Since around the early 1980s, boutique hotels have become a popular addition to the hospitality world. Also known as “designer,” “lifestyle” or “fashion” hotels, they appeal to the consumer’s desire for a private hotel with a difference. They enhance the spiritual and intimate design and feel, offering a strong sense of place. A sense of community, care for detail, and discreet luxury makes these hotels exciting places.
The rise in “bed-hopping” hotel consumption and the search for emotional fulfillment and escape is driving the growing interest in lifestyle hotels. Guests are no longer content with a standardized, predictable, sheltered experience. It’s more informal, interesting, and more significantly, stylish than the handmade, thoughtfully designed human touches that draw them to these hotels, and these hotels review their opinions just as much as their clientele. There is no true meaning of a boutique hotel, albeit by degree a hotel is normally defined as a boutique. Each hotel is exclusive and distinctive in its style.
History and Evolution of Boutique Hotels
Today, boutique hotels seem like the life of every bustling city’s quaint neighborhood. But these quaint stay options didn’t exactly explode onto the hospitality scene. The concept of the boutique hotel was born only four decades ago, making them a relatively modern invention by the standards of luxury and service in the hotel industry. What’s made boutique hotels so popular over the years is not just the unique aesthetic they’re known for, but the experience of personalized hospitality so closely tied to these tiny 10- and 20-room properties. The boutique hotel industry, so consumed by cookie-cut chains with hundreds of properties spanning the globe, has always welcomed an outsider. Especially one with a flair for luxury service. There have even been tiny, independent hotels that predate our current definition. It’s always fun to look back on the way things were, especially when they’re so similar to the way things are.
The first hotels that resembled our modern boutique hotels came in the ’70s, just as the disco was coming to a close. They were born out of impoverished Manhattan and earned the name “flattel” because of their affiliation with The Florentina, a cheap hotel in New York. Flattels were cozy, den-like pads that came with a living area, kitchen, and several bedrooms. Not entirely unlike the many “urban apartments” popping up on today’s travel websites. They were, after all, designed for urban travelers in need of accommodations for a length of 30 days or more; those week-long stays during a business conference would make FLT seem like a steal. After the Flattal, the Alfred, Karl & Opera, decorated in bright colors and opened in 2004 as a “lifestyle hotel,” is often considered the first official boutique in both spirit and design.
Key Characteristics of Boutique Hotels
Boutique hotels represent an interesting niche within the traditional hotel industry. This type of hotel is usually a stylish property with a highly individual design aimed at a specific market. They generally offer the atmosphere of calm and intimate surroundings that appeal to visitors. Boutiques offer a personalized level of service and make guests feel like individuals rather than customers. They often target the guest looking for a different type of experience and the one who appreciates a memorable experience in a unique hotel. In function of the design and market, they can be ranked under the following sub-categories: lifestyle hotel, concept/hostel/hotel managed by artists, green hotels, hotel de charme, nouveau chic, or fashion resorts. Typically, they are constructed in an architecturally individualistic stylish manner that is not duplicable.
It is difficult to say what makes a hotel “boutique”, as the typical criterion is largely qualitative. Instead of a set of standard requirements, hotels with boutique status are characterized by a distinct and unique personality and appeal. Therefore, boutique hotels have experienced a remarkable growth over the past ten years, as tourists are looking to improve their hotel experience. Over the years, the terms ’boutique hotel’ and ‘design hotel’ have evolved in some cases to become interchangeable, i.e. ’boutique’ means design. The information provided might help the existing or would-be boutique hoteliers can use this information to be as successful as possible. If this is the case, it is most likely that the classification of boutique hotels would follow the same principles as that of the design hotels.
Design and Aesthetics in Boutique Hotels
Boutique accommodations tend to prioritize style over a large number of rooms or other amenities found in traditional hotels. These properties are often located in historically or culturally significant communities, giving them convenient access to local attractions, restaurants, and shopping. Most boutique hotels look for ways to partner with community members for bonus benefits, such as discounts. Collectively, these elements contribute to the boutique’s emphasis on guest experience. This is part of what creates such a strong emphasis on the design and style of the physical hotels. Taking that one step further, the design and aesthetics of boutique hotels are particularly revealed in the interior decor and architecture.
Because this style of accommodation is often designed to be something unique, the exterior architecture of the hotel is often incongruent with the local style guide. You also will not find many smaller boutique hotels within the boxy architectural design that marks rooms for big-name hotels or commercial franchises. The same concept is applied in the interior of the hotel, from the lobby straight through to the individual guest rooms. It’s no lie that, from the viewer’s perspective, the first thing that pulls them in or pushes them away comes down. It happens before it even is steeper in your ad copy, because your SEO strategy is completed, and also sometimes before potential guests decide which part starts. When you wooed them with a captivating caption, the extranet began. The photo of your house was the design that made them feel welcome to stay in the first place. That’s quite a load of responsibility to rest on an internet photo, but during the initial stages of researching your accommodation, potential guests will not have any other way of communicating with your hotel. The surge of customers in search of individuality in an increasingly digital environment also forces boutique accommodations to rely solely on their effort and enthusiasm in intriguing travelers.
Notable Boutique Hotel Brands and Properties
Morgans Hotel Group is headquartered in New York but operates boutique hotels in 11 markets across the world. Their properties are best described as boutique lifestyle; locations often have a nightlife component and their offerings extend to retail and food and beverage. Known for their innovative concepts, like the original rollout of the “Minibar for the Mind,” Morgans has a dynamic portfolio.
