Boutique hotel

Boutique hotels are small-capacity hotels that provide more personalized service than typical hotels. They typically have fewer than a hundred rooms, and are considered more "trendy" and "intimate", often due to their location in urban areas. They will usually also display a strong sense of aesthetic, and have a unique, un-homogenized character. They may be themed too, such as by having a focus on nature, environment, cuisine, history, community and cultural immersion, attentive service, or well-being.





== History ==

Boutique hotels first began appearing in the 1980s in major cities such as London, New York, and San Francisco. There is debate about who started the boutique hotel concept. Blakes Hotel in South Kensington, London, designed by Anouska Hempel, and the Bedford by Bill Kimptom in Union Square, San Francisco, both founded in 1981, may have started the trend.

The term "boutique hotel" was coined by Steve Rubell, who compared Morgans Hotel to a boutique as opposed to a department store, to which chain hotels were compared. The hotelier Ian Schrager and the interior designer Andrée Putman are credited with opening the first boutique hotel, still known as the Morgans Hotel.

In recent times, boutique hotels have grown in popularity, corresponding with the general public's increased interest in individualized service.