Four Seasons used to be the one hotel brand that routinely got service right from the very month it opened a new property. Now the boutiquelike Firmdale Hotels can claim the same accolade: The London-based company (Charlotte Street, The Soho, and Covent Garden Hotels) unveiled the 50-room Haymarket this spring. We stayed there incognito, just four weeks into the debut, and wow—what charm, what attention to detail.

Shigeru, the Japanese German concierge, not only saved us $82 on valet parking by indicating a ticket-free Sunday spot but he also arranged for the parking meter to be fed the following morning before we awoke. My son, a Marmite fan, was given extra minipots to stuff into his pockets by a waiter who noticed his addiction. And my children's nanny, exhausted from her charges, was delivered tea when we arrived, all unasked for.