The Boutique Hotel Concept
I was actually planning this article for quite a while, and Fernando beat me to it. Anyway, I felt actually the concept could successfully be applied to some of the smaller motels downtown that currently serve as weekly motels.
To understand what concept I am referring to, it's probably beneficial you know what a boutique hotel is exactly. Boutique hotel is a term usually applied to smaller, more luxurious hotels and motels that offer services on a more personal level, lobbies (if it even has a lobby) and any accompanying restaurants or recreational rooms are on a much smaller scale. For instance, you typically won't find a giant spacious 5-story atrium lobby in a boutique hotel; you would find a small, maybe 800 sq. ft. lobby with an ornate front desk, and a few stylish couches or chairs to lounge around on. And that is the underlying concept of a boutique hotel, the smallness of it all connects you more to the personalized service you get. Now, some major chains have taken that concept and run with it. However even though there might be 300 rooms instead of 100, they still follow the same concept of closer, more intimate architecture and scaling of interior rooms.
In Los Angeles, an old, run down motel called the Beverly Plaza (not to be confused with Beverly Hilton) was converted into a boutique motel in the heart of Los Angeles. Renamed the Orlando, it went through an extensive renovation, replacing all the furniture in the rooms with art deco furniture (see pictures below).
So my initial thought was, a couple of the more questionable motels downtown could easy, and somewhat affordably, be converted to boutique hotels. Take the Lakemill Lodge, for example. It's a prime candidate. It's right across the street from the Automobile Museum, kiddy corner to the Siena, one block from the river. It has the right number of rooms to be a boutique hotel, and its open roof-less center court could be converted into a garden area, outdoor cafe, zen garden, etc.
Of course, talking the owners of these motels into doing that is an entirely different challenge. Most weekly motels downtown are fully inhabited, and if there are 100 rooms at a weekly motel, and charge $120 a week for the rooms, the income is more than $500,000 a year. A nice cash cow. If it was a boutique motel, it certainly wouldn't be at full capacity year round. So how does the Orlando survive in L.A. among big giants like the Hilton and Bonaventure? I'm not sure, but it does. Perhaps it's the personalized service you get. Or the above-standard decorations and interior finishes. Or just the human element of boutique hotels in general.
Anybody have any favorite boutique hotels/motels you frequent in other cities? What are you thoughts on a small weekly motel downtown becoming a boutique hotel, and how could the City of Reno encourage it?
Comments:
Post your commentsPosted by: Kevin - 4/7/2007 11:15:02 AM
http://www.hotelunionsquare.com/ the Union Square hotel in San Francisco is the hippest boutique hotel I have been to. It's right on the cable car line.
Posted by: Paul - 4/7/2007 11:28:30 AM
Check out the Jupiter Hotel in Portland. It is quite the quirky boutique hotel. Downtown could use one of these. http://www.jupiterhotel.com/
Posted by: myrnatheminx - 4/9/2007 8:48:51 PM
I used to love the York in Union Square because you could get a room for under $100. Since I stayed there last, the price has doubled. I've stayed at the Union Square as well and its okay--definitely reasonable. The best places to stay in San Francisco are the Hotel Del Sol (free parking!) and The Marina Inn.
Posted by: Nate - 2/7/2008 10:47:36 PM
Hotel Lucia in Portland was a lot of fun and very chic. Tough to do a Hotel Jupiter type project in Reno. Cheap motels are our City's calling card, affordable housing, and a cashcow to property owners for investing little (a new motel would get the honor of bringing it all up to building and fire codes!). Our cheap motels inspire songs in all genres. You could dress them up to fit on the cover of Dwell, but they would fill up quick with hookers and blow. Our community is "funky" enough to pull something like this off but too small to make it commercially viable (no young proffesionals and a lot of hotel competition). But I would love to be proven wrong! Which one of you downtownmakeover hipsters is going to buy the first motel and put it on the cover of Dwell and Rolling Stone?!
Posted by: xoxoReno - 4/18/2008 5:16:14 PM
The person who convinces the owner of the Lakemill Lodge to convert to a boutique hotel should get the Congressional Medal of Honor
Posted by: Wanderer - 7/20/2008 10:57:12 PM
I'm sure the owners of the Lakemill Lodge would love to convert, but it's a matter of $$$. Especially if there's no cash flow.
Posted by: James - 7/21/2008 11:15:02 PM
I’m sure the Lakemill Lodge is mortgage free. That dump is a cash cow for the owners.