Dive Brief:
- Legendary hotelier Ian Schrager has partnered with hospitality investment and management firm Highgate to expand the PUBLIC hotel brand internationally, according to a press release.
- Highgate, which counts more than 80,000 keys in its portfolio across North America, the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe, will operate and manage PUBLIC hotels in collaboration with Schrager, while Schrager will retain full creative authority, vision and brand stewardship, per the release.
- The partnership represents a “deliberate evolution” of Schrager’s “luxury for all” hospitality concept that “delivers sophisticated design, great service, and a unique experience, at a less expensive price point,” according to the release. Schrager’s latest offering, the 137-key PUBLIC West Hollywood, is slated to open this spring.
Dive Insight:
Through this new endeavor, Ian Schrager Company and Highgate will leverage their strengths to “create something extraordinary in a vastly untapped market,” per the release, and allow for the PUBLIC brand to enter its next phase of growth.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the partnership will aim to “acquire existing hotels or even small hotel companies, build new hotels and convert current Highgate properties all under the Public flag.”
“This partnership allows me to focus entirely on what I do best — concept, product, positioning and experience, while allowing Highgate to do what they do best,” Schrager said in the release. “To me, it’s a dream team, where 1+1 = 10.”
Schrager, who has been long credited as the creator of the boutique hotel, is behind nearly 50 hotels across his private label and the Edition brand.
In 2026, the luxury segment is expected to drive RevPAR gains as high-end consumers lead travel spending and hotel bookings amid increased wealth bifurcation in the hospitality industry.
With PUBLIC, Schrager aims to make luxury accessible “to anyone and everyone who wants it.”
“It’s not luxury as we traditionally know it, but one that reflects a new, modern definition. Luxury is no longer about things or how much something costs. It is not a business classification, a price point or based on scarcity. It’s more democratic and turns the very notion of luxury on its head. Luxury is now about experiences and how something makes you feel. This is a very important social and cultural shift,” the release states.
Schrager opened his first PUBLIC hotel in New York City in 2017 and relaunched the brand in 2021. Schrager teased a new food and beverage collaboration at the property debuting later this year.
