The Boutique Hotel is an excellently constructed set with a multitude of unique building techniques. Let me start by going through the building process. The set uses the newer 18+ Black Box, and right out the box separates the build into 14 numbered bags. The build is an extremely engaging experience, much more so than most other sets from the modular buildings series. It uses a wide array of techniques to create that diagonal look for the hotel. Even the tiling is fun - Especially on the inside of the bottom floor of the hotel, that integrates a pattern throughout the floor and a white and black tiling/rug pattern using the newer triangular pieces. The inside on the bottom floor is a little bare bones, the lack of furniture in a lobby for such a high-class establishment (and 4 room keys on the wall when there are 3 rooms in the building) takes a little away from the magic of the interior. The second floor has two rooms, both of which are fairly cramped, but I do like many of the small details and a plethora of furniture to make the building experience much more engaging. The last floor is the premiere suite, which is one massive hotel room, with a bathroom and multiple sections to the room to produce a mega suite. There were so many unique building techniques and intricacies that made this level so fun to build. The roof has a "glass" panel to make it less bare, and rims the top of the building with these snake pieces in black that fit into modified 2x1s, and at the front of the roof there's a dome build that I thoroughly enjoyed building. There is an Art Café, titled "El Cubo", a cubist art gallery with a small restaurant on top. The building uses a rich blue colour on the exterior and the interior has many details, including a reference to the town hall. The exterior of the hotel itself is lovely, and the set has a great selection of pieces. It uses the new flesh colour and sand green, which is such a unique combination. One contention I had, something that should be marked on the instruction panel, is that on step 230, there was a utilization of open-holed studs and candle pieces to construct pillars. Strangely, certain studs would fit in the top of the candle piece and form a connection, while others couldn't. It was a perfect 50/50, and I found out that others had the same issue. That was my only gripe, so other than that, my building experience was excellent. The value is also excellent, at $200 USD you get 3000 pieces, which is a pretty solid PPP ratio, (although I prefer valuing sets by weight, price per piece is a good general estimate of raw value in a set). I marked the set as a 3 in the playability aspect, but the reason why my overall is so high is that this is a modular building. It's a display piece more than anything else, and therefore we should view it as such. One other thing, I see a lot of people saying that it's sort of out of place because of the diagonal slant (I love that diagonal slant, it makes the set stand out more) but a nice pairing is to put the Parisian restaurant on the side with the Art Café, and the rooftop Café almost acts as an extension to the Parisian restaurant, it worked very well in my city display. I can imagine the green grocer would work on the other side, due to the similar colouring, but currently I just have it placed next to the town hall temporarily, and although It's not as cohesive and sticks out, it works well enough for now in the cityscape and adds a lot of life to a city.

This set is a must-have for modular collectors and is a beautiful display piece on its own. I highly recommend it. 5/5.