Introducing Trendy Boutique Hotels

It is becoming increasingly usual that the most recent, not so large, hotels are being classed as a “boutique” hotel. In the immense city of London, the capital of the U. K., as in the great many other major cities of the globe, you can now find a reasonable selection of excellent boutique hotels. Below we take a look at exactly what is a “Boutique Hotel” and where did they first appear

Boutique hotels are generally smaller hotels maintained by a small enterprise, family or couple. However, within the last decade several international hotel chains, in response to the increasing demand for boutique hotels, have commenced in the construction of their own. One thing that has to be almost true is that almost all boutique hotels are uniquely designed with decoration often based on a theme. Such themes are often used throughout the whole hotel. An example of a them could be based on a particular period of history such as the Edwardian period. Sometimes a theme may be used in each different room rather than the whole hotel.

Who Designed The Earliest Hotel Referred To As A Boutique Hotel?

Boutique hotels first began to appear in the late 1980s in New York (USA). Various other hotels claim to have been boutique hotels as far ago as 1981, in other areas such as London in Britain, and San Francisco (USA). The first hotel to be described as a “boutique hotel” was the ‘Morgans’ hotel, New York, in 1984. These earlier claimants were, therefore, subsequently described as such and can not, in reality, 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.

Fascinating Boutique Hotels In The UK

42 The Calls (hotel), Leeds, lays claim to being the first to appear in the United Kingdom. The Calls was a hotel built in the carcass of an old corn mill and used that as the overall theme. The hotel is well known for featuring superb, and extremely comfortable, hand crafted beds in each room and, interestingly, it also has some of the old corn mills original machinery.

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 currently planning a vacation to the U. K. and thinking about spending some time in London it is relatively easy these days to find a London boutique hotel and, surprisingly it is equally as easy to find cheap hotels in London. Occassionally you are able to find a cheap boutique hotel but sadly this is rare.