Boutique hotels are small-capacity

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a refr ...

that provide more personalized service than typical hotels. They typically have fewer than a hundred rooms, and are considered more "trendy" and "intimate", often due to their location in urban areas. They will usually also display a strong sense of aesthetic, and have a unique, un-homogenized character. They may be themed too, such as by having a focus on nature, environment, cuisine, history, community and cultural immersion, attentive service, or well-being.

History

Boutique hotels first began appearing in the 1980s in major cities such as

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. There is debate about who started the boutique hotel concept. Blakes Hotel in South Kensington, London, designed by

Anouska Hempel Anouska Hempel, Lady Weinberg (born December 1941) is a New Zealand-born film and television actress turned hotelier and interior designer. She is sometimes credited as Anoushka Hempel. Early life Hempel is of Russian and Swiss German ancestry ...

, and the Bedford by Bill Kimptom in Union Square, San Francisco, both founded in 1981, may have started the trend. The term "boutique hotel" was coined by

Steve Rubell Steve Rubell (December 2, 1943 – July 25, 1989) was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York City disco Studio 54. Early life Rubell and his brother Donald grew up in a Jewish family in the Crown Heights and Canarsie sections ...

, who compared Morgans Hotel to a

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

as opposed to a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

, to which chain hotels were compared. The hotelier

Ian Schrager Ian Schrager (born July 19, 1946) is an American entrepreneur, hotel manager, hotelier and real estate developer, credited for co-creating the "boutique hotel" category of accommodation. Originally, he gained fame as co-owner and co-founder of S ...

and the interior designer

Andrée Putman Andrée Putman (23 December 1925 – 19 January 2013) was a French interior and product designer. Life and work Childhood and youth (1925–1944) Andrée Christine Aynard was born into a wealthy family of bankers and notables from Lyon. H ...

are credited with opening the first boutique hotel, still known as the

Morgans Hotel Morgans Hotel was the world's first boutique hotel, located at 237 Madison Avenue in New York City. Founded by Studio 54 cofounder Ian Schrager as the first property in the Morgans Hotel Group, it opened in 1984. History The 1927 building w ...

. In recent times, boutique hotels have grown in popularity, corresponding with the general public's increased interest in individualized service. Many hotel chains have begun to focus on creating subsidiary hotels to establish smaller, boutique-style hotels, or in acquiring previously independent boutique hotels.

Description

Boutique hotels are typically furnished in a themed, stylish, and/or aspirational manner with distinctive concepts. These concepts often reflect the local culture of the neighborhoods in which the hotels are located. Typically, these hotels are designed to have a more "intimate" feel than many larger hotel chains. Boutique hotels are commonly found in the city centers of London, New York City,

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. They are also found in resort destinations and may be furnished with amenities such as

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

, and instructor led painting classes.

Notable boutique hotels

Breac House Breac House is a boutique hotel in County Donegal, Ireland. The hotel is on Horn Head peninsula near Dunfanaghy and overlooks Killahoey Strand, Sheephaven Bay, and Muckish Mountain. It opened in 2017. The hotel has only four guest rooms; ...

The Inn at Honey Run The Inn at Honey Run is a boutique hotel in Holmes County, Ohio near Millersburg in Ohio's Amish Country. The hotel consists of a main building housing 25 rooms and suites and a fine-dining restaurant and lounge; 12 "honeycomb" rooms, which ...

References

{{Tourism Hotel types