The news that the owners of the Diplomat Hotel on Macdonell Street intend to turn the property into a boutique hotel with at least 20 rooms is a really good sign for Guelph’s downtown.
The idea that a once-seedy hotel next to Kitchener city hall is to be turned into a boutique hotel has excited officials of that city, and now it’s Guelph’s turn to bask in the glow of this sign of downtown revitalization.
The Diplomat redevelopment will “improve a long-standing underutilized area in the downtown,” says a new city staff report. It says an anticipated sixfold increase in property taxes from the redeveloped hotel property is “only one piece of the economic spinoff and benefit that will result from the project, including enhanced tourism capacity and improvement of laneway space downtown.”
So just what is a boutique hotel? According to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, it’s a term popularized in North America and the United Kingdom to describe hotels which often contain luxury facilities of varying size in unique or intimate settings with full service accommodations. Sometimes known as design hotels or lifestyle hotels, boutique hotels began appearing in the 1980s in major cities such as London, New York and San Francisco.
“The popularity of the boutique term and concept has led to some confusion about the term,” Wikipedia notes. “Boutique hotels have typically been unique properties operated by individuals or companies with a small collection. However, their successes have prompted multi-national hotel companies to try to establish their own brands in order to capture a market share.”
And in the past couple of years, Wikipedia adds, the hospitality industry has started following a “no-frill chic” consumer trend, “with affordable or budget boutique hotels sprouting and thriving all around the world.”
So, it’s not clear exactly what Guelph will be getting in its first downtown boutique hotel. But it’s very encouraging that it’s happening. The hotel joins two other housing projects that have recently been approved by city council – an 18-storey condo tower further east on Macdonell, and a six-storey development across from the Guelph Farmers’ Market that’s to include affordable housing units as well as commercial and live-work space. Exciting stuff.