The Soho Hotel’s guest list reads like the line-up at a Hollywood awards ceremony. Every inch of the Soho Hotel in London has been intricately designed; no inch of the hotel has been overlooked; down to the smallest detail, including the trademark dressmaker's dummy in each guest room.

The facilities

It's early evening and the Soho film crowd is out in force in the hotel's open-to-view restaurant, Refuel. Reserved for guests only are the fabulous cerise pink drawing room and a calmer library. Both rooms, each with a log fire, have honesty bars so you can mix your own drinks, though there's waiter service as well, and you can order dishes from the restaurant to eat there, too. Everyone looks rather glamorous and young, and a lot of them look American.

Before retreating to your room, take a peek downstairs. As well as a gym and treatment rooms, there are two screening rooms, one with wacky cowhide and red Italian leather sofas and armchairs instead of cinema seats (Friday night is film night for guests).

The rooms

As for the bedrooms, easily the best value are the mid-price rooms that share the fifth floor with the boutique hotel's enormous suites, and benefit, like them, from the views and wrap-around balcony.

The boutique hotel’s design reflects the current taste for restrained interiors without kissing goodbye to pretty things or daring combinations, and puts comfort and quality before complexity. Hence, the door keys and old-fashioned light switches, sensible bath fittings, Tivoli radios, handmade beds and the softest of carpet underfoot.

The Soho Hotel makes bold statements, and much here is oversized for effect, from the 10ft bronze Botero cat in the lobby to the headboard, sofa and pictures in our bedroom. It works for us: we feel good in this space.

It is this attention to detail that marks out boutique hotels, and the Soho Hotel is no exception. Where other hoteliers will use specialist hotel furnishing companies to kit out the basics, this boutique hotel remains individualistic.

The facilities

Furnishings are quirky and unique - the postmodern fusion of traditional English landscapes, free-standing mannequins and pink fabrics all add to the Soho Hotel’s character. The result is supremely tasteful Soho chic.

Downstairs, you are left in no doubt you are at the centre of the action. The restaurant buzzes with local media-land Wardour Street worthies, while others drift in and out of one of the two magnificent screening rooms - the 100-seater with seats of vibrant Ferrari red, the 45 seater with sofas and armchairs and arm rests to accomodate nuts and champagne. The sitting room and library are perfect for slobbing out, and there's a well stocked honesty bar.

Elsewhere in the public areas, pebbled columns mix with old worn carpenters tables, seats and benches crafted from 'found' wood, and a leather exercise horse that looks like it's seen the underside of every Prime Minister since Peel. Pale wood - bleached and limed, is everywhere. There's also a small gym with treatment rooms.

The rooms

Above all, there is a feeling of warmth at this boutique hotel. Background colours are neutral and calming, everything smells good, the thick carpeting cushions your feet and the rooms are quiet and serene. The fourth and fifth floor rooms have the best views over the sea of London rooftops. Beds are canopied in drapes, while each room sports a quirky mannequin to continue the hotel’s design scheme. Most rooms have separate power showers, and all boast Tivoli radios, DVDs, 'health conscious' minibars (with scented candles) and flat-screen TVs.