Hotel Linkage Online Kanal Yönetimi Semineri

Hotel Linkage tarafından organize edilen Online Kanal Yönetimi Semineri otelcilerin yogun katılımı ile 
İstanbul Sehir Universitesi Oditoryumunda gerceklesti...

The potential of micro branding meeting rooms for boutique hotels

The potential of micro branding meeting rooms for boutique hotels

by Youri Sawerschel

Hotels have always been in the frontline to provide business-meeting venues. Surprisingly though, these meeting spaces are commonly positioned as an add-on to a hotel offering rather than as a stand-alone value proposition.

When it comes to selling their meeting facilities, many hotels compete only on factual specifications, such as room layout or coffee break menu. By competing exclusively on products or services, hotels risk to self-commoditise their offerings. Moreover, boutique hotels cannot afford to decrease their margins by entertaining a price war against major hotel chains. To develop an offer that will stand out from the competition, boutique hotels can implement a Micro-Branding strategy.

Boutique hotels must be able to define what their meeting facilities stand for, regardless of the rest of the property. This process of positioning distinct points of sale in the same hotel, each with their own value proposition, is called micro-branding. One of the advantages of micro-branding is that it allows the targeting of different segments under the same roof in a coherent manner; meeting facilities customers are not necessarily the same as the hotel rooms or the restaurant ones.

 Think benefits, not features

Clients do not hold meetings because they want the latest beamer or a room in U-shape setting, but because they want to close a deal, develop new ideas, or discuss next year's strategy. Understanding that the outcome of a meeting is what matters the most in the eyes of customers, several meeting rooms providers are starting to micro-brand their meeting venues as spaces that fosters collaboration and creativity. The positioning of these meeting spaces is radically different from the industry standards. Indeed, instead of communicating on specific facility specifications, the emphasis is put on the value offered by the overall meeting experience, namely an increased productivity, an ideal collaborative work or an efficient brainstorming.

To nurture collaboration and innovation, boutique hotels should consider offering area with a cosy living room feel, comfortable couches and low coffee tables, as opposed to traditional classical board meeting settings. Unusual decorative elements, writable walls and open fridges with soft drinks and snacks can reinforce this positioning of unconventional meeting destinations.

An opportunity for small and big players alike

Identifying this opportunity for creative spaces, OFFSITE, a boutique meeting and event space in New York was created to provide a setting propitious to brainstorming sessions and innovative courses. "The customer experience is our main differentiation point" says Shaun Kessler, partner at OFFSITE. Indeed, OFFSITE's spaces areall-inclusive (from A/V equipment to food and beverage and office-supplies) to ensure a worry-free memorable (and productive!) experience.

Only a few major hotel chains have also spotted the value of micro-branding meeting spaces separately from other hotel operations. For instance, Marriott Hotels & Resorts in partnership with Steelcase, an office furniture company, announced last September the launch of enhanced workspaces named Workspring. Offering small meeting rooms branded as "studios", Workspring promises "a collaborative work experience that promotes creativity and innovation". Following the example of fitness clubs, Worksprings offers monthly memberships that include access to meeting rooms, office supplies and snacks. Looking at online reviews, this smart, tech-savvy, and all-inclusive concept appears to win unanimous support from its customers.

Micro-branding represents a good opportunity for boutique hotels to gain more visibility and generate positive PR return. Finally, it is a marketing strategy that can be used for virtually any outlets in a hotel. Boutique hotels that do not have meeting rooms could develop a Micro-Branding strategy for the bar, the restaurant, the room-service, the fitness centre or even the lobby. The key to micro-brand an outlet successfully is to consider the latter as an independent business unit with its own offer, customer segment, positioning and communication channels.

By looking at their outlets through the "Micro-Branding lens", boutique and lifestyle hotel managers and owners will soon realize that the potential of their property is only limited by creativity.

Small Hotels Association of Turkey at WTM

İngiliz pazarından, küçük otellere yoğun ilgi 13.

