When it comes to luxury hospitality, Forbes Travel Guide makes one point unmistakably clear: while design and amenities matter, the highest recognition is awarded for service — especially for how intuitively a hotel understands and fulfils a guest’s needs. The emotional quality of the experience is just as important as the technical execution.

This is where small boutique hotels hold a real advantage. With fewer rooms and fewer guests, they can notice more, respond faster and create a level of personal attention that large properties often struggle to deliver. Intimacy, when guided by emotional intelligence, becomes a strength — but it requires knowing exactly where the boundary is.

A friend of mine experienced the opposite in a charming little boutique hotel in Portofino. It was her birthday, and she was taking part in a small fitness challenge with her girlfriends: every morning the women filmed a three-minute plank and sent the video to their group chat to keep each other motivated. That day she set up her phone on the beach, pressed “record,” and began in silence. Halfway through, the hotel staff suddenly appeared with a birthday cake and a candle, hoping to surprise her. They stood around her as she held the plank, unable to react while the phone kept recording. Their intention was kind, but the timing and the level of intrusion were completely off. In thoughtful hospitality, luxury should enhance a guest’s rhythm rather than interrupt it.

By contrast, the most successful boutique hotels understand this balance beautifully. In a small Alpine property, a guest once mentioned she liked lemon-verbena tea. The next morning, without ceremony, a warm thermos appeared outside her door with a handwritten note wishing her a peaceful walk. Quiet, considerate, exactly right. In another tiny coastal hotel, a couple arrived exhausted after a long delay. Instead of overwhelming them with questions, the team upgraded their room, left warm soup inside, softened the lights and added a gentle message: “Rest first. Everything else can wait.”

Simple, human and deeply comforting.

This, in many ways, is what Forbes defines as exceptional service: anticipatory, personalised, consistent and delivered with genuine care. And a small boutique hotel — precisely because of its scale — can achieve this with extraordinary depth. When the story, the setting and the service philosophy come together, intimate hospitality can outshine even the grandest luxury brands.