As the American middle class declines and more wealth is concentrated at the top, the hotel -- a staple of middle-class leisure time -- will have to drastically evolve or disappear, according to the man who invented the concept of a boutique hotel.
Hotelier Ian Schrager tells Business Insider that unless hotels evolve to serve changing demographics, the industry will die. In order to survive, hotels have to adapt to offer the highest luxury to the top 1 percent and become entirely "value-oriented" for everyone else, with "nothing in the middle," Schrager said.
As Business Insider points out, that trend can be seen across industries, including retail, where high-end luxury good and budget stores are both thriving.
In 1971, middle-income Americans made up 61% of country, a number that had fallen to 52% in 2016.