Küçük Oteller Derneği tarafından hazırlanan WTM 2014 Fuar Raporu'nda öne çıkan gözlem ve trendlere yer verildi. Raporda Alaçatı gibi destinasyonların 2015 yılında çalışmalarının meyvelerini alacağı belirtilirken mobil teknoloji kullanan Y jenerasyonunun yeni bir potansiyel segment olacağı vurgulandı.

Küçük Oteller Derneği Genel Sekreteri Adnan Mordeniz, 3 - 6 Kasım 2014 tarihleri arasında Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı'nın destekleriyle derneği temsilen Londra WTM Turizm Fuarı'na katıldı. Fuarda yoğun bir ilgi ile karşılaştıklarını belirten Mordeniz, özellikle İngiliz pazarından önümüzdeki sene ülkemize gelecek olan turist sayısında %5 civarında bir artış yaşanması beklendiğini belirtti. Alaçatı gibi özellikle İngiliz pazarında aktif olarak pazarlama çalışmaları yapan destinasyonların, çalışmalarının meyvelerini 2015 yılında alacağını kaydetti.

UZAKDOĞU'DAN TALEP ARTACAK

Küçük Oteller Derneği tarafından hazırlanan WTM Londra Turizm Fuarı'na ilişkin raporda aşağıdaki bilgiler yer aldı:

"Türkiye'nin toplam 783 metrekarelik bir alanda, 60 kuruluş ile temsil edildiği fuara ilgi, özellikle ilk iki gün oldukça yüksek olarak gözlendi. Fuarda, Küçük Oteller Derneği de bu 60 kuruluştan en çok ilgi gören standlardan birisi oldu. Butik ve küçük otellere ilginin tüm dünya trendlerine bakıldığında giderek arttığı fuara özel hazırlanan turizm raporlarında da ifade edildi. Batılı ülkelerin yanı sıra; Singapur, Hong Kong, Çin gibi Uzakdoğu ülkelerinden de önümüzdeki sezon içerisinde rezervasyon taleplerinin artacağı öngörüldü. Adventure turları düzenleyen acentalar ile honeymoon ve destination wedding planner acentalarının da Küçük Oteller Derneği standına oldukça ilgiyle yaklaştığı fuarda, gelecek işbirlikleri konuşuldu.

Rapora göre bu yıl öne çıkan sektörel trendler ve gözlemler

-Turizm bloggerlarının seyahat endüstrisinde ve konaklama alanında, müşteri tercihlerini yönlendirme açısından giderek daha önemli bir hale geldiği görülmektedir. Fuara katılan 62 blogger da etkinlik alanın ilgi çeken toplantılar düzenlemiştir.

-Spor turizmi başlı başına bir potansiyel taşıyarak, sektördeki önemini giderek artırmaktadır.

-Online rezervasyonların, toplam rezervasyon içindeki payının, önceki döneme göre artarak, toplam seyahat pazarında %35 seviyelerine çıktığı görülmektedir.

-Mobil rezervasyonların payının, 2018 yılında %45 seviyelerine ulaşması beklenmektedir. Bu gelişmedeki önemli faktörler, teknolojinin bireylerin talep yönetimini birçok kanaldan destekler hale gelmeleridir. Sürekli gelişim göstermeleri ve sosyal medya etkisi de diğer etkenler olarak sayılabilir.

-Jet2 holiday UK firması, Dalaman ve Bodrum uçuşlarından sonra, 2015 yılında Antalya'ya uçuşlara başlayacaktır.

-Gelecek 5 yıl içinde destinasyon, kişisel tercihler ve mobil rezervasyonlar, seyahat sektörünün ana belirleyicileri olacaktır.

-2015 yılında İngiltere'ye gelecek turist sayısının %5 civarında artış göstereceği tahmin edilmektedir. Incoming turist bütçesinin önemli bir kısmın konaklama harcamasına, geri kalanın ise yiyecek ve alışverişe gitmesi öngörülmektedir.

