Am I the only one who thinks that some hotels stretch the truth a little bit by calling themselves boutique?

What I consider a boutique hotel

In the hospitality industry, “boutique” is a term that is increasingly being used to describe hotels. From my point of view, there are a few characteristics that define a hotel boutique:

  • It’s small – a mega hotel can’t be called a boutique
  • It has a cool and / or unique design – a fancy hotel cannot be called a boutique, even if it is small
  • It’s upscale or luxurious – in general I think a rundown two star hotel can’t be called a boutique?

I would think my interpretation of a boutique hotel makes sense, as the word “boutique” is defined as follows:

a shop or facility that is small and sophisticated or fashionable

The 36-room Amanruya Bodrum is certainly a boutique hotel

Can a large hotel be called a boutique?

Just looking at the new Thompson Denver (opening early 2022), I couldn’t help but notice that the hotel is being described as a “216-room luxury boutique hotel.” Maybe it’s just me, but I wouldn’t call a hotel with over 200 rooms a boutique hotel.

This led me to look at other Thompson properties and see that they are all described as “boutique”. These include the 247-room Thompson Chicago and the 287-room The Beekman New York. I love the Thompson brand, and I would call the hotels luxurious and stylish, but I wouldn’t call them boutique for size alone.

Well, I suppose one could argue that these hotels are relatively small. The Thompson Chicago is small compared to the Hyatt Regency Chicago with 2,032 rooms, and the Beekman is small compared to the Marriott Marquis New York with 1,966 rooms. But I’m still not sure what to compare hotel sizes with.

I’m not sure where exactly to draw the line on size:

  • My gut feeling says that a hotel with more than 200 rooms is definitely not a boutique; For me, a boutique hotel would ideally have fewer than 100 rooms
  • I think one should consider the location of a hotel – in other words, I would call a 150 room hotel in New York City a boutique while I would not call a 150 room hotel in the Maldives a boutique

Ultimately, of course, I understand why hotels choose this type of marketing. The big hotel groups keep growing and love to use all the buzzwords that millennials think they want to hear – authentic, distinctive, boutique, etc.

The Thompson Chicago doesn’t look like a boutique to me

Bottom line

Many hotels like to market themselves as boutique. For me a boutique hotel is small, has a cool design and is at least upscale. Personally, I find it difficult to consider a hotel with over 200 rooms as a boutique hotel, but maybe that’s just me.

So, OMAAT readers – how do you define a boutique hotel? Is there a size limit? There are also bonus points for the person who can find the hotel with the highest number of rooms, which calls itself a “boutique”.

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