Whether it’s the game-changing Morgans and Royalton, hitmakers like the Delano and the Hudson, or today’s clamored-for EDITION and PUBLIC brands, Ian Schrager’s hotels have all made a significant impact on the hospitality industry. But even before that, the Bronx-born and Brooklyn-raised lawyer-turned-hotelier, together with longtime friend and business partner Steve Rubell, made Studio 54 into the world’s most legendary nightclub. Schrager’s candid conversation with Hospitality Design’s editor in chief Stacy Shoemaker Rauen touched on his legacy, his friendship with Rubell, and why making—and learning from—mistakes is important.
Conjuring Magic
Schrager and Rubell opened Studio 54 in circa-1977 Times Square, and it was an instant hit. “There aren’t many times in life when somebody can experience true freedom,” Schrager says. But guests did here, making their way in from the velvet rope to the “frenzy on the dance floor.” With the nightclub business, “it’s the same music and liquor, so to distinguish yourself, you have to create magic,” he says, noting the various “moments” they created throughout the night, from pop-up concerts to performers with props. This gave Schrager an edge when he started developing hotels. “That has always been the distinguishing factor,” he says. “[It’s important to have] something that can touch a person emotionally, because you never know which detail is going to be the one that pushes [the experience] over the top.”
Be Different
Morgans—Schrager and Rubell’s first hotel—opened in 1984 on Madison Avenue with a design by Andrée Putman. Highlighting a number of firsts—white sheets and towels, painted walls, glass shower doors—it was a “quiet, understated, introverted hotel that felt residential,” he says. It broke every rule in the industry by questioning the status quo effectively. Nylon carpeting in guestrooms made sense, for instance, while vinyl or wallpaper covering the walls did not. Then came the Royalton, and together they were “a prototype for every other boutique hotel you see today,” Schrager says.
Learning from Mistakes
From the get-go, Schrager and Rubell wanted to be the anti-chain, yet Schrager says had they opted for a brand instead of giving their hotels different names, they would have created more value. Likewise, PUBLIC, the brand he deems “his most important idea,” confused customers on what to expect with its “luxury for all” ethos. “We’re going to change that line, even though I still feel it is a luxury that’s accessible to everybody,” he says. It’s that flexible attitude that has allowed him to evolve and reinvent himself. “If I make a mistake,” he says, “I pick myself up, dust myself off, and try something else. I love what I do. That’s the secret. So I do it to live. I have a great family, and I have great work, which is everything.”
The lobby at the Times Square EDITION in New York, designed by Yabu Pushelberg
The swanky Paradise Club inside the Times Square EDITION
A rendering of the restaurant at the West Hollywood EDITION in California, spearheaded by John Pawson
The Wimberly Interiors-crafted Abu Dhabi EDITION features a serene pool cabana
The rooftop at PUBLIC New York, designed in collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron and Bonetti/Kozerski
Photography by Nikolas Koenig, Weston Wells, and courtesy of the Ian Schrager Company