-Yaşlı turistler ve işadamları, önceki tercihlerinin aksine, düşük bütçeli ama kaliteli ambiyansı olan otelleri tercih etmektedir.

-Y jenerasyonunun mobil teknolojiyi çok iyi kullanması ve design markalara ilgi göstermesiyle; turizm açısından oldukça büyük, yeni bir potansiyel bir segment oluşturduğu gözlenmektedir.

-Giyilebilir teknoloji internet ile bağlantısı sayesinde, müşterilerin seyahat rezervasyonlarını da yapmasını sağlayacak cihazlar haline gelecektir. Bu cihazlar sayesinde, otellere rezervasyon yapılabilecektir ve müşteri ile bilgi akışı sağlanabilecektir.

A webinar on Online Marketing Strategies for Boutique Hotels

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 10, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Hotelogix will be conducting a webinar on Online Marketing Strategies for Boutique Hotels on Tuesday, the 15th of July, 2014 at 4:00 P.M. GMT. The interactive session will be held by Nathalie Salas, an acclaimed marketing consultant for start-ups and hospitality clients, and an MCIM Chartered Marketer.

As boutique hotels aspire to provide a niche experience with personalized services to make a one-of-a-kind statement, their key focus lies in positioning. They compete with various types of players - luxury brands, budget brands and 5-stars, depending upon their positioning. Their success also lies in impeccable guest service that is expected to be consistent. All these factors directly translate into the technology that they need for positioning of their brand, and having in-house automation tools to help them enhance the guest experience. They also need to be equipped with the right tactics to make their hotel stand out in the online marketplace.

Considering these specific needs of boutique hotels,Hotelogix has invited Nathalie Salas to address the webinar as she has over eleven years of experience working with a variety of large blue-chip and SMEs in Europe and the Middle East. Her work in the boutique hotel sector allows her to collaborate with clients such as OTAs to deliver story-led content for their hotel inventories, as well as act as a hotel reviewer and judge for the Boutique Hotel Awards. Nathalie has also contributed to a number of online and print publications, including Boutique Hotel News, Masquerade (Dubai), Global Citizen (GCC), Hautetime.ae and her own travel site PerfectBoutiqueHotel.com.

Nathalie says "I am passionate about marketing and love helping independent hotels improve their marketing potential. Since Hotelogix also focuses on making hoteliering easy for boutique hotels, I am really looking forward to this webinar. With the online marketing strategies that I provide in the webinar, I hope to enable boutique hotels worldwide to participate and compete confidently in the global marketplace."

Mr. Aditya Sanghi, Co-founder and CEO of Hotelogix states, "In the present technological era, boutique hotels have immense opportunities, provided they position their brand on all the online marketplaces appropriately. The marketing mix and the key success factors for a boutique hotel are unique in its own way. Nathalie who has extensive experience globally is an expert on addressing the needs of boutique hotels and we take pride in having her on our platform. She will discuss the trends and forecasts for hotel online marketing, and help boutique hotels use them effectively to get sustainable results."

Hotelogix constantly strives to find ways and avenues to empower hotels with the latest technology and trends. This webinar is just another medium to spread awareness about the numerous tools available for hoteliers across the globe and how best to use them. 

More holidaymakers look for boutique hotels at home than abroad

TravelMole

More holidaymakers look for luxury in the UK than they do when going abroad.

There were three times as many online searches for Lifestyle & Boutique hotels in the UK than in short or long haul destinations combined, according to research.

In the recent Boutique Hotels Sector Report by digital marketing agency Greenlight, it found consumers made a total of 136,650 searches on Google UK for small, fashionable, luxury and trendy hotels in August.

Of the total, 57% were for accommodation in the UK compared to 17% in short-haul and just 3% in long-haul destinations.

'boutique hotels london' was the most queried term, accounting for 7% of searches made for boutique hotels in the UK while four of the top ten most popular search terms were related to London.

Other popular spots for UK boutique hotel searches were Brighton, the Lake District and Edinburgh.

