Review of Tigerlily, by Vitali Vitaliev

Having given up cigarettes nearly two years ago, I am still instinctively sensitive to a smoking (or these days overwhelmingly non-smoking) policy of the establishment I am staying at - a result of many years of humiliation and harassment I had experienced as a smoker at American hotels. This is why a cool and cosy smoking room, with comfy wooden benches, heaters and a palm-tree in the middle, at Tigerlily, a multi-award-winning boutique hotel in the centre of Edinburgh, impressed me more than its astounding Graven Images décor and its imaginative Kevan Shaw "cloud" lighting.

Branded "effortlessly cool" (The Guardian) and "indefatigably girly" (Conde Nast Traveller), to me Tigerlily appealed first and foremost as an extremely democratic institution. Democracy at Tigerlily starts with a separate private entrance for the guests which helps them bypass the ever-crowded lobby, with its stunningly designed, beautifully lit up and orchid-ridden bars and restaurants - and those include Edinburgh's poshest nightclub Lulu.

As you make your way up the winding Georgian "grand staircase" (the hotel occupies a listed converted Georgian town house, the former offices of Standard Life) under the treacherous dancing lights reflected by rotating disco balls, you can watch authentic Georgian bas-reliefs on the wall come to life and wink at you cheekily…

No matter what category your room (the hotel has two Georgian suites, seven mini-suites and twenty four rooms out of which eleven are smoking ones and two are specially equipped for disabled guests), you are bound to find in it the following: a plasma-screen TV, with a DVD console (in my mini-suite, it was malfunctioning) and a surround sound hi-fi system; an iPod, preloaded with everything from Elvis Presley to Arctic Monkeys; a self-service "democratic" mini-bar allowing you to mix your own gin & tonic, and an enormous Pavarotti-size bed, with ample supply of pillows and cushions.

What else? A sturdy umbrella (an indispensable Edinburgh item) in the cupboard; a hair-drier and (unusually) a hair-straightener in a desk drawer; a shaving and dental kits on top of all "usual" White Company designer toiletries in the bathroom above a set of two snow-white bathrobes lit up with soft red lights from somewhere underneath the towel shelf...

My mini suite also had a remote-controlled fire place, built into the wall and laid out with pebbles. It made the room feel cosy and home-like - particularly after a casual look through the window at the rainy Edinburgh cityscape. On that sort of a day, one doesn't really feel like waking up until very late - even at the peril of missing one's breakfast. At Tigerlily, however, you don't have to worry about that: breakfast is served until noon every day and until 6 pm (not a typo: until 6 o'clock in the evening!) on Sundays.

Hedonistic? Of course! But hedonists - like smokers - deserve some respect too!