Their hotel, open since November 3, belongs to a category called ‘boutique hotels’: such hotels are still few in the Valley, but their numbers are on the rise. What constitutes a ‘boutique hotel’ in Nepal is contestable, but the features of 3 Rooms seem to meet what international travellers expect of such institutions.  As the name implies, 3 Rooms has only three rooms. It is an exceedingly small hotel.

“For me, a boutique hotel needs to have a certain intimacy,” explains Pauline Brayda. That also means that the guest will be likely to meet one or both the Paulines in person. For although they live at the foot of the Shivapura National Park, where they run another guesthouse, they intend to drop by 3 Rooms daily.

The second word Pauline Brayda uses to describe a boutique hotel is “charme”—a French word that can be somewhat translated into its English counterpart “charm”. In the case of 3 Rooms, this means that every room has been individually decorated with a lot of care. The pebbles in the shower were collected by Pauline Driard herself from a riverbed. The copper basins demonstrate Nepali artisanry. And some of the doors are actually second-hand doors they found around the Valley.

Both the interior and the size of the rooms—one of which boasts a splendid terrace around a courtyard—make it clear that the Paulines are not targeting backpackers but a slightly more affluent clientele; but with a room rate of around US $100 per night, they have deliberately priced themselves at a cheaper rate than luxury hotels like Dwarika’s or Hyatt’s. And yet the food on offer is as good as it gets in the Valley: it’s made in the deli restaurant Chez Caroline, run by the Paulines’ close friend Caroline Sengupta, and they deliver breakfast and provide on-request room service for other meals.

For the Paulines, having just three rooms underscores their whole point about being boutique; but for Kunal Lama, who runs Café Mitra in Thamel, it is not just about having a few rooms to let. In fact, he considers the small number of beds he can offer actually something he would like to change. He is currently expanding and plans to have eight rooms by March 2015. “I currently lose an estimated 30 to 40 percent of potential customers because they are travelling in larger groups and I can’t accommodate them all,” he explains.

His rooms are cheaper, much smaller, and may not have the cosmopolitan feel of 3 Rooms. But that’s because Lama’s institution represents a different class of boutique hotels, where the boutique factor comes mostly from the family-like atmosphere in the hotel. Lama lives on the premises, greets most guests on their arrival, enjoys having breakfast with them and sometimes even accompanies them on trips around town. “That way, tourists get to see Thamel through the eyes of a local,” he explains. In his rooms, however, he has kept local influences to a minimum, as he writes on his website. It’s designed to be more of a haven for tourists who might be overwhelmed by the Kathmandu experience.

For those who are looking for a boutique hotel with as much Nepali culture and history as possible, they would probably find what they are looking for at Newa Chén, in Patan. This 350-year-old Newari building, just off Patan Durbar square, was the home of Devendra Shrestha and his family, until for lack of space the family decided to find new quarters. Luckily, for all heritage lovers, they opted for renovating the old building and keeping as much of the original elements as possible and turning it into a boutique hotel.

At Newa Chén, guests will find amenities such as a brick courtyard with a green garden, and they will be immersed in a world of intricately carved windows, straw mats, steep stairs, and—as happens to be the case with Newar architecture, in contrast to the Rana architecture at Babar Mahal Revisited—low ceilings, which taller guests need to be aware of at all times. In keeping with the theme of culture and history, the old chimney holes in the roof have been conserved, and instead of central heating, water bottles are provided to the guests in winter.

Adding to the boutique-feel in this eight-room hotel is the perennial presence of the owners. Manager Devendra Shrestha, who grew up in the premises, mans the reception desk mornings and evenings, while his wife takes over during the day. And they are happy to talk about Newari culture with any of the guests who want information born of a lived history.

For the Shresthas, renovating the house while at the same time preserving its cultural heritage was expensive, but the family was supported by Unesco and that has allowed them to keep rates for the rooms at a decent level—US $40 per night for a standard double room. “The goal was also to provide an example of how to preserve the heritage,” says Devendra Shrestha.

Since 2006, when Newa Chén got into business, a few other hotels in a similar style have sprouted around the Valley. That increase probably signals the beginning of a boutique-hotel trend in Kathmandu, as entrepreneurs realise that there is still room for growth in this sector. The Paulines too will have company soon. The next boutique hotel in Babarmahal Revisited is supposed to open its doors in 2015. However, it remains to be seen what their understanding of ‘boutique’ is.