**Richard Dalman**
**Managing Director, Dalman Architects** *dalman.co.nz*

Hotel design is changing fast and being driven by a greater understanding of changing guests’ needs and desires.

Not all of us always wish to stay in ‘standard’ hotels – you know the type, the big brand hotels where the rooms are all much the same no matter what location you’re in.

Over the last two decades, these changes have led to the rise of the boutique hotel. These hotels are normally smaller, have a distinctive designer edge, and are often more in tune with their local culture and environment.

As legend has it, the term ‘boutique’, in the hotel sense, is derived from the opening of the Morgan Hotel in New York City, where the owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager compared it to shopping for clothes in one of New York’s boutique stores, rather than a department store.

Schrager went on to develop many similar style hotels around the world, including the Mondrian in Los Angeles, Hudson in New York, and The Sanderson in London. All of these were designed by French designer Philippe Starck.

The big hotel chains have tried to emulate the boutique DNA into their own existing or new brands with mixed success and often refer to these as ‘lifestyle’ hotels.

Bruce Garrett, who manages Christchurch’s premier boutique hotel, The George, says that to him, boutique means unique, luxurious, not too large, and not cookie-cutter.

“At The George, we have lots of little touches that set us apart from the typical city hotel, for example, our seated check-in experience, welcome drink, nightly turndown service with a complimentary teddy and Whittaker’s chocolate. Our team members are allowed to display their personalities and be individuals. Our amazing art collection and scores of other design features, such as our green wall and back-lit onyx wall, are all part of what makes a stay in a boutique hotel feel that much more special.”

Creative design is always an essential ingredient. Boutique hotels, by their very nature, do not follow trends; they set them.