Cheap Thailand Holidays

Boutique hotels seek to fuse the atmosphere of luxury offered by global hotel organisations with the personalised service provided by its smaller cousins.
At the beginning of the current global recession in 2008, the travel industry - which had experienced buoyant growth during the boom years - braced itself for a downturn. Three years later, however, it has turned out that people haven't stopped travelling but simply changed the way in which they do so, leaving plenty of new opportunities available for travel agents to explore.
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The UK, for instance, saw the rise of the 'staycation' as families who previously travelled abroad for their annual holiday opted to see the sights of home instead, with many local bed and breakfasts reporting an uptake in bookings. This changing trend has meant that many luxury hotels have had to compete with smaller entities, slashing prices during non-peak periods and offering promotions to stimulate business. However, there is a middle ground between the huge hotel chain and the local B&B that has also seen rising interest in the past few years: the boutique hotel.
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The boutique hotel is a relative newcomer to the travel industry, with many pundits putting its modern origins in around the 1980s. In essence, it seeks to fuse the atmosphere of luxury offered by global hotel organisations with the personalised service provided by its smaller cousins. In size, however, it is dramatically different to either of these types of accommodation. The typical boutique hotel offers between 30 and 50 guest rooms, though some may have as little as eight and others as many as 80. The resultant effect is one of great exclusivity and it's this quality that has fuelled the growth of boutique hotels across the world.
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Unsurprisingly, their successful formula means that boutique hotels can be found around the globe in many guises - from trendy hotels in Edinburgh to jungle-hidden ones in Indonesia. New York City is routinely cited as home to some of the world's best boutique accommodation, with supreme views of the Manhattan skyline being a much-boasted feature. However, many major tourist destinations in South East Asia have also caught on to the boutique phenomenon, with such small and luxurious hotels providing a peaceful and indulgent resting place in bustling locations like Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Moreover, since the overriding feature of boutique hotels is their emphasis on style, they are popularly found in cities that have a long association with fashion and so some of the best examples can be found in London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo.
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While London might be the obvious location for boutique hotels in the UK, it's far from the only city that is home to such sought-after accommodation. Big cities like Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham, for example, attract much local tourism and boutique hotels in these cities are popular with couples and young travellers on indulgent weekends away.
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Further north, Scotland is home to some of the country's best exclusive getaways, thanks to the country's popularity with wealthy tourists from Japan and North America. Finding an Edinburgh boutique hotel in the city centre, for instance, is a simple yet rewarding process, though there are many more to be found in the Highlands, as well as close to the east coast's famous golf courses.
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