Throw a stone in downtown Charleston and you’ll hit a boutique hotel. Defined loosely as a small, sophisticated hotel in a city’s urban district, boutique hotels offer what larger lodging establishments cannot: Curated experiences tailored to meet travelers’ needs.
Charleston’s boutique hotels have everything from chartered boat trips to cooking classes to wine blending. Rooms are bigger, mini bars are stocked with locally sourced goods — and a chic hotel bar is a given. You’ll find popular restaurants in hotels now, too, with more than one helmed by an award-winning chef.
People around the globe are on the hunt for what Forbes described as “elevated experiences.” And in a city that’s been ranked No. 1 in the United States for 12 consecutive years by Condé Nast, that’s what visitors are likely to find at one of the peninsula’s many boutique hotels.
The rise of boutique properties
You can’t talk about travelers flocking to Charleston’s hotels without (albeit, briefly) talking about the city’s history of tourism.
In A Short History of Charleston, Robert N. Rosen writes of Mayor Joe Riley’s first term in the late 1970s: “The city embarked on numerous development projects, the boldest of which was Charleston Place… Riley prevailed in building Charleston Place after the Historic Charleston Foundation, other preservation groups, and the city ultimately negotiated a compromise for the development.”
The story around The Charleston Place’s origins speaks both to the need for luxury lodging in an increasingly popular Charleston — and to the constant discussions around what kind of hotels are allowed in our small, historic city. While The Charleston Place was built on a large scale and features over 400 rooms, today the city restricts what hotel properties can be built and opened in a specific overlay zone.
The rules and restrictions laid out by the city dictate that most hotels operate on a smaller scale — hence the large number of boutique properties. For the parameters of this story, the Charleston City Paper considered hotels with less than 100 rooms.
Any hotel built south of the Crosstown must have 50 rooms or less (unless it falls into the full-service corridor bounded by King Street on the west, Meeting Street on the east, Mary Street on the south and Line Street on the north, or has applied for specific ordinances) and must meet a slew of requirements — from not leading to a loss in dwellings to not displacing more than 25% of the linear frontage of existing ground floor storefront retail space.
Randy Cook is the CEO/Co-Founder of Method Co., the development and design company behind The Pinch hotel, a 2022 addition to King and George streets. As he tells it, it’s not easy to open a hotel in Charleston.
“I knew from the very beginning that it was going to be a challenge,” he said of opening the 24-room hotel. “I saw the complexities of doing it as justified because Charleston wouldn’t be as amazing as it is if this was easy… If the process is easy, it wouldn’t be such a perfect city in so many ways.”
Part of the process in opening The Pinch was restoring two of its structures (it built a third to complete the property) that date back to as early as 1843 and are included on the National Register of Historic Places. Cook said the Method Co. team worked closely with the city’s Board of Architectural Review (BAR) and local architects on the restoration.
“I feel an obligation to do something creative that the locals are going to be proud of,” Cook said.
Good neighbors
Increasingly, Charleston hotels are marketing themselves not just as places for out-of-towners, but as go-to spots for locals, too.
The Restoration Hotel, located on Wentworth Street, opened in 2016.
“The thing that really attracted me to this hotel was they were trying to enhance the neighborhood, not just be visitors from out of town,” said The Restoration’s corporate director of sales and marketing, Karen Winn. “It’s about being a good neighbor and letting people come into spaces and just feel like it’s part of their neighborhood.”
The Restoration offers a revolving slate of community-focused series, including one that featured Charleston changemakers, a poetry series and an ongoing weekly, rooftop yoga class. “All of these things exist for locals, too,” Winn said. “It’s not just for the overnight traveler.”
Like The Restoration, State Street’s The Loutrel offers a variety of experiences tailored to tourists and locals alike, like its afternoon rooftop tea. The tea service includes Charleston-based Oliver Pluff & Co. teas and pays homage to the Charles Towne tea parties of the 1770s.
“It’s important for locals to be able to have some fun experiences,” said The Loutrel’s general manager, Karl von Ramm.
Part and parcel of running a boutique hotel is not just catering to any customer who may walk through the door, but in keeping your pulse on the needs of today’s consumers. Tony Liartis, the general manager of The Grand Bohemian hotel, described the hospitality industry as one that’s in “constant evolution.”
“You know there’s always a new shiny thing. The test is: OK, two years from now, where are we?” he said. The Grand Bohemian, part of the Autograph Collection by Marriott, opened on Wentworth Street in 2015. Liartis said that he and his team are always working to “find that balance between the core things of who we are, but also, not saying that is all that we are.”
The (evolving) guest experience
Liartis said today’s travelers are looking for curated, sophisticated experiences — words that are, in today’s world, synonymous with boutique. Travelers are also looking for experiences rooted in place, especially when they’re staying in a historic city like Charleston.
