Heritage Boutique Hotels as ‘Experienscapes’: Three Views from Singapore

More than just the transaction of services, tourism has been viewed through the lenses of experience the production and marketing of experiences to travelers, followed by the consumption of and repeat demand for those same experiences. Experiential landscapes include theme parks, shopping malls, festival marketplaces and increasingly utilitarian service environments like restaurants and hotels. This paper explores hotels as a crucial element in the tourism experience economy. Specifically, it considers how boutique hotels function as ‘experienscapes’ landscapes where experiences are created, consumed but also ultimately contested. The empirical material draws on the boutique hotel phenomenon in Singapore wherein three different social-cultural groups are implicated: (a) the hotel worker who stages the experience but also undergoes a personal experience of his/her own in creating the environment; (b) the guest who experiences the hotel as an extension of their individuality and identity; and (c) the neighbor/resident who lives or works within the vicinity of the hotel, and for whom the hotel represents a cultural experience that is not always positive nor welcome. The triple-fold view provides a holistic insight on boutique hotels and a conceptual approach to understanding both the triumphs of and challenges facing the experience economy.