Set in a former bank, this grand old monolith offers a slightly different take on most hotel packages. Its rates – in themselves not extortionate – include a private bar (spirits and all), in-room movies, and all sorts of other loveliness that normally comes, in hotels of this kind, with discrete price tags. Drinks and nibbles in the bar are included too, so the tight-fisted and alcoholic can, with a dedicated effort, get the cost of their room back in booze. It’s like the all-inclusive gorge-fest of a package holiday, but in carefully considered art-deco surroundings. Hedonism indeed. Canal rooms are, naturally, the most desirable, and the modish but stylish hotel scooters (not, generally, included in the room cost) are a grand way to blend in with the locals (though the Banks Mansion branding does somewhat give you away). Check the rather cumbersome website for specials.