Already counting more than 200 independent boutique and lifestyle hotel members since its launch last month, the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association aims to provide member properties with a more effective process for responding to corporate requests for proposals and increased distribution through various channels, including global distribution systems.
Upon joining the association, hotels "may load directly into BLLA rate access codes (which were established last June)--best available rates and promotional rates--or they may load a publicly available rate," according to association president Frances Kiradjian, regarding GDS distribution.
An Amadeus spokeswoman confirmed that "a unique rate code" for BLLA is in its system and "identifies the property as belonging to the association, therefore returning that specific association rate, as well as all other rates for that property."
Travelport this year will expand the association's presence in its GDSs (Apollo, Galileo and Worldspan) by adding "a negotiated rate code and a property-level indicator so that agents can search for hotels based on BLLA participation,” according to a Travelport spokeswoman. Sabre did not respond to inquiries for this article, but Kiradjian said the association has a presence in the Sabre GDS as well.
"This hospitality sector is more fragmented over the past couple of years," Kiradjian said. "There have been hundreds of new boutique brands all over the world, which further confuses the whole landscape, and consumers ask, 'Who are these people and what do they represent?' "
Boutique hotels often have 100 rooms or less and "intimate, unique, often luxurious and upscale hotel environments,” whereas a lifestyle property is typically 250 to 300 rooms and offers "everyday living elements and activities," according to Kiradjian.
Association Offering RFP Assistance
BLLA will be able to facilitate the request for proposals process to increase corporate business, Kiradjian attested. The association will educate the properties on the process, with the eventual goal of creating a boutique and lifestyle standard using some questions from the National Business Travel Association's RFP model, but adding more genre-specific ones, she continued.
"If one of your business travelers asks you for something other than one of your standard cookie-cutter properties, where do you go to look? Usually [the corporate travel manager's] answer is, 'We really don't know,' " according to Kiradjian. "We will at some point be able to facilitate a connection to make the RFP process easier, and we will be holding webinars and training on the whole RFP process through [a third party]," she added.
Some travel managers admit that independent boutique or lifestyle properties are not well-represented in travel programs, but "standardization of service and quality is a good idea," said WS Atkins supply chain manager Monica Dingwall. "As a rule, boutique hotels do not fit our corporate profile well. We patronize the large chain hotels with strong brands where travelers know what they can expect. Budgets don't generally stretch to boutique, and it seems some of the big players have copied the style of the boutique in their refurbished interiors."
Equipping corporate travel managers with the tools to better understand independents could present some benefits to the corporate program, according to Kiradjian. "Boutique and lifestyle brands can be more flexible with their rates, whereas big brands have a harder time doing that," she said. "A big brand has all kinds of standards and regulations, but the independent hotel owners are not going to have their hands slapped if they try to do something outside the policy."
"The group needs a voice to market the properties," said John Russell, CEO of boutique hotel chain NYLO and a BLLA board member. "If the association is successful, and travel agents will be able to look up independents--that's great. The credibility is valuable, and it makes these hotels more of a player [in the industry]."
Some luxury independent boutique and lifestyle properties may seek alignment through representation companies like Leading Hotels of the World, Preferred Hotels Group or Small Luxury Hotels of the World in order to gain access to GDSs and streamline the RFP process, but such alignment could cost much more than what some hoteliers are willing to pay, Kiradjian said.
"Independent properties don't have the budget to join [those groups]. Our mission is to have an association to help the small hotelier or the small brand," Kiradjian affirmed.
BLLA only accepts hotels that comply with its definition of "boutique" or "lifestyle." Both member and nonmember hotels will be listed in a booking engine set to launch this year that will be housed on the association's Web site. Buyers will be able to search by specific amenities, but member hotels will be given priority listings, according to Kiradjian. The booking engine also will offer up an environmental certification, she added.
"There are only a few hotels in the country that are LEED-certified, but there are a lot of properties that have started the green process and we will be reporting on how far along they are" to corporate travel managers and agents, Kiradjian said.
However, there is some skepticism as to whether having a genre-specific booking engine will boost occupancy, according to NYLO's Russell. "At the end of the day, people search and search; it won't be the end all be all."
The necessity for increased distribution stems in part from competition introduced by hotel giants dabbling in the boutique and lifestyle arena, like Choice Hotels International's Ascend Collection, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts' Andaz, InterContinental Hotels Group's Indigo, Marriott International's Edition and Starwood Hotels & Resorts' Aloft, Element and W brands.
However, the association board plans to deliberate on whether such brands will be allowed in the association, based on its definitions of boutique and lifestyle, according to Kiradjian. By year-end, she said, the association is expected to garner about 2,000 to 3,000 member properties.