The Boutique Magnet

I ITHE BOUTIQUE MAGNET

GUNJAN GOEL

THE BOUTIQUE MAGNET

THE GRAMECY PARK HOTEL, NEW YORK

“I build my hotels to put people in the spotlight, it is all about exhibitionism.”

Ian Schrager.

Is it justified to categorize the recent hotels, under the boutique

hotel model, with the ‘boutique’ tag?

INDEX

I. WHY THE TITLE ‘BOUTIQUE HOTEL’?.............................................................10

II. HOW DID IT BEGIN?..............................................................................................13

III. LUXURY + LIFESTYLE..........................................................................................18

IV. DESIGN + FASHION...............................................................................................21

V. COMFORT..................................................................................................................24

VI. SIZE...........................................................................................................................26

VII. WHO IS THE CUSTOMER?................................................................................28

VIII. CONCLUSION......................................................................................................29

IX. APPENDIX................................................................................................................31

X. BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................31

CAN THIS BE A BOUTIQUE HOTEL?

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A recent1 obsession in the hospitality and tourism market, the Boutique hotel is described as a “small but exclusive property that caters to the affluent cli-entele with an exceptional level of service at premium prices.”2 This hotel type is meant to cater to a rela-tively niche market, usually the frequent travelers and particularly those who want a more meaningful expe-rience from their stay in a place outside of home. The definition of ‘meaningful’ can be quite subjective, as each traveler has varied perspectives on their fulfill-ment of a satisfactory stay in a hotel.

Jane L. Levere argued in a recent article in the New York Times “that hotel experts have all sorts of defi-nitions for boutique hotels. “Not cookie cutter,” one says. “Chic,” says another. “100 rooms or less,” says a third.”3 It can also be “a small stylish hotel, typi-cally one situated in a fashionable urban location.”4 There is not yet a clear unified agreement on what a ‘boutique hotel’ is or what it’s not, where it is found or not found, which environment it fits into or doesn’t, the customer segment it targets or doesn’t target, the price level it has, the “fashion”-status it holds, or even on how long is it here to stay. Nevertheless, all the

new hotels are conveniently tagged as ‘boutique ho-tels.’

It is necessary to break the term boutique hotel into its two main components. A boutique can be either a “small store selling fashionable clothes or accessories or a business that serves a sophisticated or special-ized clientele.”5 And a hotel is an “establishment providing accommodations, meals, and other ser-vices for travelers and tourists.”6 Hence a boutique hotel would literally stand for a small lodging place to sleep and additionally provide services that are more ‘fashionable’ than regular hotels. The Library Hotel, in midtown Manhattan, although has noth-ing ‘fashionable’ about it. Simply a boutique hotel with rooms themed based on book collections from categories ranging from Natural Science, Literature, to Mathematics.

Why the title ‘Boutique Hotel’?

CAN THIS BE A BOUTIQUE HOTEL?

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‘It drives me crazy that I’ve come up with this idea and people are trying to make billions off of it.’

IAN SCHRAGER

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How did it begin?

Kirsten Lea’s research is an extremely relevant and valid argument that highlights valuable touch-points on what the definition of a boutique hotel is or should be. Lea hits upon critical elements in her analysis and starts from the foundation- the very first boutique hotel, the Blakes, which was designed and started by actress Anouska Hempel in London, had a quirky feel to it. Lea argues that in an overpriced city such as London, with 50 rooms (some even the size of broom cupboards), an overwhelmingly modish bar and an overpriced “black hole of a restaurant,” the Blakes was the only place to stay if you were ‘someone’ important at that time. 7 Right away this new concept seemed to create a foundation for the future models of its kind that focused on ‘design,’ ‘size,’ and ‘price’ as the three variables for creating a boutique hotel.

