Have you ever thought : oh this hotel is great but if it had this or if it were in that region, it would be the perfect boutique hotel? I certainly have.  Well, now we all have the opportunity to help fund, design and create it!

It’s called Amberlair and will be the first crowdsourced and crowdfunded boutique hotel. It can be anywhere in the world! We’ll decide.

This is a bit different from my usual posts but I figured you guys were mostly boutique lovers like me and would find this very interesting.  This is not a sponsored post, I just loved the idea and wanted to share!

So how does it work?

Step 1:  Suggest a  location

The location of the first Amberlair boutique hotel will be decided by you, the online travel community. It can be anywhere in the world!  If you know the perfect place for Amberlair to put down its roots, go to amberlair.com and submit your suggestion.  Have you spotted a building with history for sale – an abandoned theatre, perhaps, or a collection of old cottages – or, alternatively, a suitable piece of land available for development? The more details you can provide – plans, photos, owner’s contact details etc – the better.! And there is a great prize to be won for the person who submits the location finally chosen…

Step 2: the Competition

When they have received all your suggestions, they will choose a shortlist of the most suitable locations and, once again, will turn to the online community – those who have registered with Amberlair – and put the location to a vote. Whichever location receives the most votes will be the site for the first Amberlair boutique hotel – as simple as that. And the community member who proposed it will win a fantastic prize: a week’s stay for two at Amberlair*, plus a VIP invitation to the opening party.

Step 3: Become an investor!

Once the first Amberlair location is decided, they will open up the crowdfunding campaign via a well-known crowdfunding platform.  They are still deciding on the minimum investment but I’ve been told that it will be accessible to many of us, we won’t need to be proper property investors with a lot of cash ! Benefits for crowdfunding contributors will include free stays at Amberlair and benefits while staying at the boutique hotel.

Step 4 : Contribute to the design

Further down the line, they will also be crowdsourcing the details of the boutique hotel – seeking designers with original ideas, local suppliers of artisan produce etc.  Now that part has got me very excited!

I had the opportunity to briefly talk with Anna who works with them on this campaign and she told me that the two founders, pictured below, are really great people, very friendly, inventive and with a wonderful idea.  They have experience working in the travel sector and are avid boutique hotel lovers. It’s apparently a lot of fun and it’s fab to know that we can get into the fun at some level too.

So which location are you going to suggest?