Karen Winn at The Restoration said that the hotel wants to feel like — and be — a place for travelers and locals alike. “The idea of the brand was, when you go to a city and walk up to the concierge and say, ‘Hey, where do locals eat, tell me the truth,’ [The Restoration is] the environment where locals go, so our guests are already in that spot.”
At The Ryder Hotel, general manager Irvin Dinkel said that the 91-room property, which opened in 2021, is “experience-driven,” and noted the popularity of the hotel’s gear garage, which includes longboards, bikes and beach equipment for guests to check out. You can even rent a Polaroid camera that comes with a roll of film, taking your walking tour photo captures to the next level.
The Palmetto Hotel, at Cumberland and East Bay streets, opened in March 2023. The hotel’s director of sales and marketing, Shannon Hartman, said that guests staying at The Palmetto are looking for “authentic experiences and connections.”
“With a boutique hotel, it really is an extension of the community and [we want it] to feel very authentic to Charleston,” Hartman said. “There’s a lot that goes into the branding and the design and the aesthetic, so that you feel the sense of place and design… All of that makes a connection with the guest, and they feel part of something.”
Guests are looking to feel part of something for longer stints, too.
Randy Cook of The Pinch said that his team has noticed that travelers are spending more time in Charleston — extending a typical weekend trip to four or five days long. Each of the Pinch’s 24 rooms includes a washer and dryer and full kitchen. “The rooms have a residential nature to them,” Cook said. “That was something very intentional, where there’s something comforting and relaxing, like being at home.”
Increasingly boutique properties are offering “residences,” larger suites and townhomes that are available for weeks-long stays — and longer.
You can find residences at Zero George hotel, which features 16 rooms and five residences and is owned by the Easton Porter Group. Co-founder and CEO of Easton Porter Group, Dean Andrews, said that he’s seen guests who work remotely rent out a residence for a month and then stay another month. And another.
Part of the appeal, of course, are the historic, aesthetically pleasing accommodations and concierge services. Andrews said Zero George’s appeal goes beyond that, though. “One of the things we do that’s important is having people aware of what a cool city they’re coming into,” he said.
After a guest has booked a stay, Zero George reaches out with information about Charleston, from details about art galleries to walking tours to museums. “It gives you the breadth of range,” Andrews said. “Before you even come down here, you already have a sense of connection.”
The bigger picture
Beyond connecting with travelers and locals looking for special experiences, boutique hotels are intricately woven into the local job market.
Chris Campbell, vice president of strategy and external affairs at the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CACVB), said Charleston hotels are job creators. “Regionally, this [hospitality] industry is employing more people than it ever has, close to 54,000 people region wide,” he said.
The College of Charleston (CofC) even has a department dedicated to the city’s biggest industry, the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTMT). Daniel Guttentag, director of the CofC’s Office of Tourism Analysis, said that he teaches the importance of tourism to his students on their first day of class.
“Everybody should take this class,” he said. “You cannot understand this city if you don’t understand tourism. And, if you want a job, it’s a great way to find work.”
For now, boutique hotels show no sign of slowing down. This month, The Ansonborough, formerly The Ansonborough Inn, reopens on Hasell Street. Purchased by Wright Investments, the renovated 45-room property pays homage to Charleston’s Lord Anson.
President and CEO of Wright Investments, Larry Wright Jr., said that his team came into the project operating out of respect for both the history of the property and the neighborhood.
“We really wanted to run towards the local,” he said. “We don’t have the egotism to believe that we understand Charleston better than anybody. We wanted to leverage and embrace what is already so special about the community. It’s already a place that is aesthetically, historically, culturally so rich that you just want to be a part of that.”
Charming Charleston, cha-ching, cha-ching
The City of Charleston established a tourism commission in 1984, and was one of the first cities in the country to do so. Today, the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CACVB), also referred to as Explore Charleston, represents Charleston as a destination through, according to its website, “sustainable tourism marketing and management strategies.”
“We take, very seriously, our role in destination management,” said Chris Campbell of the CACVB. “And that’s an important part of what we do, and how we ensure that the industry evolves in a way that’s sustainable and responsible — and is looking through the lens of residents and quality of life.”
Part of a resident’s quality of life can be attributed, quite simply, to money. And tourists are bringing in plenty of it. Campbell said that almost 25% of sales in the Charleston region are attributed to tourism.
“[Hotels] create tax revenue, which is incredibly important to the municipalities and helps offset what might otherwise be property taxes paid by all of us as residents,” Campbell said. “There is downstream revenue from these overnight guests who are taking tours, dining in restaurants, shopping in stores, taking in theaters, visiting the museums, renting the kayaks.”
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