients with famous cocktails, while restaurant TOKii puts a Japanese spin on local ingredients, from lobster croquettes with mango and yuzu salsa to caramelized black cod with miso and sweet corn fried rice. Loose leaf tea by the bed at turndown is the final ingredient in this recipe for calm." - Julia Buckley
