What are Boutique Hotels?

by Jane Onstott---
for Directory of Hotels

Bigger Isn't Always Better: The Boutique Experience

Does size matter? Frankly, for many people, it does. Why spend your vacation in the elevator, waiting to arrive at your room on the 39th floor, stopping at every other floor on the way? Boutique hotels offer intimacy in an increasingly impersonal world.

But how big is a boutique hotel? How many rooms does it have? And what else makes a boutique different from any small lodging?

While few hotels with more than 200 rooms are considered "boutique," the designation is mostly relative to the other accommodations in the area. In Hong Kong or Honolulu, for example, where high-rise hotels are the norm, a hotel of 150 or even 200 rooms might constitute a boutique. But the number of rooms is less important than the experience itself. What matters most is the coziness factor: no matter how few rooms it has, the Bates Motel is not a boutique.

Family-run hotels (the Bates' notwithstanding) often fit into the boutique category. They may be custom-built, or perhaps the proprietor's childhood home has been converted to accommodate guests. The owners' personalities will greatly influence the experience you have there. Most often they're gregarious and outgoing, manning the bar and personally supervising the kitchen. The odd curmudgeon may enjoy owning a hotel, however, in which case his presence can put a damper on an otherwise fabulous holiday.

Another important attribute of boutique hotels--- also known as "design hotels” or sometimes "lifestyle hotels”---is excellent service. White-gloved butlers indulge their temporary patrons, while cabana boys spritz sunbathers with rose water and bartenders blend perfect mai tais. Whether it's an honor bar and the loan of boogey boards at an island idyll or five-star service at an expensive retreat, design hotels cater to their guests----or so they should.

Rustic or chic, the key word for a successful boutique is unique. The most successful offer something that others cannot. In historic Los Alamos, in northwest Mexico, Hacienda de los Santos occupies an immaculately restored 17th-century hacienda. The stately old adobe mansion has been returned to its original glory, and beyond, with four swimming pools and a health spa. Each room has a fireplace. Between history (it's listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites), appointments, and service, there's literally nowhere like it on earth.

Also unique, historic and bristling with personalized service is Edinburgh 's The Scotsman. Lodged in the former office of the eponymous newspaper, the hotel's bar is styled like a typical British drawing room, but the modern, stainless-steel swimming pool is anything but business as usual. Despite its location near the railway station in the heart of Scotland 's capital city, the hotel maintains a "getaway” feel by offering a high level of both service and privacy. The 68 guest rooms are connected to the hallway via dumbwaiter-style cubbies so that food, libations and clean clothes can be delivered without reclusive visitors ever opening their doors.

Equally inimitable is Puerto Vallarta's Hacienda San Angel: a mélange of restored mansions outfitted throughout with art and antiques. Romance is a natural by-product of the sumptuous accommodations, and its location in lively Puerto Vallarta makes it especially attractive to couples. South of Vallarta, two other design hotels on practically private beaches attract families as well as honeymooners; beautiful, secluded settings encourage bonding and intimacy rather than more extroverted activities.

An exotic, dream-vacation venue is the perfect location for a boutique hotel. Large hotels look out of place in lovely, isolated natural settings (witness the La Jolla de Mismaloya hotel, a highrise with many wonderful qualities except that it permanently mars the once-pristine cove over which it looms). Boutiques are the lodgings of choice for nature-based destinations such as volcanoes, islands, old-growth forests, and other magical sites. Despite the chain's success, there's surely no Hyatt in heaven. It just wouldn't fit.

To find the most fabulous boutique hotels around the globe, search Directory of Hotels find the perfect hotel for your destination.