The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an emphasis on the need for entertainment in boutique luxury hotels and the opportunity for a do-over in some cases.

During the "Redefining the Luxury Hotel" keynote at the online 2021 Boutique Hotel Investment Conference by the Boutique Lifestyles Leader Association, Nicholas Clayton, CEO of Capella Hotel Group, said that throughout the pandemic, luxury guests have expected and have seen evidence of safety and cleanliness protocols, but more than that, it's shown how important entertainment is.

Capella is a leisure-focused company and has always focused on entertainment in the form of "small, scheduled things that take place at our properties" that focus on cultural highlights and "some type of learning or new exposure," he said.

The pandemic reinforced his company's entertainment focus, Clayton said.

"It's not enough to have a soft bed, nice pool, a spa to go to, a meal to dine at. People want to be entertained," he said. "We have been focused on [entertainment] as a brand for some time now, and it's really serving us well during this pandemic and this kind of transition between domestic and international travel."

The pandemic didn't change what boutique luxury means, Clayton said.

He said boutique luxury "alludes to size and intimacy."

"I think of something that is of limited number," he said. "I think of it as something that's a more qualified experience. I would tag the word exclusivity onto that. It's also about details and craftsmanship because, again, you're talking about a smaller number of customers."

Clayton said he thinks of boutique hotels like a boutique clothing store. It's where guests get custom tailoring and custom experiences.

With that, he said there's also a higher standard for boutique luxury properties, and that extends to the associates who work on property. He expects better training and better product knowledge from boutique hotel employees.

Ian Schrager, CEO of Ian Schrager Company, said during the keynote speech "The Legacy That Schrager Built" during the online conference that the past "year of madness" was an opportunity for him to start over in his personal and professional life.

The biggest evidence of that in his professional life was the complete renovation of Public Hotel in New York City, which will officially reopen on June 15 with a new restaurant, bar, design and more. The hotel closed in March 2020 at the height of the pandemic.

"It's not very often you get an opportunity to start over, to re-calibrate and redirect your life," he said. "I think that opportunity was really a gift. I took advantage of it in my personal life and also my business life to really make Public better. To refine it. Enhance it. To make sure everybody understands my idea of what luxury for all is."

Schrager said guests shouldn't walk into the refined Public expecting to see "an old-fashioned traditional notion of luxury."

"You're not going to see that," he said. "You're going to see something new and responsive to the way modern people live and what they want today."

While the pandemic was "a completely unprecedented period" unlike anything ever seen in the industry before, Schrager said he expects things to return to normal, even in New York City.

"My view is and has always been that we will return to normal completely. Not a new normal, but a normal we're all accustomed to," he said. "I think people are ready to go mad, and we want to be there to help them achieve that [normalcy]."

Some have said New York City is on its way out for years, but Schrager said he's confident of its return and the success of the reimagined Public.

"New York City is forever," he said. "Everything will go back to normal, and New York City will be the center of the universe, as it always is."