Luxury Boutique Hotels Take a Bite Out of the Big Hotel Brands

Owners and operators of smaller, luxury boutique hotels are taking their orders directly from the customer rather than the board room. An creative idea that does not quickly generate revenue will most likely never see the light of day in a major branded hotel. Smaller non-branded boutique hotels can implement an idea with very little resistance and have an immediate impact on the customer experience.

While the major brands work hard at and succeed with initiatives that exceed customer expectations, smaller boutique hotels can actually create new expectations by using focused, locality driven customer experiences. Kurt Bjorkman, president of över5 notes "three years ago a small boutique hotel renovated a Santa Monica, Ca. property. As the operator of a larger, branded hotel my team did not think the new property would steal market share...we were wrong. Today the boutique hotel is number 3 in rate and in the top 5 in revPar. Who would have thought? You cannot ignore the impact these boutique hotels are having in the marketplace.".

The big brands are taking notice and making changes to streamline the creative process. But it might be too late in the game. Smaller luxury boutique hotels have made a very big impact on how customers perceive service and this trend continues to grow.

over5 is a full service hospitality consulting company. With over 20 years of experience, founder and president Kurt Bjorkman works with smaller, non-branded hotels focusing on creating new expectations.