“I might fall asleep!” Ian Schrager exclaims as he sinks into a plush, mossy green velvet sofa in The Public, the 70-year-old hotelier’s latest venture: a $300-million bet on the luxury hotel of the future.

Schrager is, of course, speaking in hyperbole about how comfortable the seating is in Diego, one of the three bars located in The Public. He’s not stretching the truth that much, though. The swanky space is furnished with tufted armchairs upholstered in rich fabrics. There’s a fireplace in the corner and a slick stainless-steel bar in front of windows overlooking a grove of trees. It feels positively exalting to sit in the room, just like it does to meander through the rest of the hotel.

Located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the 360-room hotel is Schrager’s experiment in creating a five-star experience for people on a two-star budget. The starting price for rooms at The Public? About $200.

“Luxury for me is a state of mind,” Schrager says. “It’s how it makes you feel. It’s a really modern thing to be able to have a less expensive product that’s not dumbed down and not stripped down but is edited and focused on the things that people like and care about, and gets rid of those notions of luxury that my parents liked and I used to like.”

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