Creating a brand, or hotel, that simply stands out in an overstimulated society is no easy feat. So in 2021 as we’re awakened from a stand-still—can we be done with overdoing it? According to Ian Schrager, we most certainly can. In fact, it may even be simple. Not to execute, but in its essence. A chance to reawaken a world where simplicity doesn’t seem so complicated. Where luxury, comfort, and quality are all ideas that spring from editing down excess to give strength to what you’re creating. As with writing, and design, perhaps it’s always been as simple as a good edit. In honor of my conversation with Ian Schrager—I’ll keep this introduction short and simple. Because let’s face it, the hospitality icon behind Studio 54, EDITION Hotels and countless others, hardly needs an introduction. And if you’re not already familiar with his innovative yet timeless design and approach, I’ll let him say it best as we discuss the upcoming opening of his latest project, The Tampa EDITION.

Natalie Stoclet: How do you come up with a hotel concept that feels tailored to Tampa? 

Ian Schrager: A hotel is supposed to manifest the place it’s in, the time it’s in, and the people who live there. That is the only criteria I have. I have to balance that with my own standards and aesthetic. I have to reflect the city’s culture and lifestyle, but not do so through cliches. If I’m creating a hotel in London I don’t have to have Big Ben statues for sale in the gift shop. I have to reflect the culture in subtle ways. In Tampa we can’t have a restaurant with heavy food, because people are not going to eat it! Tampa is a sunny city on the water and we have to capture that. The finishes and details are consistent with the environment, they’re very pristine. It’s a subtlety that we try to encapsulate in the design. It's a DNA and vibe, not something literal. That’s the way we do it, and thankfully we’ve never missed. 

NS: What is the spirit of Tampa as a city—what, to you, makes it special?

IS: Tampa is a city that’s really coming into its own. It doesn’t take me very long to get my arms around a place. As a matter of fact, it can take me only a couple of days. I take everything in by walking around or riding a bike around. It’s the nature of what I do to understand a city’s DNA. And I can tell people like living in Tampa. It’s a good quality of life. It’s got a great food scene. Comparing it to New York—if you’re in a car and the light turns green a cab driver behind is sure to be honking at you, that doesn’t happen here. It says a lot to me. It doesn’t have the intensity or hostility that New York has. It’s a city in the sun but it’s not a vacation-only spot. It’s a real, living, breathing city. That’s what I think is so special about it.

NS: What was the first step in your design process for The Tampa EDITION?

IS: We design the rooms first. Because rooms are hard. There is no tolerance for mistakes. If you design a bathroom and a woman can’t put her makeup on because the lighting isn’t right, or a man bangs his elbow into something when he’s shaving, it’s no good. It’s the opposite of how hotels are usually designed, we have a different approach. In what we do, we’re very product oriented. Product-obsessed even. In most large hotel companies they think about the execution, the loyalty program, points, the reservation system. If you have a great product, that stuff doesn't matter. You can’t trick people when it comes to product, they always know. What we do, and what others like me are doing, is creating a distinct product and elevated experience. You have to offer something fun and unique, everything else gets taken care of by itself.

NS: Nothing bothers me more than bad lighting in a bathroom or changing room. 

IS: Exactly! The lighting in the hotel is really sophisticated. That is luxury to me. Pure luxury.

NS: What does modern luxury mean to you and EDITION Hotels today, and how do you see that evolving?

IS: Luxury changes daily. Everything in life changes, that’s probably the only constant law of life. I don’t think luxury is a business classification. I don’t think you have to be rich to enjoy luxury. I think luxury is about humanity and a state of mind, and how it makes you feel. Do you feel comfortable? Do you feel looked out after? Do you feel protected? That to me is luxury. It’s the feeling you get when you go into a friend or family's home and they’re taking care of you. That to me is authentic luxury. Today we need to take the pretentiousness out of it. Luxury should be available to anyone that wants it. That is what makes it modern. The commoditizing of luxury. You make it accessible to people. I think that is a very important idea. 

