What does it mean to “feel at home” while traveling?

It means staying in small hotels where the staff recognizes you and gets to know you by the end of your vacation! The number of rooms is often a good indicator of this. In our article on unique boutique hotels, you’ll find ten wonderful hotels with just 11 to 38 rooms. However, size alone doesn’t make a hotel feel like home.

Indicators of hotels with a family atmosphere include:

• Personal flair instead of anonymous service
• Hosts who are approachable and authentic. In most cases, the hosts are a family who are fully committed to their profession, and you will meet them every time you visit.
• Rooms were designed with attention to detail, not from a catalog. They reflect the hosts’ philosophy and personal taste.
• Few rooms
• Cozy atmosphere
• Regional cuisine is served, and your personal preferences are taken into account when it comes to meals.

Why are more and more travelers looking for exactly that?

In a world that constantly demands something from us—one that is digital, fast-paced, and geared toward efficiency and mass production—many people are developing a growing desire for authenticity. Rather than staying at faceless hotel chains, more and more travelers are seeking places where they feel truly welcome and can have meaningful encounters with people, cultures, and places.

Family-run hotels offer exactly that: personal interactions with the owners, insider tips on places to visit off the beaten path, and an atmosphere that feels more like visiting friends than staying in a hotel.

Slow Travel and the Counter-Movement to Mass Tourism

The concept of slow travel also plays a role, meaning traveling more consciously and at a slower pace. Stay longer, take in more, and immerse yourself more deeply. Last but not least, many choose these accommodations because they are often sustainably oriented. Rooted in the region, owner-operated, and committed to environmental awareness and social responsibility.

Four examples of familiar hotels with heart and that personal touch

#1 Relais del Maro, Liguria — Feel at home in the heart of a village

The Relais del Maro is actually the reason we came up with the idea for this article. When you arrive, you immediately sense that this place has soul. Elena Scalambrin founded and built the Albergo Diffuso in Borgomaro with her parents—not just as a place to stay, but as a project to revitalize their hometown.

The Albergo Diffuso concept places 14 lovingly restored rooms and suites across three historic family-owned buildings that once served as residences and commercial spaces. Skilled artisans furnished each room individually, using traditional techniques and paying great attention to detail. Here, you can live among the villagers.

You can go to the main house for meals and to use the pool. This place used to be a butcher’s shop. Elena is often available to assist you, and you will grow fond of the entire village community, including the mini market, the bakery, the hairdresser, and the small church with its dedicated pastor.

#2 Hotel Bella Vista Zermatt — Family-friendly, panoramic views, and comfort

Nestled above the car-free village of Zermatt, the Hotel Bella Vista boasts direct views of the Matterhorn and offers a harmonious blend of nature, warmth, and sustainability. This small, 21-room hotel is incredibly cozy! It is built entirely of wood and features hand-crafted furniture, an open fire in the lobby, and a Swiss stone pine room in the wellness area.

The Anthamatten family runs the hotel and will make you feel right at home. Fabienne Anthamatten, for example, can give you hiking and skiing tips. She knows secret routes where you won’t encounter anyone for hours. She can also explain how you can ski all the way to Italy, starting right outside the hotel—including tips for lunch stops along the way!.

Stefanie, her sister, will often greet you at the front desk, and when she’s not there, she’s probably leading a yoga retreat. As a trained yoga teacher, she brings an extra sense of calm and mindfulness to the hotel. Mother Anthamatten also has a significant influence on the hotel, particularly through her traditional recipes that the kitchen team adopted. (Tip: Be sure to try her Zermatter hay soup!) The family also has a real mountain guide and mountain rescuer in Simon Anthamatten. He is very active in the region and organizes the “Ultraks” trail running event, among other things.

• Tip: We recommend the newly renovated “Sky Lounge” rooms located in the attic, where you can see the mountain peaks from your bed through a skylight.

#3 Hotel Okelmann’s in Lower Saxony – Arrive, take a breather, and wish you could stay forever

The charming Eco-Hotel Okelmann’s in the small Lower Saxony village of Warpe is now run by the fourth generation of the Okelmann family. Sisters Kristin and Maren manage the hotel today with great dedication and a clear commitment to nature. Maren is a trained yoga teacher and singing bowl therapist who oversees the retreats and yoga classes offered there. Kristin, on the other hand, loves good food, a topic covered in our article on northern German cuisine.

