In an article posted on April 4th, The New York Times discusses the current and future environment of boutique hotels in “The Rush to Boutique”. Predicting that:

Although industry experts estimate boutique hotels today represent at most 3 percent of all hotels in the United States, they expect this number to grow significantly. Bjorn Hanson, dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University, said almost a third of all hotels opening in Manhattan this year would be boutique hotels, and as much as 10 percent in other major urban markets. He estimated that they could account for 6 percent of all hotels in the United States, and as much as 10 percent in the largest urban markets, in 10 to 15 years.

Basically, boutique hotels will double in number in the next 10 to 15 years.  There are approximately 52,000 hotels* in the USA today. Given no change in current supply that would be an addition of 1,560.

In our current economic environment where foreclosures are hitting the market ““it will be less expensive to convert existing hotels to boutique hotels than building brand new ones.”  Boutique hotels can also charge relatively high room rates, making them attractive to owners, Mr. Hanson said. Travelers, he said, were often willing to pay more to stay in a boutique hotel and “experience something different.””

The Rush to Boutique by Jane Levere | The New York Times

*According to STR Global’s 2011 US Industry Overview