Ibiza, Barcelona, Majorca and Majorca's Puerto Pollensa accounted for 13% of UK searches for short-haul boutique hotels, proving more popular than Paris.

Further afield, the US, particularly New York, Istanbul in Turkey and Singapore, were the prime long-haul locations for boutique hotel searches.

Boutique evolved : 5 key trends

Maria-Pia Intini
HNN Columnist
Hotel News Now
Boutique hotels first appeared in 1981 with Anouska Hempel’s Blakes Hotel in London, Ian Schrager’s Morgans Hotel in New York and Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group’s first operated property, the Bedford Hotel in San Francisco.
Since the 1980s, boutique hotels have registered a continuous expansion on the wave of the rapid advancement of a new generation of design-conscious and technology-savvy customers increasingly seeking a unique experience instead of a cookie-cutter hotel room.
Using psychographics as opposed to demographics, hotels have shifted from a standardised to a personality-based offer. As an example, California-based Joie de Vivre Hotels’ personality is crafted around the reader-base of a specialist magazine, such as Rolling Stone for the Phoenix Hotel and The New Yorker for Rex Hotel, both of which are in San Francisco.

Maria-Pia Intini

The concept of boutique hotels has evolved with the entrance of chains’ brands such as Edition by Marriott International; W, Aloft and Element by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; Indigo by InterContinental Hotels Group; and Andaz by Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Mostly associated with the term “lifestyle,” these hotels provide the same unique experience as boutique hotels but tend to be larger and more formulaic.

Initially the hotel industry was dominated by private owner-operators (with the notable exception of Starwood’s W Hotels). Flexibility in site selection and construction, higher margins than similarly priced luxury hotels, and celebrities’ and media’s halo effect on average daily rates represent the main advantages of owning boutique hotels which, on the other side, have limited economies of scale, costly property updates and high affiliation fees.
Since the 2007-2009 recession, independent hotels have been more open to joining a larger entity to gain access to a larger customer base through global reservation systems and marketing campaigns. Established hotel operators have used their “conversion” brands to grow and capture high entry-barrier sites despite restricted debt and stifled new developments.
With independent hotels and international hotel chains aside, the sector has become extremely competitive and the following five key trends have developed:
1. Outsourced F&B facilities
Partnerships and outsourced food-and-beverage facilities to acclaimed chefs and bartenders generate high revenues, free advertising and additional guests encouraged by chefs’ or bartenders’ reputation. Some good examples are Dos Palillos, run by world-famous El Bulli’s former chef Albert Raurich within the restored 19-century gothic tenement Casa Camper in Barcelona and the globally acclaimed Beijing-focused Mr. Chow within the W Hotel in Miami South Beach.
2. Private clubs
Membership programs and guests-only areas within the hotel replicate most private members clubs’ privacy and exclusivity. As an example, the guests-only recognition program clubNYLO by Texas-based NYLO Hotels offers its guests retreats at check in, special rates, exclusive mailings and advance notice of special events. In London, Soho House has seen significant success from this concept.
3. Authenticity
Boutique hotels are particularly suited to conversions of historic or interesting buildings. Malmaison Hotels Group, for example, focuses on converting existing buildings of architectural interest and character to food-and-wine focused high quality boutique hotels, like the converted prison Malmaison Oxford.  
IndustryAnalysis Ad Will Appear Here
4. Sustainability
Boutique hotels can capitalize on the environmentally sensitive customers in a variety of ways from serving local, seasonal food to allowing guests to control their energy usage. Element by Starwood represents a great example of eco-consciousness mixed with a multisensory experience.
5. Affordable luxury
Brands like Citizen M, Yotel, Standard by André Balazs, Aloft by Starwood, Ace Hotels and the new Z Hotels brand represent the next generation of boutique hotels delivering vibrant design and an energetic guest experience at an affordable price for highly self-sufficient travellers. Some of these companies such as Citizen M, Yotel and Qbic have expanded through off-site modular methods of construction, which are faster and more controllable than traditional construction methods and guarantee a high level of comfort, technology and trendy atmosphere at a very competitive rate.
U.K. boutiques
Significant boutique hotels in the United Kingdom include Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, both owned by property group Marylebone Warwick Balfour; Firmdale Hotels, whose new Dorset Square Hotel in Marylebone is scheduled to open next January; Eton Hotels Group; ABode Hotels; Myhotels; and D&D London, which will open its second London property, South Place Hotel, in January 2013. Campbell Gray Hotels, which established the one Aldwych, is looking for a new London project.
London boutique hotels have experienced a steady growth since 2004 even throughout the recession. According to STR Global, the sister company of HotelNewsNow.com, occupancy increased from 2004 to 2007, growing from 74% in 2004 to almost 80% in 2007, when the increased supply slowed demand growth.
In 2008 the segment saw a drop back to 2005 levels, but in 2009 and 2010 occupancy level rose to 75% and 77%, respectively. Revenue per available room for London's boutique hotels in 2009 and 2010 was £150 (US$239) and £170 (US$271) respectively, compared with a RevPAR of £105 (US$168) and £112 (US$179) for the city's hotels overall. By 2013, London’s boutique hotel sector is expected to double in size with more than 2,500 additional rooms, making the category the fastest growing sector in London.
Conclusion
The competition dictated by the dual presence of both independently-run boutique hotels and chain-operated lifestyle hotels has pushed hoteliers towards finding innovative ways to appeal to guests and create the most memorable experiences.
The boutique sector will continue to grow in the future, mainly in the form of both lifestyle hotels owned and/or operated by chain hotels to penetrate markets with high entry-barriers, like London and New York, and cheap chic hotels for the experiential travellers on the go.

