Thanks for the heads up BigRuss. Perusing some of the accomodation sites last night I was concluding that a lot may be "lost in translation" in the various descriptions!

There are just the two of us so it may well be a toss up between hotels and apartments. On our last visit we did enjoy our stays in the smaller, cheaper ryokans and minshukus but nowadays I think I would prefer en suite facilities where possible.

I will have a look at Oakwood (never heard of them) and Citadines which I have used before.

Oakwood is all over the place. There are about 5-7 in London. Usually for extended stays, but they do rent by the night especially in Asia.