Boutique hotels: half controllable will, half uncontrollable emotion
Boutique hotels were born in the United States in the early 1990s as a reaction to the big hotel chains . Where there was impersonality, they promised personality, where there was uniformity, they ensured personalization, where there were guests, they wanted guests. Part of the responsibility for this trend falls on Ian Schrager . This man was removed from the palm in 1990 the paramount , in New York and broke the market. It was a hotel with many rooms but small (perhaps too small, Ian), with a very contemporary aesthetic (read Starck) and that defied the Hilton, Sheraton and company . A hotel that was not aimed at everyone, but was aimed at many. A place where the lobby took center stage and opened up to the city.
The problem, because this is a big problem, is that everyone wanted to have their own boutique hotel. And we all wanted to sleep in one. That made us advanced travelers, without a trace of dandruff. But, oh, what was expected happened. Boutique hotels in some cases have become mannered and many have become adulterated. The word was eroded from so much handling, as happened to others such as spa, lodge or lounge . And the search for the true specimen of a boutique hotel began.
How to distinguish it? A hotel like this balances and integrates the tangible and the intangible. They connect with the aesthetics of the moment: in the 90s it was Starck and now he plays vintage, eclecticism. They were born urban but there are more and more that are not, as in country and beach destinations. And, important fact, promote the idea of intimacy . It is not an easy task. Some imitate well. These are some tips to avoid disappointment, one of the traveler's great enemies.
- A boutique hotel is NOT (always) a small hotel . Just as a small store is not a boutique. Santa Eulalia is a boutique and has three floors. Size does not matter. The important thing is the emotional and contextual packaging they have. And this brings us to point 2.
- A boutique hotel has personality. Personality is not something that is possessed because it is said: it is something that is flaunted and, then, it is counted. Or you don't even need to tell it: you have it and enjoy the high that it gives. Personality is partly planned and partly generated by what happens within its walls. They have it, each to their own, the Waterhouse at South Bund in Shanghai or the Townhouse in Miami or Number 16 in London. boutique hotels they are steeped in the character of those who devise and move them : be it an interior designer, India Mahdavi, for example, or a manager, like Schrager himself. Or they can revolve around a theme , art or wine, for example, but they don't have to. Originality is overrated.
- There is a fine line that separates the boutique hotel from the deluxe bed and breakfast. For example, what is Rough Luxe? The controversy is served. In any case, we like it.
- Placing a classic piece of furniture from the 20th century does not make you a boutique hotel. And even less if it is not original. If you can't get a Jacobsen Swan or a Poulsen lamp that's fine, but don't buy knock-offs. That causes infinite sadness. Poor Le Corbusier is not to blame that his spirit haunts certain hotels in original or false version. However, these icons are recurrent in boutique hotels. For example, the 129 in Singapore uses them and does it well. If not, Ikea can solve the ballot well. A boutique hotel is not self-conscious or apologizes for any aesthetic decision.
- "How was the room? Is it cool?" Nope. Not that. The boutique hotel staff does not treat the customer like their high school gang. Distance management, that great secret of human relations, here has to be taken care of to the millimeter, as in all hotels. Closeness, humanity and respect . That works for almost everything.
- A boutique hotel promotes luxury, on a smaller or larger scale. It is a luxury related to the aspirational, not to butlers, to aesthetic comfort and location, to making the guest feel part of a community. However, a luxury hotel does not have to be a boutique hotel. The Georges V in Paris or the Dolder Grand in Zurich are not. They don't need to.
- A dark reception, having apples in the lobby or jugs with orange water, that the sofas have huge backs, lethal angles of taps and that the walls are black does not convert you, as if you were touched by a magic wand in a hotel store. You see, how can we explain it to you: that title is not achieved with decorative tics. It is a decision that is in the foundations and that, later, is given or not. It's like love, half controllable will, half uncontrollable emotion