Mature markets a must for boutique hotels

By Patrick Mayock -Editor in Chief-Hotel News Now

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—Boutique hotels are more popular than ever, but woe to the investor who establishes such a beachhead on uncharted terrain. For these stylized properties, market maturity matters, according to boutique hotel executives.

“You do need a certain level of maturity in the market,” said Adrian Jossa, co-founder and owner of Muse Hotels de Luxe, which counts five properties in its portfolio. That maturity extends to an established base of hotel inventory and a thriving cultural footprint from which boutique hotels can draw inspiration.

“What’s key in lifestyle- and boutique-type hotels is taking the DNA of what you have in the jurisdiction and the location and transcribing that DNA into something that is locally grown,” Jossa said during a panel titled “The next wave” at last month’s Arabian Hotel Investment Conference. 

For Meliá Hotels International, blazing the trail with the company’s more traditional chains is a prerequisite before adding any of its ME by Meliá hotels, said Martin Ostermann, Meliá’s director of development in the Middle East region.

“Introducing the group with our core brand with Meliá was important to set up infrastructure,” he said. 

Dubai is a case in point of a market marching toward maturation, the executives agreed.

“For many years, Dubai seemed totally based around large, extravagant big-brand hotels,” said Gordon Campbell Gray, founder and chairman of CampbellGray Hotels, which operates the Carlisle Bay in Antigua and the Le Gray in Beirut. “I thought it was no place for a niche market … but I feel as though Dubai has matured; it’s more sophisticated; the art scene’s improved. 

“I really now feel Dubai is ready for a smaller boutique hotel.”

Simon Coombs, president and CEO of Shaza Hotels, offered a different take, arguing a great niche hotel can complement any location, regardless of existing hotel footprint.

“I would like to think of us in all markets and not just saturated markets as a first choice,” he said.

Giving him some confidence, Coombs said, is the brand’s backing of Kempinski, which manages a portfolio of 73 5-star hotels in 31 countries. 

Mostly Middle East 

Middle Eastern destinations dominated the executives’ wish lists for expansion.

“We’re very keen on the Middle East,” Campbell Gray said. He and his team are “always keen on Oman and Jordan.” Other opportunities include projects as far afield as the Galápagos Islands, Switzerland and Palm Beach, Florida.

