Marriott, Schrager Team for 100 Boutique Hotels

NEW YORK-Marriott International and Ian Schrager are partnering to create a new brand of lifestyle boutique hotel. The brand doesn’t have a name yet, but the pair hopes to open as many as 100 of them in major markets worldwide. The venture is at once the largest undertaking Schrager has ever done, and the most detailed Marriott has done.

“Nobody has done what Ian has been able to do with his hotels time and again,” says J.W. Marriott Jr., CEO of Marriott. “He is the perfect partner to help us create and launch a new, modern genre of hotel.” Marriott has more than 2,900 hotels worldwide, but none in the boutique field.Schrager and Marriott held a press conference at the Gramercy Park Hotel today, to unveil the deal. Marriott referred to the new hotels as similar to his company’s new joint venture with Nickelodeon, but “for older kids.”

“Ian’s impact over the last 25 years in very profound,” said Arne Sorenson, executive vice president and CFO of Marriott. “But it’s not as much as it could be.” Marriott and Sorenson have been discussing and planning this venture with Schrager for the better part of a year.