Design or Lifestyle? A Review of London's Boutique Hotel Scene
The eighties brought the world many design disasters, so it's perhaps ironic that one of the most enduring hotel design trends was born in 1981, in London and San Francisco simultaneously. Attempting to create the antidote to the standardized 'big hotels', typified by the Hilton and Marriott empires, Anoushka Hempel's 51-room Blakes Hotel in London and Bill Kimpton's Bedford Hotel in San Francisco broke the mould of hotels. And so began the concept which became boutique hotels, one of the growth sectors of an industry that has seen the mid-market suffer, budget hotels thrive and the top end of the market becoming even more luxurious.