In the U.S., New York is the main home to the boutique craze.8 Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell are known to be the pioneers of coining the ‘boutique’ tag and brought it to New York City with their ho-tel Morgans (Madison Avenue, Manhattan) around

1984. It was not like the conventional big-chain hotels, which at that time controlled the hospitality market. Shrager thought this new hotel design was more “similar to a boutique, rather than a depart-ment store”. Andree Putman helped Schrager and Rubell design the interior of Morgans, which gave it a combined taste of the American and European palette. With less than 100 rooms, what stood out the most in the model was the unique, independent and mysterious appeal that it seemed to have. There was a sense of “individual craftiness” attached to the design as opposed to a typical “boxy-type hotel”.9 Boutique in this case is defined as a unique, innova-tive and unconventional design model and has no connection with ‘fashion’ as such. Can’t innovative design in this case be considered fashionable?

Going back to the inventor- Ian Schrager states “The only way to distinguish yourself is to be your-self in the pursuit of your own personal vision.” He has received international recognition for his con-cepts that have revolutionized both the entertain-

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ment and hospitality industries. He is truly and pas-sionately committed to the contemporary lifestyle, which he exhibits through his ground-breaking avant-garde models. Some of his concepts are: “The hotel as home away from home, the hotel as theater, “cheap chic”, “lobby socializing”, the indoor/outdoor lobby, the urban resort, and the urban spa”.10 These are all dramatic and exciting themes but are they all really ‘boutique’? “Olga Polizzi (Designer & hote-lier) does not think that Schrager’s hotels are bou-tique. She says they are different and unique but not boutique. She thinks boutique describes something that has relatively small and quirky cottage-like rooms, while Schrager’s hotels focus more on the aesthetic appeal.”11 They are not exactly very small in size either.

There are many other words that get tagged along to describe the experience a boutique hotel should give. Some of these prefixes include luxury, lifestyle, design, fashion, glamour, cultural value, price, size and comfort. It is important to analyze the relevance

of each of these terms and why they help define a boutique hotel, if they do.

THE CHINESE ROOM, THE BLAKES, LONDON

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IAN SCHRAGER

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IAN SCHRAGER

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Luxury + Lifestyle

The initial boutique hotels that were first introduced in the cities of London, New York and San Francisco in the 1980s were labeled as ‘design’ or ‘lifestyle’ ho-tels. ‘Lifestyle’ can be such a subjective term, as dif-ferent people like to live their lives in different ways. An ‘Art and Tech’ bedroom at Le Meridien, with an electronically controlled bed and plasma televi-sion, can serve the purpose for some. On the other hand, Andy Thrasyvoulou thinks his Bloomsbury Hotel, which is specially designed only for its spas and relaxing areas, redefine the idea of ‘lifestyle’ and take it to the next level. Then there are others who interpret lifestyle as glamour. “Jason Pomeranc says, ‘You cannot duplicate the grandeur.’”12 His hotel, the Hollywood Roosevelt, is where the first Oscar ceremony was hosted. Lifestyle in this case becomes the experience of reliving the life of the actors in the 20s. By fusing the celebrity lifestyle from that period and a modern ambiance, Pomeranc is able to get the ‘right’ guests to stay in his hotel.

A lot of boutique hotels try and embrace the cul-ture of the city they are in or that of another into the design aesthetic and attitude of their hotel. This

‘Boasts a history as rich and fabulous as the luminaries who have stayed and played within its storied walls.’ VANITY FAIR

HOLLYWOOD ROOSEVELT, L.A.JASON POMERANC

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PENTHOUSE, THE BLOOMSBURY HOTEL, MYHOTELANDY THRASYVOULOU

adds character and even gives the customer a real experience of that culture. Some hotels even fuse more than one culture together to make the experi-ence more unique. It is said that the boutique hotel is more suiting to the bigger city cultures than the smaller suburban ones. The urban culture can be brought out extremely well through this new hotel design concept. Rich Rohrbach, a senior vice presi-dent of Credit Lyonnais, states the typical location logic:

“You might not want to do it Detroit. They’re more a New York, Chicago, San Francisco thing.”

