Hotel Kabuki

Class: First

Style: Japanese

Rooms: 218

Previously a slightly faded chain hotel, the Kabuki now belongs to San Francisco’s homegrown Joie de Vivre boutique hotel group. And under their direction it’s looking to recapture a bit of the optimistic jet-set romance that must have accompanied the opening of this modernist concrete high-rise back in the Sixties.

The location is perhaps a bit out of the way for San Francisco first-timers — if it’s a walk on the wharf or a stroll around Union Square you’re after then you’ll get friendly with the local cabbies. But the neighborhood itself is a unique one — Japantown is as close as you can get to an authentic slice of Tokyo in the States, and you’re close to Fillmore Street, which spans from jazz clubs at the bottom to fancy restaurants and boutique shopping at the top.

Rooms are charmingly Japanese, with Japanese-style soaking tubs and an Eastern tinge to the décor, plus a welcome tea service that’s derived from the traditional tea ceremony. For the full effect book one of the suites, which come with traditional tatami-style bedrooms, complete with shoji screens and futons. Downstairs is the O Izakaya restaurant, and nearby (but unaffiliated) is the Kabuki Springs Spa, one of the city’s best-kept secrets.