Prospero echoes my thoughts about this and why I decided to propose this forum. Whike I am generally loyal to Hilton, I find myself staying at more and more independent design/boutique hotels in markets as varied as Austin, San Diego and Savannah. I feel this is a category whose time as come and, while development of the niche has slowed in the past few years (for obvious reasons) it will continue to grow substanially in the long term.