Upping your B&B Game
Ideas on How to Turn your B&B into a Boutique Style Inn
If you want to market yourself as a “boutique Hotel” what would your defining features be? There is some overlap between the concept of a small boutique Hotel and a Bed and Breakfast with no regard to hotel size. They are intimate in scale, creating the ambiance of being a personal guest in a private home, rather than just a hotel occupant.
boutique Hotels often contain luxury facilities of varying size in unique or intimate settings with full service accommodations. Typically boutique hotels are furnished in a themed, stylish or aspirational manner.
Travelers nowadays expect more than simply comfort and convenience. An increasing number of travelers prefer to be "surprised". When planning trips, they seek properties that are noticeably different in look and feel from branded hotels. You can attract a niche of customers looking for a special and differentiated property able to fulfill their individual needs if you think of what you can provide that offers similar services.
Today’s travelers’ never-ending search for something “new and different” inspired the evolution of boutique hotels. These properties have a distinctive vibe and never have the “cookie cutter” feel of being one in a series. They are fun and funky, trendy and offbeat.
What characterizes a “boutique Inn?” "Boutique" is an approach and attitude. Even though there is no formal definition of what a boutique hotel is, some defining features of boutique hotels are cultural, historical, authenticity; the boutique hotel provides interesting, unique services. Other important defining descriptors of boutique hotels include, “social spaces such as living rooms, libraries with social rooms” and “many, high-quality in‐room features”. One thing that boutique hotels have created is the notion of the communal lobby as a gathering space.
Boutique hotels generally target customers who are in their early 20s to mid-50s, with mid- to upper-income averages. Boutique hotels express their personalities in humorous, mildly rebellious room details and guest programs. A boutique hotel can surprise and delight guests with winsome touches: a tiger-shaped faux-fur rug before the fireplace or a chocolate treat shaped like your first initial. For the most, part they’re looking for a distinct and curated experience, and something that is uniquely local to that market
Great Lobbies, abience, great cuisine and social events.
Often, the boutique inn boasts a celebrity-chef eatery in its lobby. And just as frequently, it offers a stylish bar or lounge with a delectable modern cocktail menu. High quality, authentic cuisine, and comfortable cocktail atmospheres make these dining and drinking spots popular with locals as well as guests. A boutique hotel doesn’t necessarily provide breakfast as part of the room price. So Breakfast is special, an added value and already included in a typical Bed and Breakfast and worth marketing.
Local Flavor
Boutique hotels often celebrate the local flavor with a strong sense of place by incorporating locally-sourced materials and reflecting the location’s heritage through color and art. Highly personalized service is a hallmark of boutique hotels. Staff will know your name on the first day of your stay. Providing luxury amenities such as an extensive pillow menu and custom toiletries, as well as offering sumptuous spa services creates a very high-quality, individualized experience.
by Patricia Detwiler