It is becoming increasingly usual that the most recently built, small sized, hotels are being described as a “boutique” hotel. In the incredibly huge city of London, the capital of the UK, and in the many other major cities of the planet, you can now find a collection of excellent boutique hotels. The article below examines what makes a hotel “boutique” and where the first ones appeared

Boutique hotels are typically rather small hotels owned by a couple, family or small enterprise. However, in the last few years a few international hotel chains, in response to the increased demand for boutique hotels, have started to build their own. It is nearly fact that virtually all boutique hotels are individually styled with decoration commonly based on a theme. Such themes are commonly applied throughout the whole hotel. Such an example may be based on a particular period of history such as the eighteenth century. Every now and again a theme may be used in each different room rather than the whole hotel.

Which Was The First Hotel Described As A Boutique Hotel?

Boutique hotels first appeared in the last few years of the nineteen eighties in New York (USA). A small number of other hotels claim to have been boutique hotels as far ago as 1981, in other cities such as London in Great 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, really, 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. In promoting his hotel Steven Rubell wished to set his hotel apart from, what he considered to be, the plain and boring hotels of the larger 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.

Enjoyable Boutique Hotels In The U. K.

42 The Calls (hotel) in Leeds claims to be one of the first to be built in The UK. The Calls was a hotel built in the carcass of an old corn mill and used that as the overall theme. Adding interest to the hotel is the fact that they have retained some of the original corn mill machinery but the hotel is also known for its wonderfully crafted hand made beds which appear in each room.

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 in the process of planning a vacation to the UK and thinking about spending some time in London it is rather easy these days to find boutique hotels in London and, surprisingly it is equally as easy to find a cheap London hotel. Sometimes you are able to find a cheap boutique hotel but unfortunately this is rare.