I generally don’t like hotels, as they are too predictable. Most rooms have exactly the same features: they all have a bed, a tv, a bathroom, and a window. They are even laid out nearly identically. A hotel may have a pool or a spa, but there’s little to put them apart, and you’d never know if you were in Kuala Lumpur or Halifax.

Bring in the Great George Inn in Charlottetown, PEI. The Inn consists actually of 15 buildings on one block of Great George street. The inn has regular rooms, but also small apartments, right up to the Perkins suite, an opulent two-floor residence. What makes this Inn different? The little things:

• No two rooms are the same. For example, one room has an old fashioned bathtub on legs right in the middle of the room. Each room is beautifully finished and decorated.
• A free breakfast served in easy chairs in the lobby.
• Truly friendly and caring staff. They send all their frontline staff to a tourism training program. It shows.
• Staff even scraped my car’s windows in the morning!
• They don’t only offer daily rooms, but also long-term rentals. A great way to bring in additional customers in the low season.

Even though the Inn has quite a few rooms, it retains a small Inn character. Boutique hotels in other cities can’t go wrong by emulating their example.