There are some in the hotel design industry that feel a guest’s experience should be dynamic, exciting and more than just cheap comforters and tiny bars of soap. Entrepreneur Ian Schrager is one of them. Not just bringing a gorgeous style to the design world, Schrager’s ideas and concepts about hotel design have revolutionized the world of travel and hospitality.
Schrager’s name might be familiar for another reason: he and a business partner back in the 1970s created the infamous Studio 54 nightclub. Known for its wild décor and even wilder parties, it’s here that Schrager gained a penchant for fabulous tastes and an eye for luxurious style. Also behind the creation of another club during that time, the Palladium, it was obvious from the beginning that Schrager not only knows what the people want, but has the ability to actually create popular culture through design.
In 1984, Schrager and his then business partner made the natural leap to the hotel industry and opened up the Morgans Hotel. Not only significant as the first hotel Schrager worked on, this first project also introduced to the world the idea of the boutique hotel. It’s here he started honing those ideas and theories about hotel design that were so revolutionary for the time. Among them were: the hotel as home away from home, the hotel as theater, cheap chic, lobby socializing, the indoor/outdoor lobby, the urban resort, and the urban spa.
His theories and concepts of hotel design developed naturally and stronger with each hotel project he tackled. With the opening of the popular Royalton Hotel and Paramount Hotel, he introduced to the world the idea of lobby socializing, actually making the lobby of a hotel a place for guests and other local city dwellers to congregate and socialize. This turned the lobby from just a place to check-in to a place that introduced the hotel as energizing, invigorating and exciting. He also pioneered the idea of cheap chic during this time, popularizing the idea that hotels could be affordable and stylish.
Schrager continued to work on groundbreaking hotel projects in the following years, such as the Delano Hotel in Miami, the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood, the Hudson Hotel in New York, and the Clift Hotel, St. Martins Lane Hotel and the Sanderson Hotel in San Francisco. It was during these projects that he pioneered the idea of a hotel as an urban resort, creating hotels that were destinations themselves. This idea, as well as the many others he conceptualized, has continued to heavily influence hotel designs around the world, even to today.
But of course, none of his hotels or concepts would have gone over so well if he didn’t have amazing taste. Calling his own style “rock and roll baroque”, Schrager creates interiors that range from over-the-top and brightly-colored luxurious landscapes to simple and stunning modern spaces. What they all have in common is their ability to stop you (or any other visitor) in your tracks.
He’s recently branched into designing gorgeous residential interiors and has also partnered with Marriott International to develop as many as a hundred boutique hotels in gateway cities around the world. After inventing the concepts of the boutique hotel and the hotel as an urban resort over 20 years ago, Schrager shows no signs of stopping. Homeowners looking to infuse a bit of “rock and roll baroque” into their own homes need only take a tour through the gorgeous
photos of his projects.
Schrager’s name might be familiar for another reason: he and a business partner back in the 1970s created the infamous Studio 54 nightclub. Known for its wild décor and even wilder parties, it’s here that Schrager gained a penchant for fabulous tastes and an eye for luxurious style. Also behind the creation of another club during that time, the Palladium, it was obvious from the beginning that Schrager not only knows what the people want, but has the ability to actually create popular culture through design.
In 1984, Schrager and his then business partner made the natural leap to the hotel industry and opened up the Morgans Hotel. Not only significant as the first hotel Schrager worked on, this first project also introduced to the world the idea of the boutique hotel. It’s here he started honing those ideas and theories about hotel design that were so revolutionary for the time. Among them were: the hotel as home away from home, the hotel as theater, cheap chic, lobby socializing, the indoor/outdoor lobby, the urban resort, and the urban spa.
His theories and concepts of hotel design developed naturally and stronger with each hotel project he tackled. With the opening of the popular Royalton Hotel and Paramount Hotel, he introduced to the world the idea of lobby socializing, actually making the lobby of a hotel a place for guests and other local city dwellers to congregate and socialize. This turned the lobby from just a place to check-in to a place that introduced the hotel as energizing, invigorating and exciting. He also pioneered the idea of cheap chic during this time, popularizing the idea that hotels could be affordable and stylish.
Schrager continued to work on groundbreaking hotel projects in the following years, such as the Delano Hotel in Miami, the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood, the Hudson Hotel in New York, and the Clift Hotel, St. Martins Lane Hotel and the Sanderson Hotel in San Francisco. It was during these projects that he pioneered the idea of a hotel as an urban resort, creating hotels that were destinations themselves. This idea, as well as the many others he conceptualized, has continued to heavily influence hotel designs around the world, even to today.
But of course, none of his hotels or concepts would have gone over so well if he didn’t have amazing taste. Calling his own style “rock and roll baroque”, Schrager creates interiors that range from over-the-top and brightly-colored luxurious landscapes to simple and stunning modern spaces. What they all have in common is their ability to stop you (or any other visitor) in your tracks.
