ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the significance of the boutique hotel within broader debates about consumption sites. It focuses on the economy and design ethos in the production of hotel space, and identifies the assumptions made about who will be consuming it, and how. The rise of the so-called 'boutique hotel' has been one of the biggest stories in hotel development since the late 1980s. Hoteliers became interested in bold, extravagant designs to appeal to an increasingly differentiated and reflexive set of hotel consumers. Boutique hotels have, therefore, fitted into a rather different consumption framework than the standardized hotel offers of the Fordist period. Cutting-edge design is rarely seen in hotel lobbies. Critical to cutting-edge design is the creation of a theme that will not grow old and tiresome before it is time for the first guests to check in.
