Schrager’s Trendy Hotels Targeting Tamer Clientele

NEW YORK— Hip hotelier Ian Schrager has begun revamping his marketing strategies for his boutique hotels, and started targeting tamer clientele, such as bankers, financiers, pharmaceutical groups and conventions, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal. This retooling is in response to travelers being more focused more on value and service, and less on cool, hip spots. This trending away from boutique hotels reflects the economic downturn the country has been in for some time now. In that same report, Smith Travel Research noted that RevPAR fell by 16% at boutique hotels last year, compared with 6% for the industry as a whole. That contrasts sharply with data available from the late 1990s. In 1999 RevPAR for boutiques grew three times more than the industry as a whole. This shift has cause Schrager to rethink who his clientele should be and is making him broaden his horizons. The WSJ reported that he hired an ad agency to launch his first ads; raised his travel-agent commissions to 15% from 10%; and is thinking of parting ways with Phillippe Starck, the French designer with whom Schrager has had a long-standing business partnership. Going forward, Schrager indicated that his hotels will be designed more for comfort. “Im not going to rely on having the coolest lobby or bar,” he said. SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal