"For Ian Schrager, “sticking to the basics” was his goal in designing Public Chicago, a hotel that opened this fall in what had been the Ambassador East, built in 1926. Working with designers headed by Anda Andrei, Mr. Schrager, a partner in the hotel, created a look that is “very, very neutral, very low-key, no flash, no design on steroids,” he said.
The Pump Room restaurant, above, is mostly gray and beige, with some sage green and white-gold. The resin spheres on frames of iron tubing, designed by Dimore Studio in Milan, reach at some points to the tabletops, “so you interact with them,” Mr. Schrager said.
He has streamlined the hotel’s services as well as its style. With room service, for example, “We’ve stripped out the hundreds of items on the menu that nobody ever orders.” As a result, he said, guests get their meals more quickly. Rooms start at $135; the Frank Sinatra Suite, inset, is $2,500. In a bar-lounge area, the Library, the photos on the wall (by Hendrik Kerstens) appear at a distance to be of works by Vermeer. But in fact they are parodies; in one, a woman has her hair covered in a turban of Bubble Wrap."
Elaine Louie, New York Times, Published: December 21, 2011

Ian Schrager and his late business partner, Steve Rubell, created Studio 54 and Palladium. Rubell and Schrager soon turned their attention to the hotel business opening Morgans Hotel in 1984, introducing the concept of the "boutique hotel" to the world.
Following this were the equally well received and highly successful Royalton Hotel and Paramount Hotel, in which Schrager again broke with industry convention by introducing "lobby socializing", where the hotel lobby became a new kind of gathering place for guests and New York City residents alike, and "cheap chic", where affordable luxury was offered in a stylish and sophisticated environment. Schrager also received international recognition and acclaim for his one-of-a-kind "urban resorts" - the Delano Hotel in Miami and Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood. This was followed by the Hudson Hotel in New York, where Schrager realized his "hotel as lifestyle", and continued to refine his concept of "cheap chic", as well as expanding to cities such as San Francisco with the Clift Hotel and London with St. Martins Lane Hotel and the Sanderson Hotel.
Schrager created Ian Schrager Company in 2005 after leaving Morgans Hotel Group. Since then he has transformed the fabled Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City and realized two groundbreaking residential properties, 40 Bond and 50 Gramercy Park North.