Shots fired!
Ian Schrager announced Friday that his Public Hotel, a popular scenemaker and celebrity destination on Chrystie Street, will require all guests, visitors and staff to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination upon arrival. It is believed to be the first hotel in New York City to introduce such regulations.
“The health, safety, and wellbeing of our guests and staff is the only thing that matters to us,” Schrager said in a statement. “With these measures in place our guests will be able to relax, enjoy and experience the hotel and all of the exciting things it has to offer in the knowledge they won’t get sick or make anyone else sick.”
Schrager has been a New York hospitality legend since launching the nightclub Studio 54, with business partner Steve Rubell, in 1977. After serving prison time in 1980 on tax evasion charges (whoops!), he reinvented himself with the Morgans Hotel Group, which set the standard for boutique hotel luxury throughout the 1990s.
The Public hotel brand launched in Chicago in 2011, followed by New York in 2017. His Edition hotel in Times Square, a partnership with Marriott, opened in 2019 and closed permanently after just one year, a victim of the pandemic.
“We need to beat Covid-19 together,” Schrager said today. “After all, looking after people is our business. We just didn’t see how to fulfill this responsibility without taking action.”
