Reflections: Ian Schrager

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 8/1/2006

Ian Schrager, chairman and CEO, Ian Schrager Co.

When I started in hotels 20 years ago, I used an unconventional approach and outsider mentality that was deeply rooted in the spirit and ethos of the entertainment industry. I recognized there was a previously unnoticed and underserved market that craved something different—a hotel that would reflect guests’ interests and lifestyle, and would offer a fun and entertaining alternative to the bland, generic, massmarket hotels that populated the landscape. There was an opportunity for genuine innovation, and to fill the void, I opened Morgans in 1984, and the industry has never been the same.

I had already achieved international recognition for developing a new, visionary concept for nightlife with Studio 54 in New York City and wanted to create something entirely new and original in the hotel world. Over the next 20 years, I revolutionized the industry by creating the hotel as home away from home; hotel as theater; the art of lobby socializing; cheap chic; indoor/outdoor lobby; the urban resort; and hotel as lifestyle.

These concepts have been copied throughout the world over the past two decades. It took time for independents and chains to follow, but now these innovations have become mainstream. In a world saturated by designer brands and logos, where style is knocked off and mass marketed, I am still trying to keep originality, innovation, experimentation and risk-taking alive.

As for the future of the industry, I still want to provide guests with an emotional experience—the magic associated with being part of something. This is what distinguishes my hotels from all other hotels, and this is why I am still passionate about what I do.

The future of the industry is gearing away from formulas and institutionalization, and the best formula is no formula. Each hotel should have an air of authenticity and reflect the time and place of where it is.

I want the experience of staying at my hotels to be more like seeing a great movie, reading a wonderful book or watching a memorable play—not just as a place to sleep, but a place where you feel an honest, emotional connection, where guests feel like they are an integral part of the story unfolding around them because they are.