Checking out

The Waldorf Astoria, New York's landmark hotel, is closing its doors for three years. There are reports that Chinese insurance company Anbang, which acquired the luxury hotel last year for a record $1.95 billion, will convert three-quarters of its iconic 1,413 rooms into private apartments. For many, it is the end of an era.

Originally inaugurated in 1893 (and rebuilt in 1931), the Waldorf was the first hotel to offer complete electricity, private bathrooms and room service. Its guest list includes the world's creme de la creme: the king of Jordan, the prince of Norway, the queen of Denmark, John F Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, the Dalai Lama, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali... And its historic halls have been witness to world events

'A TIMELESS INSTITUTION'

My great-grandfather, Jagatjit Singh (the Maharaja of Kapurthala) , was the first Indian to stay at the Waldorf soon after it opened. He was travelling for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Accompanying him was a 100-man entourage, cooks, waiters and all, for whom he booked the entire floor of the hotel.

I grew up reading his diaries and finally got to stay at the Waldorf when I was 20. When the management learnt that the hotel had hosted my ancestors as well, I was promptly upgraded to a suite with a view of the Park Avenue. Five generations of my family have stayed there.

The Waldorf is a great institution. It is timeless. It caters to a discerning, sophisticated clientele. Every head of state stays here (last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did too in one of its 26 presidential suites on the 35th floor). It has a selection of some of the finest wines in the world. My son loves the signature Waldorf Salad (created between 1893 and 1896 and made of fresh apples, celery, peanut and walnuts, dressed in mayonnaise and served on a bed of lettuce).

Tikka Shatrujit Singh
Advisor to the chairman of Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton

'POOR SERVICE, OLD ROOMS'

I stayed at the hotel twice, in 2003 and then in 2009. It's easily the worst five-star hotel in New York, and one of the worst hotels I've stayed in while in the US. You can't come to a luxury hotel and have a queue when you want to check in, the kind you find while checking in on an economy airline. The service is poor. When you call room service, you get a voice that says, "Your call is important to us" and it takes five minutes to put you through. (Sanghvi was a guest at the more prestigious section of the hotel, The Towers.) The rooms are old and not properly renovated.

I was there when US President Barack Obama was still staying there. Various heads of state were also staying there because it was a security-cleared hotel by the US Secret Service. This meant that at any given point of time, there were two lifts out of action, and there was pressure on the other lifts. And, the Secret Service would bodily push you out of the lobby if he (Obama) was coming through. That was not a luxury experience in any sense.

VIR SANGHVI
Journalist and food critic
'OLD SCHOOL BUT ICONIC'

It's a classy European hotel with an American dimension and an imposing lobby. I went there about three years ago just to see the place the Waldorf Salad was tossed up at. I didn't stay there because it was too old school for me. You can't experience such a hotel if you are just passing through it; you experience it with the legacy of the people who've stayed there. Lots of people had just walked in and you could see that they weren't staying there and weren't there to dine either.

I found them (the hotel staff) explaining the history of the salad, which made me think they were over-exploiting the salad. It doesn't mean they make it the best though, but there's a legend attached to their dish - your legacy lives on because you were the first. Places such as the Waldorf are iconic destinations, but sometimes it can be an overwhelming experience in the sense that the stories attached to these places are better than the actual product. But this hotel is an iconic structure, and when these things go down, it just shows that nothing is forever.

Magandeep Singh
Sommelier and TV show host

HISTORIC HALLS

• The US Senate inquiry into the sinking of the RMS Titanic opened at the hotel on April 19, 1912.
• It was the world's first major hotel to hire women as chefs in 1931. And, it was one of the first to admit women singly, without escorts.
• It was from here that LP record announced its arrival to the world on June 21, 1948.
• Over 20 movies have been filmed here, including Coming to America, Scent of a Woman, Serendipity, The Pink Panther and Sex and the City.
• A secret train platform, Track 61, is located under the hotel. It was used in the 1940s to ferry the polio-stricken US president, Franklin D Roosevelt, straight to the presidential suite, without attracting attention.