What are Boutique Hotels?
Bill Harris
While there are certainly a large number of folk who, when visiting a city, like to stay in familiar surroundings and several of the large hotel chains offer accommodation that varies little from city to city making them ideal for such people. However there are many, many people who prefer something a little more intimate and something a little bit different and such folk often choose to stay in a local guest house or small local hotel. For the last few decades there has been an increase in the number of boutique hotels in London and many other popular city destinations. The following article explains a little about boutique hotels and describes what you should expect from such accommodation.
As you may have gathered from the above paragraph boutique hotels are usually far more intimate than larger establishments. A boutique hotel is usually one which has a great deal of character offering something a little out of the ordinary. Originating in North America these types of hotels are often smaller, usually privately run, luxurious hotels offering a highly personalized service not often found in the, much larger, branded hotels and motels.
At the beginning of the 1980's tourists, travelers and traveling businessmen started to demand hotels which offered accommodation which more closely matched their lifestyles and culture. To meet this demand a small number of hotels attempted to create an appealing atmosphere to these travelers and such hotels were quickly labeled "lifestyle hotels", "design hotels" or "designer hotels".
In 1984, the Morgans Hotel in New York opened, it was owned by Ian Schrager, a famous hotelier, who had commissioned Andre Putman to design it. Morgans Hotel, New York is credited as being the world's very first Boutique hotel. There are other boutique hotels which lay claim to being the first, such as San Francisco's hotel Vintage Court which opened in 1983. Vintage Court is part of the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group Inc. which has many boutique hotels.
One of the most interesting aspects of boutique hotels is the way in which they are usually themed. Rather than concentrate on all the modern bells and whistles, often available in hotels owned by the larger chains, boutique hotels offer personality and personal service. For example the Church Street Hotel in London, a Spanish-American Boutique hotel, is decorated in a Cubano style with mexican tile work which has been hand painted with numerous items of art and furnished with excellent Colonialist furniture.
London, like many of the world's largest cities, has a large number of boutique hotels. Best Western have many hotels in the city including the boutique hotel, Shaftesbury Kensington, which has recently been refurbished and offers a huge range of services including broadband Internet access from all rooms. The hotel has all of the amenities of the largest hotels, such as bars, restaurants, conference facilities and a fitness room. The sudden and rapid growth in interest in boutique hotels has led to a little confusion over the true definition of the term and to blur things a little more several large corporations have established boutique hotels to grab a little of this expanding market.
Of all the boutique hotels in London one of the most interesting addresses is that of the, Red Carnation, 41 Hotel which is situated opposite the Royal Mews of Buckingham Palace. This five star boutique hotel is superbly placed within minutes of Buckingham palace itself, Pall Mall and other important London attractions. Staying at 41 Buckingham Palace Road, London, just has a certain ring to it when you tell friends where you stayed.
Yes it would seem that wherever you turn these days a boutique hotel is opening. In August 2008 there is even a boutique hotel opening on the remote Isle of Harris which is a small island off the west coast of Scotland. While there are certainly plenty to choose from the very nature of these hotels means that it is highly unlikely that you will ever find two that are the same. I for one will be booking into such a hotel when I next visit London or anywhere else.
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