• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Thursday, June 14, 2007 10:45 AM

Ian Schrager, the hotelier behind hip properties like Morgans in Manhattan, will develop a chain of boutique hotels for Marriott International, one of the industry's most conservative companies. Schrager will focus on designing, marketing and branding the hotels; Marriott will operate them under long-term management contracts.

The new brand--which hasn't yet been named--will be added to a stable that includes Marriott's flagship hotels, its luxury Ritz-Carlton brand and the mid-scale Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott brands. Rates at the hotels--planned for cities including Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London and Singapore--will be in the luxury range of hundreds of dollars a night. They will likely have 150 to 200 rooms.

The agreement is intended to give Marriott a presence in the boutique segment of the hotel industry, which it has been unable to crack. Rivals like Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide have found a lucrative vein with brands such as W. Marriott hopes to have five hotel deals signed by the end of the year, with a goal of 100 hotels under development within 10 years.

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