Working at a boutique hotel or hotel chain: which suits you better?

Written by:
Melle Pegman

Anyone looking for a job in the hospitality industry will quickly come across well-known hotel brands. Do you choose a large international hotel brand with clear career paths, or a smaller boutique hotel where you are part of a close-knit team?

At first glance, the difference seems obvious. Boutique hotels are known for short lines of communication, personal attention and plenty of individual responsibility. Hotel chains, on the other hand, tend to offer more structure, training opportunities and possibilities for career progression.

In reality, however, the differences are a little more nuanced. When it comes to salary and contract terms, the differences are often smaller than you might expect. The biggest differences mainly lie in how you work, how much responsibility you are given and what opportunities you have to develop yourself further.

Employment conditions differ less than you might think

A common misconception is that working for a large hotel chain automatically means a higher salary or greater job security.

For hotels that fall under the Dutch hospitality collective labour agreement, the basic conditions are largely the same. Job classifications, minimum wages, holiday entitlement, working hours and various scheduling rules are determined by the collective agreement. Whether you work at an independent boutique hotel or an international hotel chain, that basic framework does not simply change.

The differences are mainly found in the additional benefits offered on top of these conditions. These may include:

• travel allowance;

• staff meals;

• bonuses;

• additional training opportunities;

• discounts on hotel stays;

• additional leave arrangements.

Large hotel chains in particular may be able to offer attractive additional benefits because of their size. Staff discounts at hotels in other cities or countries are a well-known example. A boutique hotel may offer fewer collective benefits, but could provide more flexibility when it comes to individual arrangements.

When comparing two vacancies, it is therefore worth looking beyond the gross salary. The total employment package ultimately tells you more.

At a boutique hotel, communication lines are often shorter

A boutique hotel usually has a smaller organisation. As a result, you are more likely to work directly with the general manager, owner or other decision-makers within the hotel. This can give you a great deal of freedom.

A front office employee, for example, may not only be responsible for checking guests in and out, but might also assist with reservations, events, guest relations or commercial activities. Roles tend to overlap more quickly than in an organisation with separate departments for every discipline.

For employees who enjoy variety in their work, this can be very appealing. You can also see the results of your work more quickly and may find it easier to suggest new ideas.

However, this smaller scale also has a downside. If there is only one revenue manager, front office manager or general manager, there are simply fewer positions to progress into.

Career development at a boutique hotel therefore does not always mean receiving a new job title. Growth can also mean taking on more responsibility, managing new projects or learning about several different areas of the hotel.

A hotel chain offers more potential career paths

Large hotel chains often have a very different organisational structure. In addition to operational departments such as front office, housekeeping and food & beverage, they are more likely to have dedicated roles in areas such as:

• Revenue Management;

• Human Resources;

• Sales & Marketing;

• Finance;

• Engineering;

• Learning & Development.

This can make a hotel chain particularly attractive to employees who want to specialise after a few years.

Someone who starts at the front office, for example, may discover that revenue management is a better fit. Within a large organisation, there is more likely to be an actual position available that makes such a career move possible.

Training programmes are also often more formally organised. Large hotel companies may offer onboarding programmes, online learning platforms, management training and leadership programmes.

The Dutch best-practice case of DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station, for example, shows how onboarding, regular feedback, leadership programmes and internal career progression can be combined within a large hotel organisation.

For employees who prefer to know exactly what steps they need to take to progress in their careers, this kind of structure can be appealing.

Want to work internationally? A hotel chain has an advantage

One of the clearest differences becomes apparent if you want to work at another hotel, in another city or even in another country later in your career.

An independent boutique hotel naturally has fewer opportunities in this respect. If there is only one hotel, there is no second location you can transfer to internally.

International hotel chains are different. A brand may have dozens or hundreds of hotels where new positions regularly become available. Experience gained at one hotel can therefore open doors to opportunities at other locations.

