NEW YORK—While the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association (BLLA) yesterday held its annual Boutique Hotel Investment Conference to mainly bring together leaders from the boutique hotel community and share the latest industry insight with them, it also took some time out of a packed agenda to promote a couple of its latest initiatives to its membership.
“BLLA is always working on initiatives that are driven by conversations with all of you, our membership, our board of advisors and by our customers,” said Frances Kiradjian, founder and CEO of BLLA, at The Times Center.
Announced in October 2016, BLLA Grand Bazaar will be soft launching this summer. The new digital platform for hotels is “the shopping network for the boutique community,” she said. The website is designed as a place for hotels to source, compare and shop for manufacturers, products and service providers. “All companies will be vetted for quality, reliability and product or service effectiveness,” she added. Only BLLA members are able to leverage the network. BLLA doesn’t take a commission or a percentage from any sale.
Unveiled by Ariela Kiradjian, VP at BLLA, Stay Boutique, a new platform designed with the boutique hotel industry in mind, will launch in Q3 2017. Defined as a “hub for innovators, leaders and those who believe in the power of boutique,” the new platform attempts to define what a boutique hotel is by creating a global list of boutique hotels. In addition to more benefits, BLLA members on the list will be provided with a direct booking platform.
The platform will also provide media content, videos, invite-only events and resources to help growth the boutique entity.