Adelphos

All reports point to Trump International Washington D.C. converting to a Waldorf Astoria sometime in 2022. Starting the thread now.

WasKnown

Should be a good addition to the Hilton portfolio.

Property is under contract to be purchased by CGI Merchant group through their CGI Hospitality Opportunity Fund I, LP (H-Fund). This is part of their greater strategy to purchase distressed hospitality assets and reflag them under the Hilton umbrella https://therealdeal.com/2020/08/19/h...ed-hotels/amp/

A few months ago, they purchased the Celino South Beach and reflagged it to a Curio Collection property.

hotturnip

Waldorf Astoria is the perfect brand.

I wonder if they'll be able to attract more (or less) business now that the Trump name is off the sign? I'm very curious to see what's going to happen here.

arlflyer

Objectively, the reporting on the property has been that occupancy has been very low this year. The existing brand leveraged the, uh, passionate loyalty of one customer segment, shall we say, whereas the WA is more likely to cut across a broad swath of traditional customer groups. I would imagine it will be very popular with business travelers of all stripes, as well as well heeled tourists, including international visitors.

khabah

Fun fact: during the original selection process to convert the Old Post Office into a hotel, the finalists were either the existing brand or Waldorf Astoria. Nice to see them going full circle back to what should have been the right selection from the beginning, and I agree with arlflyer's post above that the new branding will be infinitely more appealing to a significantly larger range of customers.

I'd easily stay here once the name changes over and they scrub, fumigate, air out and exorcise the bejesus out of this place.

khabah

BlueZebra

Stayed at the nearby Conrad in September. Generally, DC is dependent on government business travel, and tourism. The tourism is slowly returning, but the government business travel has not, leading the Conrad employees to say Washington has become a weekend only destination.

Hopefully, for both the Conrad and the Waldorf, that changes soon.

GUWonder

I’ll perhaps consider using it. I used to go to the building a lot until it stopped being a sort of de facto shopping mall as the Old Post Office Pavilion. Isn’t it still the city’s third highest standing construction that isn’t a crane or RF tower?

lsquare

You beat me to creating this thread. Anyways, I'm excited about a new high-end Hilton hotel in DC. What's the quality of Waldorf Astoria in the US like? Is elite recognition any good? Breakfast? Nice lounges? Decent lounge food?

Adelphos

I'm not aware of lounges in any US based Waldorf Astoria (I could be wrong). Waldorf Astoria offered $25 per guest for breakfast for elites long before Hilton instituted its overall policy. Elite recognition at the best Waldorf Astoria properties (Beverly Hills) tends to be irrelevant as baseline service is very good across the board. I haven't been to the Vegas one since it rebranded but people seem be treated well there.

lsquare

I have no experience with the WA brand. I think many people who haven't been to this particular location before will be interested once rebranded to see what the commotion was all about.

arlflyer

I can tell you that as an area resident and someone who works in professional services (and knows a lot of other folks who do), the switch is being flipped pretty quickly around here. Traffic levels and office attendance are way up, and a lot of firms are setting return to “new normal” dates, including regular client travel, for after thanksgiving.

Btw, hotels like Conrad and WA would never have had a largely true government clientele. Perhaps they would offer a very few rooms at GSA rates. But the main clients would be professional services, tech, etc. Now of course those people are largely serving govt so your point holds to some extent, though much less than it used to as the economy of the region has diversified quite a bit.

iluvdoco

Will this take away business from the Conrad?

arlflyer

Assuming that the WA is built out in a “traditional luxury” style that would mesh with the historic building itself, I would say that it would present a design aesthetic that would appeal to a different customer than those who like the modern build of the Conrad. I would say it would compete with the Willard, Hay-Adams, St. Regis, MO, etc.

lsquare

What about pricing? Conrad vs Trump pre-COVID?

arlflyer

Probably a good bit higher than Conrad. Cannot speak to the the rates at the latter. Would expect that with the combination of location, hard product, and brand, they would have some of the highest rates in town for sure.