Ian Schrager’s Newest Creation: 100 Marriotts

Any fan of luxury boutique hotels knows the history of Ian Schrager and his past company, the Morgans Hotel Group. Coming out of the world of Studio 54 and 70s-80s New York, Ian Schrager focused his attention (thanks a bunch!) on the hotel industry and laid the groundwork for hotels worldwide to rise above the notion that a hotel only needs to be a place to rest your head at night. In 2005, he broke away from Morgans and founded his own company, appropriately named Ian Schrager Company.

Just a few hotels that reflect his aesthetics include:

Gramercy Park and Royalton in New York

Clift in San Francisco

Delano and The Shore Club in Miami

St. Martin’s Lane and Sanderson in London

40 Bond in New York – new luxury residential condos in collaboration with Swiss architects, Herzog & de Meuron

But this is now the biggest endeavor yet as Marriott has announced a partnership to create a new brand of as many as 100 hotels that will “combine the personal, intimate, individualized and unique lodging experience that Mr. Schrager created with Marriott’s operational expertise on a global scale.”

Here are some details – and now excuse me as I have to go start planning my round-the-world adventure.

“People today are sophisticated and they understand good design, quality, originality and commitment to excellence,” says Schrager. “They will not accept something derivative and they want the ethos and soul of a hotel to be authentic and have character. They also expect and deserve impeccable, modern and gracious personalized service that is at the same time luxurious yet down to earth.”

The initial list of markets to be explored includes New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, and Las Vegas in the U.S.; London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan and Rome in Europe; and Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul and Tokyo in Asia.

With an average size of 150-200 rooms, each of the hotels will reflect the best of the cultural and social milieu of its location and of the time. A diverse set of world-renowned architects and designers will be recruited to create one-of-a-kind buildings spanning the complete range of project types, from new construction, to conversions, to dramatic renovations. The partners expect these hotels to be not just the most aesthetically pleasing in their markets but to be the most environmentally responsible as well.

You can find a number of Morgans Hotel Group and Ian Schrager hotels on Perfect Escapes.

Related Posts:

Wiki Hotel Experiment Part 2 – Clift Hotel San Francisco
Gramercy Park Hotel Offers
What Would Shaq and Marriott Do With $1 Billion?

Top 10 Fashion Designer Hotels from ForbesTraveler

ForbesTraveler just keeps putting out lists that I love like 400-count sheets and 15th floor ocean-views. This time they have released their take not on designer hotels but hotels created by top Fashion Designers:

“What do Versace, Christian Lacroix and Ralph Lauren have in common (besides presumably impressive walk-in closets)? They all have hotels—and they’re in good company. The Italian fashion houses of Missoni and Moschino will both open fashion/hospitality hybrids this year in Milan. Giorgio Armani recently announced ambitious plans to build branded hotels in New York, Dubai and London. And Versace will add a second resort to its empire this year in Dubai (naturally).

From the whimsical styles of LaCroix to the classic lines of Lauren, how does the spirit of fashion translate to the guest experience? We went to several industry experts for their thoughts on the parallels between these design worlds and the growing presence of fashion hotels.

Style guru Todd Oldham believes that clothiers have a sensitivity to the body that is often overlooked in interiors. “Fashion designers are more sensual in their approach as to how to ‘wear’ a room,” said Oldham. “They’ll design rooms that people look good in, as opposed to rooms people litter by being in.”

Uh, well. Ok, Todd. I agree with you in theory, I think, although I’m not sure how much I appreciate being called litter. Then again, didn’t you just release a La-z-boy line of furniture?

Visit ForbesTraveler to read the rest of the article.

Here is the list of hotels from ForbesTraveler:

The G Hotel, Galway, Ireland

Round Hill Hotel and Villas – Montego Bay, Jamaica
Hotel Lungarno – Florence, Italy
Byblos Art Hotel, Verona, Italy
The Hotel – Miami, Florida
Hotel Petit Moulin – Paris, France
Morrison Hotel – Dublin, Ireland
The G Hotel – Galway, Ireland
Tortuga Bay, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Palazzo Versace – Gold Coast, Australia
Hotel Miro – Bilbao, Spain