Page 15 - Sphere No.26 (Mar 2010)

Issue 26 13
THE GENERALLY-ACCEPTED DEFINITION of a boutique
hotel used to be fairly straightforward: small, funky, quirky, or a
combination of all three, a property that was instantly recognisable
as somewhere that took the opposite approach to the major interna-
tional hotel chains’ proclivity for uniformity.
In today’s market, where the major brand players are also launching
city properties that are trumpeted as boutique hotels, the definition has
become broader, and the boundaries a little more blurred, but industry
professionals all agree that the key component is personalised service, the
kind of name-knowing approach that makes guests feel they are in a small,
family-owned place even if the reality is rather different.
For larger hotels aspiring to achieve boutique chic it has meant aban-
doning the instinctive formality that comes with corporate-run operations
– funky lobbies instead of cavernous entrances with marble pillars, uniforms
in colours other than black, and encouraging staff to express their personalities
and act on instinct rather than sticking to a set of rules.
Not that finding individuals with a people-pleasing attitude towards service
has ever been a problem in Asia. But in many ways the region has taken its time
to meet the increased demand for boutique-type hotels; travellers from the so-
called Generation X, now in their 30s and 40s, are particularly receptive to the idea
of spending the night in a less formal place, one that does not have scores of identi-
cal twins in other parts of the world.
After a late start, the Asian boutique-hotel boom is truly on its way, with properties
Why the personal touch makes all the difference
By Mark Redvers
the
Boutique
Vibe