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Hide & Chic Boutique: The Rise of the Boutique Hotel
The rise of the boutique hotel started in the late eighties and has gradually been gaining momentum for the past couple of decades before interest exploded in the past five years. With quirky design features and off beat offers along with stylish furnishings and an often enviable location in the heart of fashionable or up and coming areas there is no wonder that these independently owned hotels have gained a loyal following. Now these boutique accommodations are spreading their wings and opening up at the top of mountains, in the deepest of countryside’s and in the remotest of area.
Marina and I are are huge fans of a good boutique hotel and will often go out of our way to stay at a fun and funky boutique hotel over a traditional and dull seeming hotel, I mean why not?
But besides their urban locations what exactly have these new boutiques got to offer?
Location, Location, Location
The most obvious thing that sets these boutiques apart from their city center rivals is of course their location. Where once the whole appeal of the boutique hotel was that it was a stone’s throw away from the action, these new retreat like boutiques pride themselves on their almost secret locations. From renovated farms in England to beachside villas in Bahia, boutique accommodations of all sorts can now be found dotted across cities and countryside’s worldwide alike. While the old farmhouse bed and breakfast used to be nice, and is still enjoyed by some, many travelers want to maintain a personal boundary between them and the proprietor. Who wants to walk down the hall and be scared they are going to wake up the lovely couple that runs the bed and breakfast when they go for a wee at 2am?
The appeal is of course a retreat from city life; perhaps as a romantic break for two or simply as a spiritual getaway to soothe the soul, and these new breed of boutique hotels offer just right right amount of personal space, convenience and retreat to satisfy a large number of todays travelers. Many of the newer boutique hotels are theme based, like the Foto Hotel in Phuket, one of our all time favorite hotels.
The real appeal of boutique for us comes by finding a place to lay our heads which has the corporate hotel feel striped out of the experience while offering services above and beyond a traditional hotel, or at least unique or new age ways of housing guests without feeling cliche or tacky. Bright lit entrances, modern art, touch screens, etc are all being worked into some of the best new boutique hotels.
Case Study
Castello Banfi il Borgo is a boutique accommodation located on a winery in Tuscany which boasts fourteen individually decorated suites all designed by the prestigious Italian designer Federico Forquet. Each of the suites offers slightly different accommodations but they include kind size beds, queen size sofas, large rain showers, freestanding bath tubs and a whole host of luxury products to enjoy during your stay. There is an ever-helpful concierge presence who can arrange wine tasting, vineyard tours, cookery classes and Ferrari driving amongst a whole host of other engaging activities.
The focus here of course is enjoyment of hobbies and maximising the most of the time that is yours and doesn’t belong to your career.
City Versus Country
When deciding whether to head a bit off the beaten track as with Castello Banfil il Borgo or staying closer to the traditional boutique model and searching in city centres, the main question to ask yourself is around atmosphere. Are you wanting to be surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city or do you want a calmer environment for your break? One of our favorite city boutique hotels is the Qbic chain, with locations in both London and Amsterdam. The Qbic experience is like none we have ever had as their “cube” concept for their rooms is not only revolutionary but extremely fun and fresh.
Photos provided via Flickr via leyla.a, Pierre Lesage, onbhotel and Turismo Bahia