“With the current focus of Dubai being the tourism focus of the Middle East, it was important for us to enter that market successfully and then branch out,” said Ostermann. 

Meliá is discussing projects in Qatar, Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia, he added. 

JA Resorts & Hotels, whose seven properties include five in or near Dubai, has another three planned in the emirate, said COO David Thomson. The company’s development team is also looking to the Indian Ocean, he added. 

Muse is primarily a resort play, although “now we’re working on a very urban product,” Jossa said. 

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar top his wish list, he added. 

Coombs said expansion at Shaza is less predicated on locale and more so focused on traveler trends. 

“We will develop wherever our market wishes to travel,” he said. That includes a new project in Oman, which is set to open later this year. 

Key takeaways

The Middle East focus reflected in the executives’ key panel takeaways.

Jossa made a pitch to investors who’ve worked exclusively with more traditional brands. 

“Partnership in this region is essential in the (Middle East, North Africa) region where you have a lot of very large real estate owners or developers that have a big share of the market,” he said. “… We’re here. We want to participate in creating the DNA of the different locations. Give us the opportunity to partner with yourself. We’re building the essence of cities.”

Campbell Gray reiterated that message.

“If you’re an investor, be confident and go for the individual. … Be confident enough to throw away that safety of that big brand and go with your gut instinct,” he said. 

Coombs stressed the importance of a strong working relationship between owners and brand creators. 

“You have to have a very clear vision of who you are building your hotels for,” he said. 

Boutique hotels just got easier to book

By Sara Ashley O'Brien  @saraashleyo 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Wix wants to help boutique hotels, bed and breakfasts, and vacation rentals take control of their web presence.

On Wednesday, the cloud-based web development company launched WixHotels, a booking engine that allows hotels to manage their own inventory without paying commission to one of the big aggregators like Expedia (EXPE), Orbitz (OWW) or Priceline(PCLN, Tech30).

The goal is for smaller hotel and vacation rental owners to be able to "compete effectively with the giants of the industry," according to Wix (WIX) co-founder Avishai Abrahami.

Right now, hotels' online visibility relies heavily on aggregators, which can be costly for boutique businesses.

"The high cost and commissions taken by existing booking engines and booking websites is a major factor in why users will switch to WixHotels," said Abrahami.

Sites like Expedia can charge as much as a 30% commission on the room price, according to hospitality expert Larry Mogelonsky.

Expedia declined requests for comment.

Related: Banks won't lend? Use these guys instead

Wix has 50 million registered users -- both businesses and individuals -- who have created their own web and mobile sites with Wix's drag and drop utilities (no coding experience required). Roughly 10,000 of Wix's customers are running hotel sites. Many rely on the costly booking aggregators -- and some have no digital booking system at all.

"We began investigating the needs of this vertical about five months ago," explained Abrahami. "When realizing the gap in the market, we began development."

Since its soft launch last week, he said they've already had thousands of implementations. For now, WixHotels is free to web clients, but like other Wix features, it will likely be based on a freemium model, meaning additional features will cost more. Websites through Wix end up costing customers between $7 and $50 a month, depending to the features added.

Related: Facebook says: If you Like it, Buy it.

A seamless, full-service web experience is essential in the travel industry.

According to a 2013 report by Google (GOOG), 65% of customers book travel directly on company sites instead of online travel agencies like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz. It's an 11% increase from 2012.

Pablo Techera owns Reina Mora Guest House, a five-room hotel in Spain. He runs his website through Wix and previously had just a basic contact form and a phone number for reservations. He was one of a few hotels that helped Wix test the product during a pilot period.

Boutique hotels reaching new heights

By REW Staff

ANDREW POSIL

By Andrew Posil, Massey Knakal Realty Services

While the national and New York metro lodging markets boast strong metrics, boutique hotels, as a subset, are outperforming their branded brethren.

Despite the relatively new product’s outstanding performance, defining and classifying what constitutes a boutique hotel remains a challenge.