There are 11 Thompson hotels across North America, with a handful under construction in other major markets. Each location is unique, designed to reflect the city in which it’s based. Known for strong food and beverage; both Thompson Beverly Hills and Bel-Air feature rooftop bars and restaurants. This Brooklyn-based brand opened its first hotel in Long Island City in 2012 and has since expanded to Manhattan and DC. The signature look for these urban boutique properties is including “no color” in its guestrooms, along with a mix of wood, tile, and stainless steel for an authentic rough-luxe feel. All are well outfitted for business travelers. Brand specializes in historic properties; opened their first hotel in Memphis, Tenn. The benchmark for Renaissance Hotels, known for their historical and often iconic properties catering to history buffs. Brand operates only one full-service hotel in Manhattan’s Times Square and has another, the historic Blackstone Hotel in Chicago’s Loop, under construction. Brands are currently in 94 markets.
Boutique Hotel Trends and Innovations
A host of capital is slated to pour into hotels in the coming years as the real estate investment world searches for footholds in recovering markets. As funds look to the hospitality sector, where can they get the most bang for their buck? Where should the smart developers be putting their time and energy? Boutique hotels. As much as the automotive and other industries have returned to what they did best after their downturn, so too must the hotel sector reflect on its core competencies to once again invent and reinvent its future position in the mind of the leisure and business traveler.
Even luxury hotels are taking a beating, as high-rolling vacationers are content to skip the four-star spreads in favor of an ultra-luxe private villa experience. Such motels are essential in maintaining the brand integrity of the banner, and as presented in the opening story, there is intensifying competition in the sector. On one side, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide revealed plans this past September to open more than 40 new W luxury properties in the next 5 years. Meanwhile, the Ascend Collection from Choice Hotels International (with its 3,700 worldwide properties) last week underwent a rebrand as the “me-time” boutique provider designed to reach vacationers seeking unique experiences at independent hotels. Boutique rooms do not have to follow this formula, though properties are advised to at least consider focusing on one area of expertise so management can exercise a clearly targeted plan, regardless if the operation wants solely to pursue the business traveler. Know the trends to best understand which facet of operations to put resources in, and what could fall by the wayside.
Marketing and Positioning Strategies for Boutique Hotels
It is often possible to identify boutique hotels simply by their marketing style and their efforts to position themselves. The strategies and approaches boutique hotels employ to market themselves and to position themselves will be examined in this section.
Create a brand. Unlike many hotels, members of Mr and Mrs Smith are advised not to advertise rates in any other publication at a cheaper rate than they appear on the Mr and Mrs Smith site.
Promote locally and be able to identify your top 5 local attractions. A joke about a one-page hotel business card which contained the hotel name, the hotel address, four phone numbers, a fax number and an email address, and nothing else.
Do not be a corporate chain member. Use engaging language. “Real rooms have curves” for a sofa company certainly caught the imagination. This statement made it into the top 10 of the agency’s Top 10 Headlines because it instantly attracted attention and made the revolutionary statement that sofas with curves possess warmth and style whereas straight sofas do not.
Coopers – a trendy UK chain opened its first hotel in Stratford. They are proving so popular that they are opening their third unit.
Ensure you do the obvious. You could: Offer something free. Watch your language. HipArchitecture found that whilst ‘Wigwams for sale’ evoked confusion, ‘indulge in a more unusual wigwam lifestyle’ evoked interest. Differentiate the offer by adding value.
Large bedroom with a similar general offering. The UK’s last single malt was launched by the Vintage House Hotel in Helford. Owner Butcombe brewery created the old in-room whisky fountain. Sitoy Wise’s US study found that 58.1 percent of the boutiques offer added value packages such as room extras, event extras, spa extras or food and beverage extras. This is a growing trend against the 2005 ground-breaking study in which 42.6 percent of hotels provided added value packages.
Use ‘it’s just wonderful’ USPs. Minimize the marketing kitsch with 2-in-1 rates, special room categories and day parts in your food & beverage offer.
Promote to women and/or the gay community. Develop your website. Niche market research conducted by Will Thomas of Great Hotels of the World proposes developing a website presence targeting potential female visitors. According to Thomas, women visiting hotels have a 51 percent additional spend, of which 11 percent will include spa treatments.
Sustainability Practices in Boutique Hotels
The boutique hotel market is moving online and beginning to engage in business relationships with OTAs. Deprivation of commissions and improved accessibility of customer data are major issues this sector will face. Interaction between OTAs, boutique hotels, and the consumer should be further developed until the sector mirrors the situation in the traditional hotel sector. ‘Avant-garde on the Peninsula’ provides an in-depth analysis of the boutique hotel industry in Portugal. It outlines the importance of the use of internet intermediaries to this sector, making it possible for small, independent, luxurious accommodation choices to move into the global market with no previous presence. It also presents primary research that gives insight into how these people choose providers such as booking.com. A comprehensive presentation of the responses, as well as implications for the Portuguese boutique market, potential for bookings using this platform, and possible growth of interaction and service provision online, are included. Complementary studies of boutique hotels are available dealing with: an overview of the boutique hotel product; a study on the needs, preferences, and internet use of boutique hotel users – ‘Selected personality characteristics described since People began having them’; and a review of boutique and lifestyle chains – ‘The Boutique Hotel Company’.