Boutique Hotels Are Alive and Well
What started as a movement in the early 1980s, boutique hotels have not only proven to provide travelers alternatives to hotel chains but have become more mainstream and relevant in today’s hospitality marketplace.
While travelers often prefer boutique hotels that offer intimate settings and personalized service, how do they meet the needs of new audiences who demand more personalized space, additional lifestyle amenities, attention and the authentic feel for the millennial mindset? Boutique hotels are now challenged to enhance guest experiences to meet ever-changing audiences.
This was the topic of discussion at the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association Investment Conference in New York City. Hoteliers believe, “That unique feeling of a boutique hotel has to be preserved moving forward or it strips the boutique of its appeal that drove it in the first place. Simply stated, this can be difficult, given rising costs and an increase in guests to serve.”
Success seems to be apparent as some global hotel brands have partnered with smaller boutique options. These partnerships increase engagement and audience community, offering guests more options. While others are concerned that major companies would ruin the personalized service and intimacy of boutique hotels.
If you ask someone who has been traveling for the last 30 years, they may say that boutique hotels are usually small design hotel with individual style and atmosphere and personalized service for each guest, while larger chains provide luxury and multiple amenities. Today, however, more and more millennials are traveling and want the best of both worlds.
Watch for an increase of boutique hotels, especially those coming from renovated buildings instead of brand new buildings, and those hotels will provide increased personalized service, earth and eco-friendly options, public spaces, technology and mobile device-driven services, in beautiful small spaces.
Marjorie Feltus Hawkins is co-owner of FH Design, a Nashville-based interior architecture design firm that specializes in incorporating company brand identities into hospitality, healthcare, commercial and residential spaces across the country.
Originally published in the Nashville Business Journal” and hyperlinking to each article: http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2015/09/boutique-hotels-arealive-and-well.html