NS: What is the relationship between simplicity and luxury?

IS: Leonardo Da Vinci said “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” I think luxury and simplicity are absolutely synonymous. I think anything pretentious, contrived or gratuitous, lacks luxury. They’re trying too hard. As a matter of fact you can’t get to luxury unless it’s simple. That’s the yin and yang of the whole thing. Simple is not only better, it’s the best. Simplicity makes you feel comfortable. It’s like what you do as a writer. It’s harder to write a precise and concise short piece than it is to write a rambling long piece. That’s just the way it is. Reducing everything to its essence, not minimalism, but simple. 

NS: The hardest part about writing is editing. There’s so much that you want to share and everything feels important to you, but when you present it to someone they’re overwhelmed and you don’t get the essence of what you’re saying across. 

IS: You know what it is? When you have a lot of words, when you have a lot of design, it obscures the strength of what you’ve done. It doesn’t come out. I definitely believe that simplicity is strength and power always. 

NS: What is your favorite design element within The Tampa EDITION?

IS: It’s like asking me which one of my kids I like better. It’s hard. Everything is a matter of life and death to me. We go over every single detail until it feels right. I love the public spaces, they’re very exciting and beautiful. I love the rooms because they work well. I love our gardening and landscaping which is something we had to really excel at in a place like Tampa. What I like best, is that when you put all these things together, the alchemy starts. It’s more than the sum of the individual parts. That’s when you create a very special place.

NS: What is the art of having residences and hotel rooms coexist in one building?

IS: The funny thing is, when I create a hotel it’s my personality in the room. It’s my aesthetic, and people have to kind of buy into that. When I create an apartment I have to provide a canvas, a sophisticated envelope that will take the personality of the people who will live there. It’s almost the exact opposite goal. Having an apartment and living on top of or next to a hotel is the best, best way of living. It is effortless. You can call downstairs to get food sent up, to fix the dishwasher, to get a hot water bottle put in your bed at night when you’re coming home from a vacation, it’s just the perfect way of living. You have all the benefits of ownership, all the privacy of ownership, but you also have all the entertainment, outlets, and amenities that a hotel offers at your fingertips. I think it’s the most desired way of living and the future way of living because it un-complicates your life. Life is so fast-paced now and so complicated. This is an antidote to that. You can go home and it can be a refuge. I think you’re going to see it become much more prevalent in the years to come.

NS: Where you once went out in your neighborhood to go to a spa, gym, or pool, you now can do it all in one building. How does that create integration with an existing community?

IS: The whole idea is that you can go to The Tampa EDITION and get a feel for what Tampa is all about. It’s a microcosm of Tampa, the best that the city has to offer all in one hotel. Of course, people will leave the building at some point. The idea is that you can come here and leave feeling like you got an authentic view of Tampa.

NS: The Tampa EDITION is situated within Water Street Tampa, the first WELL-certified community in the world. Did that change the way you approached the design process?

IS: No. I don’t think any good architect is going to design a new building that isn’t going to have that certification. It’s morally responsible, and good architects will always do it. I don’t even take the WELL-certification as a marketing opportunity, I see it as a requirement. You have to have that. 

NS: What do you think, if anything, people get wrong in hospitality design today?

IS: They overdo it. A lot of people don’t have a vision, they’re replicating what they see, but they’re maybe doing it in a different color. You have to have a vision for something, a passion for something, you have to have an idea. If you don’t have that, you can’t pull it off. You can try and do something derivative but it's not the same, because sophisticated people, people in-the-know will tell the difference.

NS: What are your hopes for The Tampa EDITION in the future?

IS: I hope the public spaces are completely packed and that there’s no rooms available. But I hope the spaces are packed not only by people who are visiting the hotel but by the people who live in Tampa. It should be a gathering place, a center of activity. I hope it will have been embraced by the people of Tampa as theirs. I hope that we can continue to host Super Bowl victory parties for the next several years. And I hope I see you down there when it’s open!