HotelBlogs was attending yesterday the 1st edition of the Boutique Hotel Summit
held at the St Ermin's Hotel in London. Overall it was a successful
event for a first edition and more than 100 people attended the event
through the day. Congratulations to Piers Brown, his team, the speakers and the sponsors to make this event to happen.
The first panel was giving an introduction to what exactly is a Boutique hotel. How do you differentiate a Boutique hotel from a Lifestyle hotel. Many definitions were given and we couldn’t really grasp one unique answer to this question.
The first panel was giving an introduction to what exactly is a Boutique hotel. How do you differentiate a Boutique hotel from a Lifestyle hotel. Many definitions were given and we couldn’t really grasp one unique answer to this question.
Stephane Baghdassarian from GLA Hotels believes a Boutique hotel is becoming more traditional and Lifestyle more modern.
Tim Walton from Marriott reveals that the group is fairly new to the boutique hotel concept. His definition of a boutique hotel is: independent, stylish, quirky, high level of services.
James Lohan, Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith has another alternative definition: boutique hotels are those properties who come up with a unique proposition and get rid of the pompous old school criteria of a traditional hotel
Frances Kiradjian, Founder of the Boutique Lifestyle Lodging Association makes a clear distinction in terms of size. Boutique properties have less than 100 rooms and Lifestyle have less than 300. Boutique provides a unique service, historic, authentic, styling, cool whereas Lifestyle is more about personality, way of life, more personal, health and fitness, modern.
Craig Markham from Firmdale Hotels thinks Boutique is about small size property, individual style and high personal service.
Finally, Jason Pomeranc from Thompson Hotels reminds the audience that the revolution of the Boutique Hotel concept was when Ian Schrager came in the hospitality sector and disrupted the industry with his creative hotels: you didn’ t know what to expect when you enter one of his properties (St Martins Lane in London for instance is one of his creation and was opened in 2000).
The panel then started to discuss about the involvement of big hotel groups in the Boutique hotel market.
Some will say that hotel groups can create Boutique hotel brands but manufacturing the Boutique hotel is hard to accomplish without paying attention to the staff (training) and the individuality of each property. Lifestyle concept came into play because W hotels and other brands were not anymore developping small properties (W hotel in London has 192 rooms and suites for instance). It seems to me that a Boutique hotel has to have a different formula for each property based on location, target market, locals and so on.
HotelBlogs asked this question to the panel: is there an opportunity to develop Boutique hotels for the moderate budget conscious traveller? Why Boutique hotels have to be only about luxury?
The panel was pretty unanimous about the fact there is a gap in the Boutique hotel sector to tap into. And there are opportunities to fill this gap in key cities . Citizen M is for me one of the best example of a Boutique hotel brand that is appealing to the moderate budget of a traveller on Leisure or Business.
What is your definition of a Boutique Hotel?
Tim Walton from Marriott reveals that the group is fairly new to the boutique hotel concept. His definition of a boutique hotel is: independent, stylish, quirky, high level of services.
James Lohan, Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith has another alternative definition: boutique hotels are those properties who come up with a unique proposition and get rid of the pompous old school criteria of a traditional hotel
Frances Kiradjian, Founder of the Boutique Lifestyle Lodging Association makes a clear distinction in terms of size. Boutique properties have less than 100 rooms and Lifestyle have less than 300. Boutique provides a unique service, historic, authentic, styling, cool whereas Lifestyle is more about personality, way of life, more personal, health and fitness, modern.
Craig Markham from Firmdale Hotels thinks Boutique is about small size property, individual style and high personal service.
Finally, Jason Pomeranc from Thompson Hotels reminds the audience that the revolution of the Boutique Hotel concept was when Ian Schrager came in the hospitality sector and disrupted the industry with his creative hotels: you didn’ t know what to expect when you enter one of his properties (St Martins Lane in London for instance is one of his creation and was opened in 2000).
The panel then started to discuss about the involvement of big hotel groups in the Boutique hotel market.
Some will say that hotel groups can create Boutique hotel brands but manufacturing the Boutique hotel is hard to accomplish without paying attention to the staff (training) and the individuality of each property. Lifestyle concept came into play because W hotels and other brands were not anymore developping small properties (W hotel in London has 192 rooms and suites for instance). It seems to me that a Boutique hotel has to have a different formula for each property based on location, target market, locals and so on.
HotelBlogs asked this question to the panel: is there an opportunity to develop Boutique hotels for the moderate budget conscious traveller? Why Boutique hotels have to be only about luxury?
The panel was pretty unanimous about the fact there is a gap in the Boutique hotel sector to tap into. And there are opportunities to fill this gap in key cities . Citizen M is for me one of the best example of a Boutique hotel brand that is appealing to the moderate budget of a traveller on Leisure or Business.
What is your definition of a Boutique Hotel?
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