Father Helmut is enthusiastic about the project, too. As a passionate cyclist, he enjoys offering personalized tour recommendations and has published his own routes on Komoot for guests.

With only sixteen individually designed rooms, Okelmann’s is a boutique hotel in the truest sense — manageable, personal, and intimate. Highlights include the small sauna in a converted shepherd’s wagon, the wooden whirlpool, and the delicious homemade cakes at Café Heimatliebe. Incidentally, the cake display doesn’t always feature what’s on the menu. Mama Okelmann likes to get creative, so new, unplanned creations often make their way into the café..

#4 Hotel Weihrerhof in South Tyrol — a family hotel with lake access and a passion for books

On the shores of Lake Wolfsgruben on the Ritten plateau in South Tyrol lies the Weihrerhof, a place that exudes tranquility and is steeped in history. Run by the Pichler family, the Weihrerhof has only 23 rooms and offers opportunities for personal encounters and genuine relaxation in nature.

In 1967, Friedl and Zilli Pichler fulfilled their dream of owning a guesthouse with eleven rooms and a breakfast island built by Friedl himself in the lake. Today, Klaus Pichler and his family are the second generation to run the guesthouse, doing so with great dedication. Reading is one of the family’s favorite pastimes. You will find a bestseller library here that is open to guests. Manuela Pichler will be delighted if you browse through it and ask her for advice on your holiday reading. Or, you can go straight for a “blind date with a book.” The family has even published their own children’s book with stories about the lake. Fittingly, the style here is very cozy, with lots of wood, natural decorations, and lovely details.

#5 Naturresort Gerbehof — a lovingly run organic hotel

You will also find a family-run hotel near the famous Lake Constance – the Naturresort Gerbehof. It is not located on the lakeshore, however, but about five kilometers away in the middle of its own organic farm. The small, 40-room hotel is run by the Wagner family. You can meet Ursula, Bruno, and their children, Priska, Christel, and Ralph, on the website. Each family member has their own area of responsibility, and they all work together to provide passionate and dedicated service.

A vacation that’s like staying with friends

The small Green PearlsⓇ hotels featured in this article offer the comfort of a real vacation combined with the cozy feeling of arriving at a friend’s house. They offer homemade food, genuine recommendations, and plenty of space to relax. Best of all, you won’t even have to clear the table or wash the dishes at the end of the day. Sounds pretty perfect, doesn’t it?

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Huge hotel complexes might have some amenities, like a few restaurants or shops on-site. But if you’re looking for a more private and intimate atmosphere, boutique hotels with just a few rooms are a better choice. In fact, at our smallest Green Hotel partner, La Casona in Peru, with just 11 rooms, you’ll feel like you’re staying with friends in Cusco. But what does “boutique” and “small” really mean? And are small hotels always more sustainable than large ones?

Sustainable Hotels – Large vs. small

Good, small, rural hotels and bad, big, urban hotels – sounds logical, doesn’t it? But it’s not that simple. We see this very clearly in the Green PearlsⓇ network: every type of hotel – large or small, in the city or in the country – can make its own contribution to sustainability.

Are smaller hotels more sustainable than their larger counterparts?

True, smaller hotels are often more sustainable or have an easier time becoming more sustainable. Many small hotels represent the personal visions of the owners, and many green pioneers have created their own hotels. For most of them, money is not everything. They are putting their heart and soul into their project, their life’s work. It is also easier to make changes in a small hotel with fewer rooms, fewer guests, and less logistical effort.

Small hotels’ environmental advantages

• The personal spirit of the owners:  Decisions can be implemented more quickly and owners are often in close contact with guests and responsive to their needs.
• Local manufacturing: While large hotel chains tend to have international supply chains, small hotels often work with other local businesses.
• Local food: The same is true for the food. Some of the boutique hotels even have their own garden or small farm where they grow the food for the kitchen.
• Your money remains in the destination:  With international hotel chains, your money may not actually arrive at your destination (e.g. you are on vacation in Bali  and the money is collected in the USA)

Big hotel – big impact

On the other hand, when large hotels, or even an entire chain, embraces sustainable practices, it has a greater overall impact than a single small boutique hotel going green.

An example?