Is the idea of a ‘lifestyle’ product, relevant only to the bigger cities? Can’t a boutique hotel run as success-fully and provide the lifestyle in the city of a devel-oping country?

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Design + Fashion

Another general belief that a boutique hotel is sup-posed to be a modern fusion of “fashion” and “design,” which why this ‘new hotel baby’ is seen to mostly at-tract the affluent and ‘fashionable’ class of travelers. It needs to be understood that a boutique hotel can essentially even have rooms the size of ‘broom cup-boards.’ (as in the Blakes in London). In this case, it isthe “experience” that the customer is asked to pay

for, which is not necessarily a conventional well fur-nished spacious room with deluxe items at hand. The design is in the uniqueness of the room size and nothing typically of what the common man calls ‘fashionable.’

Lea quotes Architecture Now Magazine, who de-fines a boutique hotel from a design perspective. It says that a

“Boutique hotel has become shorthand for a hotel with a high-concept design and unique atmosphere. It captures the bou-tique hotel as a “micro-city…as a fantasy environment…as a lifestyle…as the ulti-mate merge of design and fashion.”13 Lea says that by sticking ‘design’ and ‘boutique’ together, we miss the point completely. In fact there are examples of boutique hoteliers, who like to ex-periment with the word ‘design’ and even go to the extent to violate its meaning completely. The point

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is just to make it look different, and stand out from the rest. Hotel du Vin is almost anti-design and is still a market leader. Even though a ‘leading-edge design’ is often considered a characteristic of a bou-tique hotel, that is not all what is required to make a boutique hotel stand out. There has to be a certain degree of character in the personality of the staff, the guest and also the ambience-which can play a critical role in defining the design taste of the hotel. This taste should be provided in a single package and cannot be individually gift-wrapped.

Comfort, another stressed upon factor in the bou-tique hotel model, refers to “things that contribute

to the state of physical ease and well-being.”14 This state can hold various meanings for various people as each individual has different things that give them satisfaction. According to Andy Thrasyvoulou’s (Myhotels chain inventor) recent creation- My-Place, comfort is defined by an ‘80-square-metre penthouse comprising an apartment and studio, where the guest can find a combination of spiritual-ity and technology’. The guest “can choose to have a butler, choice of room aroma, personal chef, beauty treatments, cosmetic mini-bar, fitness equipment, even musical instruments”15 of their choice. “A tai-lor-made experience”16 that is tuned to ‘comfort’ the guest’s individual needs. On the other hand, for a

HOTEL DU VINLONDON

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Christopher Oakes, General Manager Myhotel:

“This is ‘my’ which to each indi-

vidual means ‘yours’.”

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guest attracted to the Library Hotel in midtown Man-hattan, ‘comfort’ could mean sleeping in a room with a collection of Natural Science, Literature or any other category of books of his/her choice. Each individual has different things that mean ‘comfortable’ to him or her and thus will get attracted to the ‘boutique’ hotel that matches his comfort needs in the closest way pos-sible. A boutique is intended to deliver these kind of specific needs-the customer can pick the store of his or her choice.

According to Stephen Brandman, co - owner of Thompson Hotels, “boutique hotels are often expect-ed to have loud, noisy bars staffed with 5’10 models.”17 He thinks that service is the most important element of the hospitality industry and thus his hotels aim to deliver impeccable service in a smaller size hotel, which are tasteful at the same time. Design is seen to distract most people, who give it most importance in their hotel model. A basic function of a hotel is meant to provide the guest with a comfortable bed to sleep in. Design is definitely crucial to this industry, but it shouldn’t be the only thing a boutique hotel has to of-fer. Therefore, it is necessary to have a fair mix of both design and services. A boutique is supposed to have the best fit for its client while incorporating a high taste of ‘fashion’ at the same time.

