Waldorf Astoria expansion on fast track

Hilton Worldwide is looking to expand the Waldorf Astoria brand far beyond its New York roots, with openings in Europe, Central America and the United Arab Emirates this year set to increase the number of hotels under the century-old luxury badge by about a third. Hilton said last week that Southeast Asia’s first Waldorf Astoria hotel will open in Bangkok in 2015. The 170-room Waldorf Astoria Bangkok, which will be about a mile south of the city’s central business district, will include five restaurants and bars as well as two ballrooms and a spa. The U.S.-based hotel company said late last year that Amsterdam’s first Waldorf Astoria would open in 2013. The 94-room property is being converted from a series of houses built in the 17th and 18th centuries along a canal. In all, Hilton will have added six hotels to the brand in 2012 and early 2013, including newbuilds in Berlin, Panama City and Dubai as well as conversions of Chicago’s Elysian Hotel and the Caledonian Hilton in Edinburgh, Scotland. The expansion is part of Hilton’s two-pronged plan “to be the fastest-growing, most innovative luxury hotel company,” according to John Vanderslice, Hilton’s global head of luxury and lifestyle brands. Despite the Waldorf Astoria’s classically American reputation, Vanderslice says the brand translates well overseas. “Take Beijing,” Vanderslice said. “For years, [Chinese government] officials stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. For the right luxury set, the brand is global and renowned.” The strategy is the latest for a brand that dates back more than a century — the original Waldorf opened in New York in 1893, and the Astoria was built next door four years later — and in 2006 became the basis of what Hilton called the Waldorf Astoria Collection. That particular moniker was shelved about two years ago because of the confusion it caused among travel professionals and trade publications, and 23 hotels are now under the Waldorf Astoria sub-brand. “Hilton’s brand expansion mirrors that of Marriott’s with Ritz-Carlton and Starwood with St. Regis,” said Rick Swig, president of hotel consultant RSBA & Associates. “All three brands are globally iconic when it applies to identifying with traditionally elegant luxury hotels.” Hilton is still looking to open more Waldorf Astoria hotels in the U.S. It converted Chicago’s Elysian earlier this year and is still eyeing the Washington market after losing out to the Trump Organization for development rights at the city’s historical Old Post Office building. Vanderslice said he was “disappointed” that Waldorf Astoria wasn’t chosen for the Old Post Office and that the company will continue to try to get a Waldorf Astoria developed in the nation’s capital, especially given its proximity to Hilton’s headquarters in McLean, Va.