hotels

boutiqueluxurylifestyle
a short analysis v1 by jan hauters august 24, 2012

boutique

FIRST DRAFT.
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DEFINITION
Although the Oxford Dictionary defines a boutique hotel as "a small stylish hotel, typically one situated in a fashionable urban location," one can easily disagree when looking at the size of Ian Schrager's famous boutique hotels or when one finds that much sought after little hotel hidden away on a mountain top or in a resort far away from the city's buzzing.

What it is not:
B&B chain hotel motel star-rated hotel branded hotel simply a "lodging accommodation for travelers".

What it can be:

destination-making quality positively surprising high concept architecture & design sensitive atmosphere immersed in a unique setting comfortable intimate authentic & distinct minimalist fashionable hip combined with history & chic niche fantasy lifestyle a unique experience non-standard/non-conformist theme-based offering less than 150 rooms (not Ian Schrager) highly personalised service attitude multi-sensorial generous amenities targeted users (mid 20 to 50; mid to upper income)

CONTEXT
A Short Historical Context of Its Beginnings
The boutique hotel finds its beginnings in 1981 with the opening of The Blakes Hotel, South Kensington, London, UK designed by Anouska Hempel as well as with the Kimpton Group's Bedford hotel in Union Square, San Francisco. In 1984 Ian Schragerthe world-renowned real-estate entrepreneur (famous for such iconic places as Studio54)established the Morgans Hotel designed by Andre Putnam and located in Murray HIll, New York. Since then selfproclaimed boutique hotels have sprouted up around the world and have been co-opted by the large chains and hotel property owners such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. with its luxury boutique hotel brand; W Hotels. Starwood owns, amongst others, Westin, Sheraton and St. Regis.

CONTEXT
A Short Context of the Surrounding Polemics
Some would argue Starwood's W Hotels are not boutique; they are a chain. Similarly so for Hotel du Vin, who's founder (Robin Hutson) even denies it being boutique for that very reason (Lea, 2002, p. 35). Another such hotels are those under the Swire Hotels category and its "House Collection" (i.e. The Opposite House in Beijing and The Upper House in Hong Kong). They are certainly attractive luxury hotels. To some they are perhaps questionably boutique hotels. For the reason of having too large a number of rooms and perhaps other attributes some argue Schrager's hotels are neither boutique. He himself does not seem too keen on promoting them as such 'hip' places but rather as placed for an entertaining experience. One can conclude the views on this market niche are not homogenous; they are divided. (Lea, 2002, p. 35) Did Hilton and Le Meridien play it clever when they respectively opened their "lifestyle hotels" and their "Art and Tech Bedrooms?" (Lea, 2002, p. 36)

Although the label of boutique is not ideal the reasons for using it are supposedly solid. The label offers "common currency and thus permits debate... It is widely used in the US, the worlds biggest hospitality market... As a result, market data has been collated and analysed on the basis of a defined US hotel market sector." (Lea, 2002, p. 35) That stated, it seems the high-end boutique hotels tend to differentiate themselves by using a label of "Luxury Hotel." The alternative term of "Lifestyle hotel" is also opted for. Though, the latter seems not clearly defined as a luxury hotel per se.

SETTING
The boutique hotel capitalizes on several attributes. It is necessarily so that most if not all attributes need to be present for it to be defined/experienced as a boutique hotel. Boutique hotels have roughly two environments or settings 1/ resort setting preferably within a hard to spot or reach location with fabulous views and atmosphere 2/ city setting within a trendy or chic neighborhood The city setting is historically the original setting of a boutique hotel though currently one can no longer use this setting as a determining attribute for the hotel to be defined as boutique.

REFERENCES
[more on demand] http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4010409.search? query=luci Lea, K. (2002). the boutique hotel fad or phenomenon? in Locum Destination Review. LDR7; issue 7, 2002. pp. 34-39. Retrieved on 20 August, 2 0 1 2 f r o m w w w. l o c u m c o n s u l t i n g . c o m / p d f / LDR7BoutiqueHotels.pdf http://www.bedford-hotel.co.uk/ http://www.bedfordhotel.com/ http://www.blakeshotels.com/ http://www.hotelduvin.com/ http://www.hotel-g.com/ http://www.michaels-houses.com/ http://www.morganshotel.com/en-us/#/home/ http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/index.html http://www.theemperorbeijing.cn/ http://www.theoppositehouse.com/ http://www.upperhouse.com/en/default.aspx

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