Comfort

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ACE HOTEL, NEW YORK

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Size plays a major role in distinguishing a boutique hotel from a regular chain or branded hotel. Most boutique hotels are known to have rooms ranging from about 3 to 400 only. The average range is about 100-200 rooms. This idea fits in well with the idea of a ‘boutique’, which is supposed to be a smaller shop catering to a smaller clientele. The boutique hotel is also known to attract a niche market of travelers only- those with ‘sophis-ticated taste.’ Brandman says,

“It’s more than just the ingredients. There’s that special sauce, that special ingredient that you can’t just buy in a bottle.”18

Similarly, the ‘service’ has to be freshly prepared and served right away to the customer.

Most ‘boutiques’ are known to charge a higher price than average for the ‘specialized’ goods that they sell. In the same way, most boutique hotels are usually more expensive than the regular hotels for the exclusive services they claim to offer. But there are also examples of boutique hotels, like the 260 room Ace Hotel in New York City, that offers extremely affordable and cheap room rates to scoop in a larger market. A boutique has main-tained the idea of having a smaller clientele, so having an ‘affordable’ rate really does not apply to the boutique idea. Wouldn’t the customer just go to a department store then?

Size

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Ian Schrager states:

“Good design is not enough any more, especially since business travelers will not tolerate bad service. They require functionality.”

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The boutique hotel is known to attract mainly the affluent travelers. But over time, more and more people are willing to spend on this hotel type, which seems to offer something different- more unique and enjoyable than the regular services of a conven-tional luxury hotel. It almost defines a status sym-bol. The frequent adjective of ‘fashionable’ used for a boutique hotel although, has skewed the customer segments more towards women. It is not surpris-ing then because a ‘boutique’ store is also associated more with the feminine gender than male. But this is not what most hoteliers want. They usually design their service such that they can serve the male and female gender equally.

Andy Thrasyvoulou’s Bloomsbury hotel is designed to “move at the pace which suits each individual guest.”19 There seems to be a lot of free space for the customer to design his or her own needs. With the stress on personalization, the boutique hotel is able

Who is the customer?

to give the customer exactly what he or she wants. This is again commonplace with most small boutiques, which have a small group of customers for whom their clothes and accessories tend to be tailor-made to suit their size and preferences just precisely.

The concept of boutique is to serve individual taste buds, which is exactly what most boutique hotels are trying to achieve. Though, in the greed for profit, some hoteliers stress more on design to capture cus-tomers, the real way is to create an individual identity playground for a small group of customers, who can find their specific needs of comfort, luxury, aesthetic in it, and are willing to pay the price for the same.

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This exciting design concept is already on its way to losing its ‘real’ meaning of delivering an intimate and personalized service to its customer. Most hote-liers get so heavily caught up in the profitability and “making-it-commercially-viable” aspect of the busi-ness market, that they no more longer focus on the key elements of personalization and hospitality that come to define a boutique hotel.

Kirsten comes to the conclusion that a boutique ho-tel may after all just be one of those dated labels, a fad really, and sees it going out of “fashion” soon. But then just as Cecil Beaton says

‘Fashions change but fashion, like the poor, is always with us.’

In essence, hoteliers realize that they cannot take a cosmetic approach to the boutique hotel just to be able to make enough profit and therefore they need to either abide by the value that a boutique is meant to deliver or create a new tag under the ho-tel category that encompasses all the service value they attempt to deliver. There is an obsession among them to tag their hotels as ‘boutique’ only because

Conclusion

it is what the current sensation in the market is. They need to abide by the definition of ‘boutique’ and provide that degree of personalized service and intimate environment a boutique is meant to give. Making it more accessible by affordable prices, is not the right way to go about it because a ‘boutique’ is meant to be exclusive. Instead, those hotels need to be categorized under a different label since they do not provide only the “boutique” experience. Lea says that currently,

“this sector represents a distinct shift away from norms, sameness, uniformity, the mainstream. The man who coined the best term for this market has now, kindly, stopped using it as the name of his com-pany.”21

In this ironical context, Lea goes on to propose by looking at Robin Hutson’s “Alternative Hotel company ‘that the sector previously known as the ‘boutique hotel market’ be re-named ‘the alternative hotel market’ and keep its doors open to individual hotels with attitude.”22 In this way it can encompass all the new creative concepts that are being explored

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under the narrow word of ‘boutique.’ A hotelier should not be allowed to throw in the ‘boutique’ tag with anything he or she creates.

