Unique Features of Boutique Hotels

When people go on vacation or business trips, they use brand name hotels like the Comfort Inn or the Holiday Inn. While these hotels are good for getting a decent nights sleep, they do not offer much more than that comfortable bed. Yet, there is an alternative if you’re looking for something a little more than a bed. A boutique hotel.

If you are looking for a place that offers a bed with friendly hospitality with a feeling of home, then what you are looking for is a boutique hotel. What is a boutique hotel? It is a hotel that is designed in a certain way, designed to a certain theme to give its hotel guests a welcoming feeling.

Boutique hotels can be found anywhere in the world including the United States of America. Although this is the case, many people are not as aware of them. Why? When you turn on your television, you see commercials about families staying at a particular hotel as they travel the US.

If you want to stay in a place that is unique, you’ll need to do some searching using the Internet. You may not realize it but many of the antique homes that are fixed up in New Orleans are actually boutique hotels. There are several of them to choose from and many use the 19th century as their theme. These older homes in New Orleans can be used for something more than museums when accented right.

Besides providing all of these amenities, how can a boutique hotel stand out among the high competition of the Holiday Inn, Ramada Limited and even Super 8 Motel? These hotels usually have the same kind of motif but the boutique hotels strive to do something more. Owners have boutique hotels use catchy themes to grab the attention of its guests. Some hotel owners will use the theme of where their hotel is located at, others will use an era or time period to create a unique experience.

In the French Quarter of New Orleans, many owners of the boutique hotels use the 19th century to design their rooms, lobbies and hallways. The Hotel Union Square of San Francisco designs its rooms in a Prohibition era design. The rooms and hallways have a black granite and cream travertine tile. The Whitehall Hotel in Chicago uses a 1920s theme to grab the attention of its guests.

That isn’t to say all boutiques base their theme on the local area. The Inn of Five Graces in Santa Fe bases it’s theme on the southwest culture and mixes it with Asian culture. There are plenty of boutiques outside of the US, in cities as far away as Moscow and Singapore.

If you find a boutique hotel you are interested in staying in, you should realize that a short notice reservation is likely not going to work. Most boutique hotels have a limited amount of rooms. They average out around 25 to 50 rooms. There are some boutique hotels which have over 100 rooms and others that have only three or four rooms to stay in. These small number of rooms allow employees to get to know their guests. Be sure to put your reservation in as soon as you know when you will be leaving on your vacation/business trip.

While mainstream hotels offer plenty of extras, boutique hotels provide more. Even though most buildings are old, they are retrofitted for modern conveniences such as high speed Internet access, spas, swimming pools and even a fitness center. Boutique hotels, larger ones especially, will offer guests a bar and restaurant inside to enjoy.

While the commercial hotels are media branded and make you think about their particular image, sometimes a little research finds you staying somewhere you never even thought about. You should realize that you pay for what you get. A boutique hotel is not cheap but well worth the cash you spend. With all the amenities you get, theres no need to stay anywhere else.