• When the Berlin hotel chain A&O told guests in its (then) 39 hotels in 2019 that they could voluntarily refrain from daily cleaning, it saved 75,000 liters of water, 20,000 garbage bags and 708 kWh of electricity in just two months.
• According to research by Focus Online, the Accor hotel group alone orders 100,000 plastic-wrapped disposable slippers each year for its 330 hotels in Germany. A huge amount of waste that could be significantly reduced if guests would bring their own slippers.

On the other hand, large hotels may take a long time to implement environmentally friendly measures (from soap dispensers to photovoltaic systems) due to the hierarchical structure of the company and the sheer number of rooms.

10 sustainable boutique hotels (11 to 38 rooms) – our recommendations

Definition: Boutique hotels are characterized by the fact that they are personally and individually managed and are often found in the luxury segment. The maximum number of rooms is not precisely defined, but we use >40 rooms as a benchmark.

#1 Casa León Royal Retreat, Gran Canaria, Spain (27 rooms)

If you are looking for an authentic and sustainable way to experience the popular vacation island of Gran Canaria, Casa León Royal Retreat is the place to be. The small boutique hotel with pool is surrounded by a large garden with native plants. Almost all of the 27 rooms have panoramic windows with fantastic views.

The hotel takes great pride in maintaining a neat and quiet atmosphere and offers a shuttle service several times a day to the beach, the city, or to one of the nearby golf courses.

Sustainability:

The German-speaking owner family is committed to the environment and has, for instance, leased a forest to offset the hotel’s CO2 emissions. There is also an advanced rainwater collection system, local food, and many other green initiatives.

#2 Biohotel Grafenast, Tirol, Austria (23 rooms)

It’s quaint and cozy at Biohotel Grafenast, which sits 1,300 meters above the Tyrolean Inn Valley. Some of the 23 rooms are specially designed for families, with separate children’s rooms, private terraces, and even private saunas. You can even rent a tiny house on the property.

A vacation here is perfect for experiencing nature in the Tyrolean mountains (with winter sports during the season). The Bio Boutique Hotel also offers courses in yoga and fasting, as well as activities for children. A nature spa with forest sauna and hammam offers relaxation.

Sustainability:

The Unterlechner family’s small organic hotel looks back on over 100 years of family history. The hotel has been organic since the early 1980s. For Peter and Waltraud Unterlechner, organic and sustainability are part of their lifestyle, and protecting the environment is very important to them.

#3 La Casona, Cusco, Peru (11 rooms)

La Casona is a luxurious 5-star boutique hotel located in the ancient Inca city of Cusco and an excellent base for visiting Machu Picchu and other ancient Inca sites. In 2023, the hotel was awarded the Editor’s Choice Award in the “Remarkable Returns” category by the prestigious Hideaway Report. “In this 11-room retreat, guests feel as if they are in their own private villa in Cusco,” wrote the critics. Art lovers will appreciate the restored original frescoes in the rooms of the 500-year-old building.

Sustainability:

La Casona belongs to our Green PearlsⓇ partner Inkaterra, a pioneer of sustainability in Peru. The owner family has already implemented numerous environmental initiatives, such as water conservation and biodiversity (butterflies, orchids), and is involved in social projects.

#4 Relais del Maro, Liguria, Italy (14 rooms)

The Relais del Maro is located in the picturesque village of Borgomaro, in the heart of Liguria, and is warmly run by owner Elena Scalambrin. She and her parents set up the boutique hotel as an Albergo Diffuso. Meaning that you’ll find the 14 rooms in several historic buildings (former family homes and business premises).

Sustainability:

By building the Albergo Diffuso, Elena has made a significant contribution to the preservation of the Italian village. Not only has she found new uses for vacant buildings, but she has also revitalized the last remaining businesses such as the bakery, restaurant, and hairdresser. In addition, the family and local craftsmen lovingly restored the rooms, in some cases using historic techniques.

#5 Keemala, Phuket, Thailand (38 rooms)

The 38 luxurious pool villas are nestled in the treetops of a tropical Phuket forest overlooking the ocean. Within the forest, which has been preserved as much as possible, is the resort’s own fruit, vegetable, and herb garden. A cooking class will teach you about the local plants and how to harvest and prepare fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sustainability:

The Somnam family built the resort without any major impact on the environment and it follows an exemplary zero-waste concept. The siblings Samornpun and Tanapong (known as Tarn and Note) Somnam are very close to nature and thus invite you to explore the “magical forest” barefoot during their yoga retreats.

