Boutique properties beat the hotel sector slump

European boutique hotels have mostly managed to buck the downward trend in the hotel sector over the past year, according to a new report.

The 2003 survey of the European boutique or "lifestyle" hotels sector by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers shows a year-on-year increase in room capacity of 9% (770 rooms), with nine new hotels opening since the 2002 survey. Six operators increased capacity by more than 20%.

Respondents also outlined plans to add nearly 60 new boutique hotels - or 5,000 rooms - by 2008.

Robert Milburn, the UK leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers's hospitality and leisure group, said he expected the upward trend to continue and then "grow apace" when the recovery came. "While the hotel sector as a whole remains gloomy, quite a few lifestyle operators seem to be getting it right," he said.

However, PricewaterhouseCoopers warned that the emergence of increased competition and low-cost imitators identified in the survey could hinder growth in the sector over the next five years.

The company interviewed 19 European lifestyle hotel operators in July 2003 for the survey, and the owners of 33 individual boutique properties.

Other trends identified in the report include a slight dip in the proportion of corporate guests, from 68% in the 2002 survey to 67%.