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Working with Ian Schrager: The Iconic Studio 54 Founder's Approach to Hospitality Today
with Adam Wallace
Josiah Mackenzie
December 01, 2023
Together with
Few people are more iconic in the world of hospitality than Ian Schrager. Initially rising to fame as the co-owner and co-founder of Studio 54 in New York, Ian went on to found Morgans Hotel Group, then Public Hotels, then EDITION in partnership with Marriott. Today, we’re learning from someone who worked with him - and the lessons for all of us in marketing, opening hotels, and creating a remarkable guest experience.
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Working with Ian Schrager: The Iconic Studio 54 Founder's Approach to Hospitality Today
with Adam Wallace, CEO of Spherical
Credit: Andrea Mohin / The New York Times
Adam Wallace and his team at Spherical worked with Ian Schrager on marketing, social media, and digital strategy, and today shares what that experience was like. A couple of highlights:
What it was like to work with Ian
He was in the details. We had weekly in-person meetings to go over social media content calendars with them, and it was a big difference from how disconnected so many other hoteliers are from this process.
He still had his old school approach where we'd print them out, and he would mark them up each one post by post. "I like this. I don't like this." He was very curated in that.
He saw the value of social media. He always valued PR, but he really saw the value of social.
Opening hotels with inspiration from early days with Studio 54
He really opened hotels with the spirit of Studio 54, which was about who he curates to be in the hotel. It was about, "Who do I want to be at the soul of this property in every cool city around the world?"
Ben Pundole, who was his head of culture and entertainment, would do an amazing job at going into cities, and finding their people, finding the cool places, getting to know the right people, hiring their positions of director and culture and entertainment. I love that position. At each property, you're getting to the person in the market who's going to know the people in the market that are going to drive the word of mouth about that hotel.
For example for the Madrid EDITION, he got the guy that used to run GQ for Spain. He's going to know the people in the fashion industry and so on. And he comes in as director of culture and entertainment, and finds the right people to be there.
It has a level of exclusivity to it. Only the right people are invited, and you have that velvet rope experience. But I think he really understands curating an audience in an amazing way, and being rigorously dedicated to all of the details of everything that it takes to create design and experience.
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