Pendry Wants to Blur the Lines Between Boutique and Luxury in Hotels

Despite all of the flood of new brands proliferating in the hospitality space, a sizable gulf still exists between the land of the boutique and the land of luxury. Boutiques often push a very compelling sell, but fall short when it comes to the soft skills: anticipation, creature comforts, and true attention to detail. My litmus test is to call and ask if the property does turndown or keeps a keen eye on how the arrival occurs — canaries in the coal mine to determine the level of service and detail at a property.

The boutique landscape, originally homespun in the eras of great hoteliers like Ian Schrager and Liz Lambert, has scaled into something more mass-produced and focus-grouped from larger hospitality groups. And lines between luxury and boutique don’t often intersect as much as I would like. But this is starting to change.

Enter Pendry, a boutique brand built off of the luxury savoir-faire from its parent brand, Montage, founded by Alan Fuerstman, almost 20 years ago. Though you might not have noticed during the curtailment of travel in the pandemic, Pendry has been quietly building up an interesting footprint within urban centers, where it is bringing a younger, fresher, art-centric approach while also not losing touch with where it came from — one of the most storied names in high-end hospitality.

The brand’s portfolio spans West Hollywood, Baltimore, San Diego as well as a newly launched property in Park City, Utah and others, including one in Washington D.C. scheduled to open later this year.

The strategy is clear: build a new brand for the next wave of luxury travelers who are more concerned with the usual tropes everyone is running after, such as art, feeling connected to the nuance of a city, experiences, et cetera.