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All About Boutique Hotels
By RomanticHeart | May 31, 2009
It is becoming increasingly common to see that many of the new, smaller, hotels are describing themselves as a “Boutique Hotel”. All across the world, in such places as the city of London in the UK, there appears to be an increase in the number of hotels describing themselves as a “Boutique Hotel” but what makes a boutique hotel and where did they originate from? The article below examines this question in detail.
More often than not a boutique hotel is owned, run and maintained by one family, a couple, and in some cases, small hotel chains specializing in this type of accommodation. However, there has been a recent trend for some of the larger hotel chains to build hotels to meet the specific demand for these hotels so this distinction may not hold true for much longer! Nearly all boutique hotels are uniquely styled to a high quality, especially in the decoration and furnishings, and commonly based upon a theme (such as a period in time). Such themes can range from a hotel decorated and furnished in the 17th Century style to one which is focused on chocolate for avid chocoholics. Although the vast majority of boutique hotels are based upon one particular theme or style, from time to time, you will find such a hotel that chooses to have each room individually styled upon different, and sometimes contrasting, themes.
Where Was The First Boutique Hotel?
Boutique hotels first appeared in the late 1980s in New York USA. Although some hotels claim to have been boutique hotels as far back as 1981 in places such as London UK and San Francisco the first hotel to be described as such was the ‘Morgans’ hotel, New York, in 1984. These earlier claimants were, therefore, subsequently described as such and can not, realistically, claim to be the first.
‘Morgans’ hotel was owned by Steven Rubell and Ian Schrager who had commissioned the Parisian designer Andrée Putman to create a unique, highly stylized, hotel in New York. Putman created the hotel in what has become known as an “America meets Europe” fashion. Morgans needed to be promoted and to do this Steven Rubell set out to make a distinction between his hotel and those of the large hotel chains. He described other hotels as “department store” hotels and his own as a “boutique hotel” to show the distinctive difference – thus the phrase entered the English language for the first time.
Interesting Boutique Hotels in the United Kingdom
42 The Calls (hotel) in Leeds claims to be one of the first to appear in the UK. The Calls was a hotel built in the carcass of an old corn mill and used that as the overall theme. The hotel is well known for featuring superb, and extremely comfortable, hand crafted beds in each room and, interestingly, it also has some of the old corn mills original machinery.
The Blake’s Hotel in South Kensington, London, is often quoted as being one of the first boutique hotels in the world but, although this appeared before Morgans in New York, for the reasons outlined above this claim is often dismissed. Ever since the first boutique hotels appeared they have spread across the United Kingdom until they recently reached the remote island of Harris, where a boutique hotel recently opened in the small village of Tarbert, however the vast majority are to be found in London.
If you are planning a trip to, or a vacation in, London and you are considering booking a boutique hotel you may wish to check out the listings of boutique hotels in London at http://www.londonhotelhelper.com/
Topics: Romantic Getaways | 1 Comment »
May 31st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I know Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest can’t be described as a London boutique hotel but it’s nevertheless a favourite with Londoners. Owned by Gerard and Nina Basset (Gerard was co-founder of Hotel du Vin), it is in my opinion the archetypal boutique hotel. Not only is it of a contemporary style but it also has the distinction of being renowned for wine and wine events. Hardly surprising when Gerard is one of the world’s top sommeliers and Laura Rhys, the hotel’s sommelier, is UK Sommelier of the Year 2009.