JHGI Conversations

Adams wrote:
I think the first question I would like to ask is one that seems to come up a lot but it is also a question that kind of chases its own tail somehow. I would like to know, though, is there a definition of "boutique hotel" that you all use or is it such an umbrella term that it has almost become meaningless recently? And does the size of the Hotel matter?

Geurtsen wrote:
I have worked on one major boutique project and it certainly is probably much smaller than some of the projects that many of you have worked on, but it was the Hotel of South Beach. It is about a 50-room project. From my experience, "boutique" means that it is a one-of-a-kind experience and that it is site-specific. Something, in my opinion, that is if you go to a boutique in San Francisco, or if you go to one in New York, they are going to be distinctly different, representing the specific city and the neighborhood.
To me I think the term has been kind of morphed into many different many different meanings, including I think minimalist has kind of attached itself to boutique, but in my opinion, "boutique" just means it is a one-of-a-kind experience, very true to its location and I would say that to me it would certainly be towards the smaller size versus a much larger project.

I also think it has an attitude or a personality that is not trying to be replicated a thousand times.

Rowley wrote:
I would agree with both of the gentlemen. I think it is interesting that recently the people have had a negative connotation attached to the word boutique, and I do not really understand that because I think it is still relevant. I know it is still relevant in all our work and I would totally agree with both of the gentlemen that it is about uniqueness and about creating a spirit and an individual soul for the property as opposed to replicating a brand.

Where do you see a negative attachment to it?

Rowley wrote:
I have sort of heard it through the industry that it has been an overused term and it has become cliché, and I do not really see that this is true. I know that our work varies between what I still call boutique hotels as well as larger work, larger brand products, and I think it is an absolutely relevant term.

As an example, I am not sure if the group knows my involvement with Marriott with regards to Renaissance Hotels, and what I am doing for them is developing a design signature for the Renaissance Hotels at a brand level. One of the terms that is being used within that corporation, which is probably as large as they get, is that Renaissance is the soul of a boutique hotel and the body of the full service hotel, but it really is about that creating an identity for the property, creating a unique sense of type, uniqueness to the property and an individual quality to it so that when a person goes to a Renaissance Hotel in Los Angeles, it is different from the Renaissance Hotel in Vail, Colorado, or wherever it might be. And I think that really is the essence of what boutique is about.