Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels by Tivoli

This guide to the Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels by Tivoli in Doha opens in 1950 with a merchant stepping through a plain wooden door, murmuring a word spoken before any first crossing, into what became Doha's oldest hotel. It follows the traders who lodged there for months off pearling boats and caravan routes, and the early-2000s rebuilding of Souq Waqif after fire and neglect nearly erased the market, stone by stone. Staff here still pass round a smoking clay burner of bakhoor at check-in, agarwood smoke held under sleeves and hair before the crowd arrives.