Boutique Hotel - what is it?
 

What is a boutique hotel. Is that a fancy name for B&B? Thanks.

Basically. Usually a B&B is like a house that rents out rooms. A boutique hotel is a small building with a small number of rooms for rent. The rooms are sometimes themed and are usually quite nice.

Much as Michellen says. A small hotel, often independantly owned, sometimes part of a small chain, often nicely interior designed, often strong on customer service. Certainly not what I think of as a B&B - slicker/more professional.

That isn't what it is at all, at least not in any of the kinds of media I read or where I hear them advertised. It's a small hotel (but not necessarily that small, I know some that call themselves boutique hotels in the US with up to 100 rooms or more), that presents itself as being more personal, good service, and usually stylish or chic, and often more expensive. These hotels may be "chains", like the Ian Shrager hotels or Kimpton Group in the US. I stayed at a Kimpton hotel in NY, which is one of my favorite, and it was 9 stories tall.

To me, a BOUTIQUE hotel is usually very small but well appointed and independentley-owned. I think there is a definite difference between a boutique hotel and just a B&B.

here's my favorite website for boutique hotels. They add new locations constantly.

www.i-escape.com

Thanks everyone, and thanks for the link, Sandi.

I think of A boutique hotel as something like the chic Sloane Hotel on Dracut Place in London. I stayed there years ago when it was a "private Key" hotel,called Dracut House, a bed and Breakfast that had a heater in the room that you fed with coins.
Christina, you know so much about Paris. How often do you go and how long>

A B&B is almost always owner-owned and operated; it does not provide most services that you would expect at a hotel and usually has only a few rooms. A boutique hotel is an actual hotel, usually with fewer rooms than the large chain hotels, with individually decorated rooms and the usual hotel staff.

They can be owned by a group or chain as some in Paris are, but here's one definition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boutique_hotel

This is what I think of:
boutique hotel. A small property, typically offering an enhanced level of service and marketed to the affluent. boutique operation. Any business venture that seeks to provide an enhanced level of service, at a premium price, to a select clientele.

Well put, Mimi.