The Boutique Hotel concept hence, needs to be kept from the media magnet as an individual idea, that keeps in terms with its original meaning and offers the value a ‘boutique’ is meant to. As opposed to get-ting mixed in the greed of market monopoly which strips away the real value of personalization and in-timacy that a “boutique” is meant to offer. All other values and services can be provided in the hospitality industry under a different, and perhaps a new cat-egory.


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Appendix Bibliography

1. Jane L. Levere, The Rush to Boutique, The

New York Times, April 4, 2011

2. ht tp : / /www.ny t imes .com/2011/04/05/

business/05boutique.html?src=busln

3. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=10&q=

Are+boutique+hotels+good%3F&hl=en&lr=la

ng_en&as_sdt=0,33

4. http://www.hotelduvin.com/

5. ht tp : / /www.ny t imes .com/2008/06/03/

b u s i n e s s / 0 3 b o u t i q u e .

html?scp=6&sq=boutique%20hotel&st=Search

6. http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4010409.

search?query=lucienne+anhar+boutique+hotel

7. http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/

content/article/071011_no_frills_chic_hits_

the_hospitality_industry/

8. http://www.bizymoms.com/besthotels/bou-

tique-hotel.html

1 (1980s)2 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/boutique-hotel. html3 Jane L. Levere, The Rush to Boutique, The New York Times, April 4, 20114 http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_ us1228200#m_en_us1228200t5 http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_ us1228198#m_en_us12281986 http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_ us1255906#m_en_us12559067 Kirsten Lea, The Boutique Hotel: fad or phenomenon?Locum Destination Review, Locum Consulting group.8 http://www.bizymoms.com/besthotels/lifestyle-hotels.htm9 Ibid

10 http://www.ianschragercompany.com/ian_schrager.html11 Kirsten Lea, The Boutique Hotel: fad or phenomenon?, Locum Destination Review, Locum Consulting group.12 David A. Keeps, Historic Boutique Hotels, Travel and Leisure, January 200613 Kirsten Lea, The Boutique Hotel: fad or phenomenon?, Locum Destination Review, Locum Consulting group.14 http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en

us1234678#m_en_us123467815 Kirsten Lea, The Boutique Hotel: fad or phenomenon?, Locum Destination Review, Locum Consulting group.16 Ibid17 http://www.bizymoms.com/besthotels/lifestyle-hotels.htm18 Ibid19 Kirsten Lea, The Boutique Hotel: fad or phenomenon?; Locum Destination Review, Locum Consulting group. 20 Ibid.21 Ibid22 Ibid

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Bibliography

9. http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/the-

next-boutique-hotel-history-lesson/1

10. http://www.cottagehaveninteriors.com/pro-

ductItem.php?prod_id=416

11. http://www.myhotels.com/my-hotel-blooms-

bury/bloomsbury-myplace2.html

12. ttp://www.blakeshotels.com/gallery

13. http://www.gramercyparkhotel.com/#

14. http://blog.hotelduvin.com/?p=280

15. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/

boutique-hotel.html

16. http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_

en_us1228200#m_en_us1228200


en_us1228198#m_en_us1228198


en_us1255906#m_en_us1255906

19. Kirsten Lea, The Boutique Hotel: fad or

phenomenon?Locum Destination Review,

Locum Consulting group.

20. ht tp : //oxforddict ionar ies .com/view/

entry/m_en_us1234678#m_en_us1234678

21. http://www.bvicrewedyachts.com/showy-

acht.php?sel=ext&yachtid=83

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The Boutique Magnet

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