From Studio 54 to Shanghai Bund, hotelier sticks to tried and tested, winning formula
- Glamour and glitter are givens wherever New York club legend Ian Schrager opens a hotel, and the Shanghai Edition, his second hotel in China, is no exception
- ‘I try to create magic every time,’ says the entrepreneur
When it comes to hotel design, veteran hotelier and real estate developer Ian Schrager believes in sticking with what he knows best: a well-tested formula of glittering glamour – lots of it – with a touch of what he calls “alchemy”.
Schrager, a Brooklyn-born law graduate, has had plenty of time to hone his famous blend. His entered the world of hospitality in the 1970s via one of the most iconic nightclubs in the world, New York’s Studio 54, which he co-founded with college friend Steve Rubell.
Infamous for its velvet-rope, in-crowd door policy and freewheeling louche style, Studio 54 attracted guests such as Truman Capote, Diana Ross and Bianca Jagger, who infamously celebrated her birthday by entering on a white horse.
When Schrager and Rubell sold the business 30 months after opening it, they were given an IOU and discovered they had become owners of the Morgans Hotel in New York.
“We didn’t know anything about hotels and didn’t have any money, but we saw hotels as a natural adjunct to the nightclub business,” Schrager says. “Of course there are differences, but you’re looking after guests so there are also a lot of similarities.”
