Not Boutique Hotels. Hotel Boutiques
Exiting through the gift shop.
We’re currently living in Peak Merch era, when it seems like every delicatessen, pet shop, and movie theater has a collection of signature baseball caps, water bottles, and tote bags.
Hotels are not new to this trend — many have been hawking mattresses, bath towels, and, yes, tote bags for decades. What’s newer are hotels that have elevated the humble lobby gift shop into a stylish boutique informed by real vision and storytelling. At their best, these shops reflect their destination through the selection of local, artisanal products and designs — which is what we saw this summer at São Lourenço do Barrocal in Portugal and Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm in New Mexico. They’re just two of the hotel boutiques we would be happy to raid at any time, along with:
an apothecary and market filled with goods grown on the organic lavender farm or made in the inn’s kitchen
a tiny silver of a shop showcasing truly unique art works and objects from Brooklyn and beyond
the Positano boutique that personifies the Amalfi Coast lifestyle
a cool Philly design shop that is the hotel
Come across any hotel gift shops that have impressed you? Tell us, tell us!
M.O.S.T. Museum of Small Things, Brisbane
The pink-hued, sculptural gift shop at The Calile Hotel is filled with “well-designed, interesting basics” that owner Rebecca Malouf “wanted for myself.” That means Aussie makers and labels like Shilo Engelbrecht, Chelsea De Luca, and Anna Varendorf. Enough to (hopefully) outfit The Calile Hotel opening soon in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast.
The Huntress, Washington, Connecticut
The shelves at the bijoux boutique nestled within Mayflower Inn & Spa spill over with objets from near and far — gardening hats, designer candles, tea pots — curated by interior designer Jenny Wolf.
São Lourenço do Barrocal, Alentejo
In addition to stocking the working farm’s own honeys, wines, olive oils, and jams, the boutique carries an excellent range of local Portuguese goods, from salt, Piri-Piri sauce, and ceramics to woven baskets, leather accessories, linen napkins, and men’s and women’s clothing.
Inness, Accord, New York
Tastemaker-level goods (we got a gorgeous bedspread here), fancy toiletries, and key apparel subtly hint at a life of leisure in really nice workwear.
Maroma, A Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya, Mexico
We’d be tempted to lose our luggage on the way here just so we were forced to outfit ourselves from the who’s who of Mexican designer talent in the shop — Oriana Rodriguez’s Si Kuli beaded bags, Sandra Weil’s women’s clothing, Taller Maya’s embroidery, Pawuamba’s vegan sandals. (We definitely took home the tunic that was hanging in our closet.)
Babylonstoren, Franschhoek, South Africa
The gorgeous farm cultivates beauty all around it, and the shop is a manifestation of all it has to offer, including a magical Scented Room for harvested botanicals that give off the scent of an “unhurried farm lifestyle.” Make extra room in your suitcase.
Sublime Comporta, Comporta, Portugal
The shop tucked away underground at the eco beach resort is an unexpected Aladdin’s cave of beautiful women’s fashion — those ubiquitous Venetian Friulane slippers, Borgo de Nor’s feathered dresses, My Gojii bikinis, and caftans, dresses,and robes by My Sleeping Gypsy, a Ukrainian company that can take up to a year to hand-embroider their small-batch pieces.
Emporio Sirenuse, Positano
More than a hotel boutique, this is a full-on brand whose collection of lifestyle products definitively embody the spirit, colors, and vibe of the Amalfi Coast lifestyle. Founded and overseen by Carla Sersale, whose husband Antonio is the force behind the iconic Le Sirenuse hotel across the street, the women’s flagship and the men’s and housewares shop next door brim with vibrant clothing, pillows, tableware, and ceramics. Also notable are the global ethos that infuses many designs (note the ikat and suzani patterns) and the collaborations with artists and creatives (like Ivan Terestchenko and Luke Edward Hall).
Hotel Esencia, Riviera Maya
No surprise that one of the most meticulously designed resort experiences also has a banger of a gift shop. Every thoughtfully chosen and fashiony item makes sense in the hotel’s chic cosmopolitan universe.
The Six Bells Countryside Inn, Upstate New York
Enter the hotel doors to come face to face with an absolute riot of country cottage goods reminiscent of not only 19th-century Britain, but also of many parents’ homes in the 1980s — pig-shaped wooden cutting boards, ruffled pillows, cheeky sayings crafted in needlepoint. It’s worth noting that the hotel concept sprang from the cult-fave Brooklyn shop of the same name. And it goes without saying that every single thing in the rooms and restaurant is for sale.
Botanical goods sold in an old dairy barn, indigenous Mexican crafts, ceramic sculptures from Brooklyn artists, wild Balinese vacation attire, and more below the paywall…