That does not mean, however, that every employee can automatically transfer from Amsterdam to London, Paris or Singapore without any complications.

A hotel carrying the name of an international chain may, for example, be owned by a franchise operator. In that case, your legal employer is not the international brand but a local company. Employment conditions and opportunities to transfer internally may therefore vary from one hotel to another.

During an interview, do not only ask whether the hotel is part of an international chain. Also ask who your actual employer will be and how often employees from that specific hotel move into other roles within the organisation.

Is working at a boutique hotel more personal?

Boutique hotels are often perceived as more personal, while hotel chains are more likely to be described as ‘corporate’.

There is some truth to that, but the distinction is not as black and white as it may seem.

In a smaller hotel, the distance between employees and management is usually shorter. You may be able to speak directly to the general manager, and decisions can sometimes be made more quickly. This can potentially give employees more influence over their day-to-day work.

At the same time, working in a small team means that a lot depends on a limited number of managers. A good manager can create a positive working environment, but if that relationship is less successful, there may be fewer alternative departments or HR channels to turn to.

Hotel chains are more likely to have formal procedures, HR departments and fixed performance review moments. This can feel more bureaucratic, but it may also provide greater clarity.

A large organisation is therefore not automatically impersonal, and a small one is not automatically friendly or close-knit. The manager and culture of the individual hotel are ultimately more important than the size of the organisation.

What about workload and work-life balance?

Here too, there is no clear winner. At a boutique hotel, it may be easier to discuss personal scheduling preferences directly with a manager. On the other hand, a small team can be more vulnerable when colleagues are ill or leave the organisation. With fewer employees available, the hotel still has to keep operating.

A hotel chain may have a larger workforce and more formal systems for scheduling and employee wellbeing. At the same time, large hotels may have to deal with high guest volumes, targets and extensive operational processes. The same applies to job security. There is no clear reason to assume that boutique hotels or chain hotels consistently offer better contracts.

The name on the building therefore tells you little about your work-life balance. Instead, ask how the hotel actually manages its schedules. How far in advance are shifts published? How often are they changed? How are absences due to illness covered? And how often are employees asked to work on their days off? That will tell you far more than the employer’s logo.

Boutique hotel versus hotel chain at a glance

The table mainly shows that there is no obvious winner. One type of hotel simply suits a particular way of working and certain career ambitions better than the other.

Boutique hotel or hotel chain: which suits you best?

There is no type of hotel that is better for every employee. It mainly depends on what you want to get out of your career.

A boutique hotel may suit you better if you:

• enjoy combining different types of work;

• prefer short lines of communication with management;

• want a high level of individual responsibility;

• like having an influence on the guest experience and the way the hotel operates;

• prefer being part of a smaller team;

• are excited by one strong and distinctive hotel concept.

A hotel chain may suit you better if you:

• value having a clear career path;

• want to specialise within a particular field;

• like having access to formal training and development programmes;

• would like to work at another hotel within the same organisation later in your career;

• have international ambitions;

• prefer structure and clearly defined processes.

If salary, job security or work-life balance are your main priorities, it is better not to automatically favour one type of hotel over the other. In these areas, the differences between individual employers are probably greater than the general difference between boutique hotels and hotel chains.

Look beyond the brand during your job interview

The best way to find out whether a hotel is right for you is to ask very specific questions during the job interview.

For example, ask how many employees have progressed internally over the past year. Find out which training programmes employees have actually completed. Ask how often schedules change after they have been published and how long employees typically stay at the hotel.

At a boutique hotel, you can also ask what ‘a lot of freedom’ actually means in practice. Are you allowed to make your own decisions for guests? Can you change processes? Is there a budget available for training?

At a hotel chain, it is worth asking how concrete the promised career opportunities really are. Have employees from this particular hotel actually moved to other locations? Are internal candidates given priority when vacancies become available? And do the international staff benefits also apply to your specific hotel? This will give you a much more realistic picture of your potential future employer.