It is becoming increasingly common to see that many of the new, smaller, hotels are describing themselves as a “Boutique Hotel”. Across the city of London, the capital city of England in the United Kingdom, there are now a small number of superb boutique hotels but what exactly is a “Boutique Hotel” and where did they first appear? The following article provides an explanation.
More often than not a boutique hotel is owned, run and maintained by one family, a couple, and in some cases, small hotel chains specializing in this type of accommodation. However, there has been a recent trend for some of the larger hotel chains to build hotels to meet the specific demand for these hotels so this distinction may not hold true for much longer! One statement that is true for all boutique hotels is that they feature unique elements of decoration and style and, in many cases, this is based upon a specific theme. Such themes can range from a hotel decorated and furnished in the 17th Century style to one which is focused on chocolate for avid chocoholics. Not all boutique hotels are based upon one particular theme, sometimes there may be a number of distinctive themes or each room may be styled in a contrasting them altogether.
Where Was The First Boutique Hotel?
Boutique hotels first appeared in the late 1980s in New York USA. Although some hotels claim to have been boutique hotels as far back as 1981 in places such as London UK and San Francisco the first hotel to be described as such was the ‘Morgans’ hotel, New York, in 1984. These earlier claimants were, therefore, subsequently described as such and can not, realistically, claim to be the first.
‘Morgans’ hotel was owned by Steven Rubell and Ian Schrager who had commissioned the Parisian designer Andrée Putman to create a unique, highly stylized, hotel in New York. Putman created the hotel in what has become known as an “America meets Europe” fashion. Morgans needed to be promoted and to do this Steven Rubell set out to make a distinction between his hotel and those of the large hotel chains. He described other hotels as “department store” hotels and his own as a “boutique hotel” to show the distinctive difference – thus the phrase entered the English language for the first time.
Interesting Boutique Hotels in the United Kingdom
42 The Calls (hotel) in Leeds claims to be one of the first to appear in the UK. The Calls was a hotel built in the carcass of an old corn mill and used that as the overall theme. The main points of interest in the hotel are the incredibly comfortable handmade beds of each room and the pieces of machinery which have been kept from the days it was a working corn mill.
The Blake’s Hotel in South Kensington, London, is often quoted as being one of the first boutique hotels in the world but, although this appeared before Morgans in New York, for the reasons outlined above this claim is often dismissed. In recent decades there has been a sharp increase in the number of boutique hotels opening in various places within the United Kingdom of Great Britain with the largest number opening in London.
If you are planning a trip to, or a vacation in, London and you are considering booking a boutique hotel you may wish to check out the listings of boutique hotels in London at http://www.londonhotelhelper.com/
