Boutique hotel more popular than ever

Global growth of independent and luxury hotels

Globally, we are seeing a huge growth in the number of boutique hotels. Not only are there more and more 'independent' hotels, but large hotel chains are also investing massively in these luxury lifestyle hotels. The Independent Hotel Show, a 'boutique exhibition' for owners and managers of this type of hotel, will take place on 12 and 13 March.

The first 'boutique hotels' emerged in the early 1980s in San Francisco and New York. In the Netherlands, the first boutique hotel opened 25 years ago: Hotel 717 on Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. 'Boutique' stood for intimate, creative and chic. Now it has grown into a category of its own, alongside, for example, airport hotels, motels and conference hotels. Still, they are generally small-scale hotels with less than 100 rooms, an intimate character, often located in an urban environment and with great attention to design and to the guest. Originally, these were 'independent hotels', hotels that were not affiliated with a chain, but now the major hotel chains such as Hilton and Accor are also responding to the growing market for boutique hotels.

Authentic experience

'That boutique hotels are popular now is not hard to explain,' says hospitality trend watcher Vincent van Dijk. 'The boutique hotel fits very well with the wishes of today's guest. The latter is looking for a unique and authentic experience. The guest is also looking for a hotel with a local feel and more luxury and personal attention, and here he has more money to spend. An independent and small-scale boutique hotel often feels more luxurious than a chain hotel. We see that small-scale hotels can also respond more quickly to trends, for example in terms of technological development. That also appeals to today's hotel guest. With chain hotels, it is more difficult to quickly implement new gadgets. Online booking platforms have made it easier for independent hotels to compete with chain hotels.'

Hotel chains invest in boutique hotels

An interesting development is that major hotel chains are responding to the growing interest in boutique hotels. They are opening small-scale and luxury lifestyle concepts en masse, such as Accor with the Handwritten Collection, Hilton with Canopy and Marriott with Autograph Collection. They are also investing in existing hotel concepts to roll them out on a large scale, such as Accor with The Hoxton. Chains are also entering into soft-brand partnerships with existing independent hotels. Indeed, especially since the corona pandemic, these are looking for more security and more bookings, while a chain can benefit from the independent nature of the hotel and the fact that the hotels do not have to comply with a strict brand-standard.

Soft-branded

In the next three years, some 60,000 new lifestyle and soft-branded boutique hotels will open their doors in the United States alone. The Netherlands is also seeing a growth in the number of boutique hotels. Over the next three years, 29 new independent hotels will open with a total of 4,911 rooms. And to this we should add the 'boutique hotels' of larger chains, such as Autograph Collection in Maastricht and Kimpton in Rotterdam (Source: STR Global, Ltd.)