I wander around London a fair deal and see all manner of new hotels open. But deadlines, schedules and transportation strikes and delays often mean the streets I roam are close to my office or home.
There are cranes looming over Central London, many of them dangling above soon-to-be-opened hotels, so I decided to visit one the other week.
It was the BoTree, which opened on Sept. 15 with 199 keys, including 30 suites, just inside the Marylebone district of the city, in which sits arguably London’s best bookstore, Daunt Books.
That store is to be celebrated for many reasons, but certainly one of them is that it arranges its novels, histories, social commentaries, wildlife guides and travel books all together under country listings, and in a gorgeous Edwardian space.
BoTree also is full of magic, and to think it once was a multi-story, parking garage facility. And a very ugly one, I do remember.
The hotel is named for the bodhi tree, or bo tree, beneath which Buddha gained enlightenment. The property design is a calm, interesting mix of Scandinavian woods, Chinese touches, sustainable appurtenances and flowers and branches. The property has rooftop flower displays, exterior and interior leaf and bough motifs and a large olive tree that is one of the central displays of LAVO, its Italian restaurant.
I might be easily impressed, but the guest rooms have a pencil in them for writing notes that can be then stuck in a pot to be watered and grow. They come from a company called SproutWorld, and each one has within it seeds, which we know of course from deserts and other dry regions can survive a long time before germinating.
Perhaps some of my readers would have known of these things for years and years, but I did not.
The hotel is part of Place III Hotels, whose website says it builds and operates “conscious luxury.” I believe it is developing hotels now in Holborn and Soho, two other districts of the United Kingdom capital.
That it might have patented this two-word slogan would be a coup, as the industry knows customers reward hotels they believe are doing sustainability correctly.
The BoTree has some interesting room configurations, including its largest suite that can be attached to nine additional rooms by a corridor.
Its other rooms will not disappoint, and some have Emperor-size beds, which I do not believe is a spurious claim.
Also on-site is a bar full of circular design touches and art, a large function space on two floors and a screening room with approximately 40 reclining chairs — and an outside area with a popcorn machine — that already is popular.
I was told that rock bands and musicians use the space to watch films of themselves recording and performing songs or going through stage motions before embarking on a tour, an exercise in critique, entertainment and showmanship.
Most people do not like to look at themselves performing, whether it is standing in front of a 10-person meeting at work or playing to 10,000 people at a huge arena.
Both meetings and concerts sell something, so one wants to get it right, not look uncomfortable, out of position and hapless.
This sounds like a great use of a hotel, and after all that busy work, why not a jaunt downstairs to the bar or restaurant?
All those flowers, positive vibes and sharp art, including a beautiful tree trunk made from 8,000 discarded paper coffee cups, and I left feeling a little breezier, and that must be a plus for any hotel.
Soon I hope to visit the Raffles at the Old War Office, which I am sure will present a completely different feel, but one more hotel that is welcome in the glorious madness of London.
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