Page 18 - Sphere No.26 (Mar 2010)

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luxurious individual Thai-style villas and spent their days
lounging on the private Phuket beach, doing lazy laps of the
Roman style pool, or feasting at the gourmet restaurant.
It was an immediate hit among the jet set, people who
valued its exclusivity and privacy and had no problem pay-
ing big money for a totally secluded vacation. Amanpuri
was followed by similar properties, initially in Asia, later in
other parts of the world.
In China, the boom in boutique hotels is hard to
miss. In Beijing, there are now boutique hotels galore,
including several that have adapted the city’s traditional
courtyard architecture.
Further south, in the port city of Shanghai, some
of the latest offerings have an eco-conscious theme,
a trend led by Australian Jules Kwan and Ameri-
can Scott Barrack, young entrepreneurs who have
established a successful business, Space Development,
converting period-piece houses and offices in the
city for modern use.
“One of our core values is to practise what we
preach, so all of our employees are well versed in
energy-saving practices, such as biking, using public
transport and conserving electricity at the office,”
said Mr Kwan. “We have developed a training
programme to educate and instruct our staff in
carbon-neutrality and sustainability.”
David Jones, an Associate Professor at the Hong
Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and
Tourism Management, thinks the United States
has the best examples of the boutique genre.
“In my opinion Kimpton Hotels and Restau-
rants were the first to develop boutique hotels as
a group and they are doing the best job of defin-
ing a boutique hotel today, although they prefer
to call it a lifestyle hotel,” he says. “Another
boutique operator, which also happens to be
based in San Francisco, is Joie de Vivre hotels.
“What makes boutique hotels different?
Well, if you take the ‘lifestyle’ hotel concept,
then it is about customising the guest experi-
ence, a one-to-one experience if you will.
You need to know each customer and know
what they need, which means a very good
database system.
“However, it is not just about knowing
amenity preference that has become com-
monplace with all brands today, it’s more
about knowing what the entire lifestyle of
the guest is and matching what you have
to them, as best you can. Kimpton has
many different types of hotels and the
key for them is ‘every hotel tells a story.’ ”
Smaller boutique hotels, which do
not have the budget for marketing or
Sphere
advertising, have the option of joining organisations that spe-
cialise in promoting such niche properties, whether it is a game
lodge in Africa, a resort in Thailand or a hotel in central London.
The human touch is hugely important for Brad Cocks, the
Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific of the travel website, the
Kiwi Collection, who spends much of the year checking out quality
hotels, including numerous boutique properties.
“I think in most cases boutique hotels offer an enhanced
experience, usually incorporating a new trend such as design or
technology and also escapism from cookie-cutter offerings,” he
said. “An experience that delivers on its promise: simple, easy,
efficient, fun, generous.
“The basics are always taken for granted now – flat screen tele-
vision and so on – it is the human touch that makes the difference.
I think simply based on the economy of scale, in a boutique hotel
the ratio of staff to guests is much higher and allows for a more
intimate relationship.
“The Establishment Hotel in Sydney is a great example of a
boutique hotel, offering unique rooms with a very long room
configuration, beds removed from the wall on a slant, enhanced
room technology and access to some of the city’s best restaurants
and bars.”
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is also planning to
provide hospitality training to tourism students with the help of a
boutique hotel, to be run by the school.
“There needs to be a careful balance of commercial reality and
the ideology of nurturing the students in a subtle and real way,”
explained General Manager Richard Hatter, who stressed that
students will be in a minority and will be supervised by experi-
enced staff.
“We have training restaurants and bars run by professionals
– think Jamie Oliver’s 15 Restaurant in the UK. These will not be
simulations but reality situations to which the public can walk in
off the street, in addition to the restaurants run 100 per cent by
our team for hotel guests.
“What makes a good boutique hotel? I feel that it should be
a bespoke upscale hotel with stylish designs, responsive service,
confident delivery and passionate staff. It’s more about not being a
chain mentality but being independent and responsive. The team
are empowered to deliver whatever the guest wants.”
The relatively late arrival of boutique hotels in Hong Kong and
other Asian jurisdictions allows them to offer guests newer build-
ings equipped with the full technological bag of tricks that 21st-
century travellers demand, a high staff-guest ratio and the kind of
warm, personalised service for which the region is so famous.