Ultra-boutiques — hotels with a very limited number of rooms but plenty of amenities — can be big on quality, giving a few special guests a singular experience.

In Southport, Maine, the Inn at Cuckolds Lighthouse (innatcuckoldslighthouse.com) is a 19th-century lighthouse turned two-suite hideaway where cocktails are made in the panelled parlour and freshly caught lobster is served in the Shaker-style dining room.

Costa Rica's three-room El Alma (elalma.com – featured above), a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, hosts wellness retreats for just six guests at a time.

Those who check in to Amsterdam's Hôtel Droog (droog.com – featured below), meanwhile, might even feel a tad lonely: The one-room hotel sits above the Droog concept store, a cutting-edge showroom filled with pieces by Dutch designers like Marcel Wanders and Tejo Remy.

But the One and Only Bedroom, as the hotel's suite is known, is no afterthought, furnished as it is with colourful pieces from the gallery downstairs and serviced by the attentive staff of Droog's café.