Since Ian Shrager and Steven Rubell in 1984 first opened the doors to Midtown Manhattan’s Morgans, the original boutique hotel, it became clear that this new approach to lodging would become a hit. Initially, Morgans’ design and attention to detail offered guests a distinct and stylish, yet also functional experience that could be found nowhere else.

Morgans pulsed with a “who’s who” of pop culture which drove notoriety and inspired competing hoteliers to push the envelope of the hotel experience.

Despite the early excitement, the Morgans’ experience and effect far surpassed what could have been anticipated or predicted for today’s hotel market.

According to Lodging Econometrics, there are 151 hotel projects in the New York development pipeline today totaling 26,244 rooms. Of those, 73 projects are currently under construction for a total of 13,318 rooms.

While there are just three luxury branded hotels, totaling 688 rooms, being developed, there are 18 boutique independents underway totaling 3,042 rooms.

The increasing success of New York’s boutique hotels is one of the factors driving developers to choose the boutique option more frequently than in any other market in the country.

In a recent survey by PKF Hospitality Research, the superior performance of the boutique class is evident.

At the national level, boutique space reflects an occupancy premium of approximately 13%. The boutique sector also exhibits strong growth in RevPAR. In 2012, 2013, and 2014 RevPAR is trending at 6.3%, 7.4%, and 8.8%, respectively, exceeding national averages, for the sector at large, in the last two years.

The demand in growth for boutique rooms is predicted to exceed the growth for traditional hotel rooms and the growth in demand for boutique hotel rooms will continue to exceed the growth in supply through 2015 with RevPAR premiums continuing through 2017.

Boutiques offer owners another distinct advantage. While comparable in payroll expenses and income from room rental and food and beverage, boutiques spend, on average, $7,564 in marketing per available room each year compared to $8,620 for branded hotels. This savings largely results from the avoidance of marketing fees levied by national brands for access to their reservation platforms.

Common wisdom points to two features that define a boutique hotel. First, boutique hotels are traditionally independently operated which permits greater creativity and less standardization. Second, they are generally small in size facilitating more personal service.

However, on closer inspection, it is clear that there are many exceptions to these generally accepted principles.

The founding tenant of the boutique hotel is that it must be independently operated — not flagged by a national brand. However, this rule has been dispelled in two meaningful ways.

First, pioneering boutique hoteliers have grown organically to become nationally recognized brands. For example, Bill Kimpton, founder of Kimpton Hotels, through proprietary investment and third party management, enlarged his portfolio from a single hotel in 1981 to over 60 hotels today, gaining wide brand name recognition in the process.

Ace Hotel on West 29th Street

Other boutiques, such as the Ace Hotel, or the Joie de Vivre, have grown into recognizable brands with multiple locations.

The other challenge to the notion that boutiques must be independently operated is the emergence of national hotel brands developing their own boutique labels.

Marriot has partnered with the original boutique hotelier, Ian Shrager, to develop Edition where, despite the involvement of Marriott, Shrager’s boutique-touch created an independent feel.

While Edition is in its early stages, the flag is open for business in Istanbul and London with eight more hotels planned for delivery in gateway cities around the world including New York in 2015. Likewise, Andaz by Hyatt, is another boutique concept developed and operated by a leading mainstream hotel group. Starwood has grown the W, perhaps the most mainstream of boutique hotels, to 68 locations globally.

The second commonly held belief, that a boutique hotel must be a small size, is easily dispelled. The Dream Downtown in the Meatpacking District offers 315 guest rooms. The Royalton in Midtown Manhattan offers 282 guest rooms. Both hotels are considerably larger than typical boutique hotels, and both have unique, and utterly cool ambiance that create unforgettable guest experiences. Large boutique hotels feel intimate despite their size.

So, what seems to matter when classifying a hotel as boutique more than the number of rooms or the number of flags, is the overall experience which the hotel offers for its guests – it must be distinctive, memorable, and most of all, pleasurable.

While the definition of boutique may remain nebulous, it is clear that, just as it was at its inception, the customer’s desired experience will drive the product in new and exciting directions.