New York City’s Waldorf Astoria revival is just the beginning of Hilton’s planned 2025 luxury.

“Will it open or won’t it open again?” Hotel cynics have been wondering about the Waldorf Astoria New York for years. (No meof course. I am an eternal optimist who always thinks it will come back. Cough.) But now, the Waldorf Astoria New York finally has a clear path to a reopening date.

The storied, luxury hotel is now taking bookings for Dec. 10, 2025, after a multi-year shutdown, a more than $1 billion renovation. The reopening comes with 375 renovated guest rooms, a signature restaurant overseen by chef Michael Anthony and the return of the hotel’s popular Peacock Alley cocktail lounge.

But it’s also a big feather in Hilton’s cap and its expansion into the luxury end of the hotel food chain.

“It’s been a labor of love,” said Dino Michael, senior vice president and global head of luxury brands for Hilton, of the Waldorf renovation in an interview with TPG this month at the International Luxury Travel Market in Cannes, in France. “I think when people go, they’ll see why it took so long. They’ll see the details, the silver leaf, the gold leaf, the restored mosaics, the marble, the paintings, and they’ll be like, ‘Okay, we’ve got it now.’

But it’s more than just the Waldorf Astoria resort in New York City that keeps Hilton busy going forward. Hilton plans to open additional Waldorf Astoria properties in Costa Rica; Osaka, Japan; and in Shanghai next year. Waldorf Astoria could have as many as 50 hotels around the world in the next two to three years, Candice D’Cruz, vice president of luxury brands for Hilton in the Asia-Pacific region, told TPG at ILTM.

Conrad is expected to add hotels in Athens and Hamburg, Germany, next year, while LXR Hotels & Resorts will expand to Casablanca, Morocco, in 2025. The expansion comes amid a slew of acquisitions and partnerships for Hilton, including a new partnership with it. Small Comfort Hotels of the World and an agreement to expand the NoMad brand into Hilton’s premier luxury lifestyle offering.

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“It’s been a long time coming,” Feisal Jaffer, global head of LXR Hotels & Resorts, said of Hilton’s extensive luxury game. “I mean, this is the journey we’re on to really change the perception of luxury.”

But growth does not come easily. Hilton’s leadership must persuade hoteliers away from what the competition from Marriott, Hilton and IHG is offering in the past.

“They sing it with all the enthusiasm in the world, and it’s a beauty pageant,” said Michael. “He’s against other species.”

It seems the pitch is working. On a separate note from ILTM, leaders with the World’s Smallest Luxury Hotels noted more than 80% of their properties now participate in the new Hilton partnership; they see value in gaining more exposure and bringing a new type of customer from the Hilton Honors orbit.

Hilton’s luxury high rise seems to be on its way to the stratosphere in the new year.

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