What does "boutique" mean?

[USVirgin]

Exactly. I have no desire to stay at one of these places in Bangers. Why would anyone, when you can get a mega-sized room in a serviced apartment with all the amenities of a hotel for the same or less?

[samak]

high price for a bit of decoration and pretended service...

[elef]

Boutique is the french word for "shop" and borrowed to some languages - for example swedish as butik.

 

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Boutique

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

A boutique, from the French word for "shop," is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specialises in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewellery.

 

The term entered into everyday English use in the late 1960's when, for a brief period, London, UK was the centre of the fashion trade. Carnaby Street and the Kings Road were the focus of much media attention as home to the most fashionable boutiques of the era.

 

It can also refer to a specialised firm such as a boutique investment bank or boutique law firm. The word is often used to describe a property in the independent section of the hotel market (such as The Rockwell in London) in order to distinguish themselves from larger chains (such as Hilton Hotels). In such cases the idea is that the operation is elite and highly specialized.

 

In the strictest sense of the word, boutiques would be one-of-a-kind but more generally speaking, some chains can be referred to as boutiques if they specialise in particularly stylish offerings.

 

Recently, the term "boutique" has started being applied to normally-mass-market items that are either niche or produced in intentionally small numbers at very high prices. For example, before the release of the Wii, a Time Magazine article suggested that Nintendo could become a "boutique video-game company", producing games for niche audiences, rather than trying to compete directly with Microsoft and Sony [1].

 

Although some boutiques specialise in hand-made items and other truly one-of-a-kind items, others simply produce t-shirts, stickers, and other fashion accessories in artificially small runs and sell them at unusually high prices.

 

Link

 

[Palatkik]

What the hell does this term mean?

 

Pretentious crap usually comes to my mind first? What about you?

 

[trooper]

What about you?

 

I think 'overpriced' is the first impression when I see some thing advertised as 'boutique'.

[koow]

I've always considered the word to be totally meaningless (other than a very rough indicator of size). But look at all the posters on this board over the years who have used the term, as if they know what it means. (if you did a search on that word, you'd probably see alot).

 

[Barry]

Isee the word boutique and think of it being full of womens stuff. Puts me right off straight away. USVirgin is right about Fuck Hotels. I'd be right in there, knowing there were no families or stuck up tourists staring contemptuously over breakfast.

[elef]

Bangkok Post

04-08-2008

Link

 

AVIATION

 

Nok may be reborn as boutique hotels

BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA

 

 

 

The little yellow-beaked bird hatched by the budget carrier Nok Airlines in 2004 wants to see itself as the phoenix, the mythical bird that never dies.

 

Nok (bird in Thai) is hoping for life after a near-death experience triggered by skyrocketing fuel prices and plummeting traffic demand. Some observers believe the budget carrier could eventually go under, despite having Thai Airways International as a major shareholder.

 

But Nok could also be resurrected as a brand for other diversified products or businesses such as hospitality services.

 

In the eyes of Patee Sarasin, the chief executive of Nok Air and a former advertising executive, Nok has goodwill and brand value that can still be exploited in the future.

 

That view is giving rise to a business development plan that would involve Nok becoming a symbol of a chain of boutique hotels, a hip on Thailand's hospitality landscape.

 

Now on the drawing board and due for completion in two months, the plan envisages the development of three-star hotels, each with 30-50 rooms, in major Thai cities.

 

"We are looking at hotels with simple but hip designs, very clean with very reasonable prices at locations with easy accessibility to public transport systems," Mr Patee explained.

 

Conceptually, the Nok hotels would not be situated in central business districts, he told the Bangkok Post. They would accommodate tourists and businessmen, both local and foreign, who spend a lot of time outside hotels.

 

Rooms would be priced affordably, in the range of 1,500 to 2,000 baht per night. The first hotels could see the light in Bangkok, according to the plan.

 

Mr Patee sees the development of Nok hotels as a risk-management exercise, spreading risk and diversifying business beyond airline operations.

 

"We cannot put all our eggs in one basket," he said.

 

Nok Air is struggling desperately to stay afloat with cumulative losses exceeding 110 million baht. Budget carriers generally have been hit harder than their full-service counterparts by fuel prices, which now account for up to 70% of operating costs, against 40% for mainstream carriers.

 

Nok recently grounded six of its nine leased Boeing 737- 400s, slashed flights to 25 a day from 79, and cut salaries of senior staff by 20-25% and 10% for others.

 

It remains unclear how the existing shareholders of Nok Air would respond to the proposed hotel plan, or whether other investors would be sought.

 

THAI, the single largest shareholder with a 39% stake, has seen the budget airline's management as too rebellious for its mother bird.

 

The national carrier would like to see Nok Air work help protect its market share on domestic and regional routes, particularly against other budget carriers.

 

 

 

[Barry]

I really hope Nok air survive. Good little airline. Would do better if operated as part of the TG network rather than stand alone.

[Mentors]

means a overpriced small property.

 

btw. The Park hotel isn't one.