My Time at the Waldorf

Maybe it is not a spectacular story but a wonderful memory and my first stay turned into maybe 50 stays at the Waldorf Astoria and the Waldorf Towers over the years.

Arriving from Vienna I was 16 years old at the time and suffering from jetlag I awoke early that first day and went to the lobby already buzzing with life. New guests arriving in the wonderful art deco lobby. I bought the New York Times and sat down in one of those comfortable chairs watching.

Over the years I saw countless weddings take place, met interesting people at the Waldorf: Jane Fonda with Ted Turner, Bill Clinton, and many more.

But the heart of the hotel were the faces of the same people greeting you year after year and remembering you. Their loyalty to the hotel and its guests. The people at the front desk, the concierges, and the people at the towers lobby and in the room with the safety deposit boxes.

The feeling of being in a historic building that felt like a small town in itself but never impersonal never too big always just right.

During the last years the pandemic reduced travel but when I visited New York City and stayed in a different hotel something was missing… even Park Avenue seemed different without the buzz of people waiting for taxis and unloading countless shopping bags.

Waldorf Astoria, it’s time - we‘re waiting for you!