#6 Hotel Bella Vista, Zermatt, Switzerland (21 rooms)

In car-free Zermatt, Switzerland, the Hotel Bella Vista is located just above the town center with a fantastic view of the Matterhorn. In winter it is right next to a ski slope, and in summer the hiking trails start right outside the front door. The Anthamatten family is running the hotel and offers a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Dogs are also welcome.

Sustainability:
Furnishings are made from local wood and natural materials. You will also get to taste local organic food. The host family is very close to nature and tries to find the most sustainable solution for all decisions.

#7 Waldhotel Fletschhorn, Saas-Fee, Switzerland (13 rooms)

Established in 1906, the Waldhotel Fletschhorn is an oasis of peace amidst the snow-capped peaks of the surrounding four-thousanders. You can have breakfast at your convenience with fresh organic ingredients (without the famous “battle at the buffet”). A fresh coffee or tea, prepared with water from the hotel’s own mountain spring, rounds your breakfast off.

All 13 rooms have a balcony or terrace. The boutique hotel is famous for its à la carte dinners, and each course comes with a wine pairing.

Sustainability:

In addition to fresh spring water and green electricity, the Waldhotel engages in projects regarding animal welfare, the environment, and social commitment. The culinary concept includes the use of regional organic products.

#8 Hôtel Le Pavillon, Paris, France (15 rooms)

Located in the central 7th district of Paris, the small Hôtel Le Pavillon is in the heart of the French capital. The most famous sights such as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre are within walking distance.

The German speaking owners have decorated their small hotel in an artistic and individual way and also offer rooms shielded from electro smog. The hotel also has revitalized water and special room air filters.

PS: Hôtel Le Pavillon is a member of the Green Spirit Hotels Paris network, along with Hôtel Malar and Hôtel Amélie.

Sustainability:

The hotel was built from an existing building (a former convent) and focuses on organic products for breakfast and reducing waste. The owners and staff will be happy to give you insider tips on alternative places (e.g. vintage shops, weekly markets or a repair café) where you can experience the metropolis in a sustainable way.

#9 Strandhaus Boutique Resort & Spa, Spreewald, Germany (20 rooms)

The Strandhaus Boutique Resort & Spa has an inviting location, surrounded by the arms of the Spree River. Boat rides start right outside the door.

The hotel with only 20 rooms has a wellness area, a beach café, a restaurant (with authentic Spreewald cuisine), a library, and a beautiful garden with a green beach directly at the river.

Sustainability:

The hotel supports youth welfare, a kindergarten, and the local shooting club in Lübben. It also employs local staff. In general, the Strandhaus is a place where regionalism and the preservation of traditions are very important. Food comes from local farmers and some is growing in the hotel’s own garden.

#10 Farmhouse Smiling Gecko, Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia (34 Rooms)

At the Farmhouse Smiling Gecko you can stay in bungalows on stilts (with terraces and rain showers) or in one of the rooms in the Khmer House. There are a total of 34 rooms in 17 houses – the pool with sundeck or the restaurant serve as common meeting points.

The unique feature: The Farmhouse is not just a luxury resort – it is a non-profit project! The Smiling Gecko Project supports the rural people of Cambodia to help themselves. People learn various trades in training centers, and 40 Cambodians are permanently working at the Farmhouse at an above-average salary.

Sustainability:

In addition to social sustainability, you can also experience the farm-to-table concept here. Meaning that the food comes directly from their own organic gardens and the surrounding agriculture.

Hotel categorization by number of rooms

The average hotel has about 150 rooms. As our analysis of available statistics shows, there are slightly fewer in Germany and Italy, and slightly more in Dubai.

If you search the Internet to find out how many rooms a small, large, or medium-sized hotel has, you will find a wide variety of values. So here is our own definition:

According to Green PearlsⓇ, you can divide hotels into the following categories:

< 30 rooms: small hotel

< 40 rooms: boutique hotel

40 to 100 rooms: midsize hotel

100 to 150 rooms: larger hotel

>150 rooms: large hotel

Finally, we would like to know your opinion – do you prefer to stay in large or small hotels? What size room do you think is ideal? Tell us in the comments!

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Der Beitrag Small but Exquisite: Ten unique boutique hotels with a sustainable philosophy erschien zuerst auf GREEN TRAVEL BLOG.