Few hoteliers carry a résumé like Luigi Romaniello’s.
Roman by birth, Houston-trained, and three decades into a career built on openings, renovations and repositionings, Waldorf Astoria New York’s Managing Director is one of the most accomplished hotel openers of his generation.
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He spent more than two decades with Rosewood Hotels & Resorts – opening Rosewood Baha Mar and Rosewood Abu Dhabi – before crossing town from The Plaza to take the helm in April 2024.
What he inherited was a building mid-resurrection. The Waldorf had sat dark for nearly eight years, the longest closure in its history, while SOM stripped its landmarked public rooms back to the studs and rebuilt them: Peacock Alley and its restored clock, the Park Avenue lobby, the Starlight Pool.
Layered above the hotel sit The Towers – 372 private residences with interiors by Jean-Louis Deniot – making Waldorf Astoria Residences New York the largest branded residence project in the city’s history.
It launched into a market now allocating across Aman, Rosewood and Four Seasons in four or five cities at once.
We sat down with Romaniello to understand what it took to bring the doors on Park Avenue back open, and what the future holds for a stalwart continuing to transcend its own status as a sector and cultural institute.
A new lease of life for a NYC icon
Q The Waldorf Astoria reopened last year after nearly a decade dark – the longest closure in its history, and one of the most ambitious hotel restorations ever undertaken in the United States. Coming back into a post-pandemic luxury market that looks nothing like the one the hotel left in 2017, what was the hardest commercial assumption you had to revisit about who this building is now for?
A The biggest shift was recognising that heritage alone no longer defines relevance. Waldorf Astoria New York has always been iconic, but today’s global luxury client expects something far more personal and private.
With Waldorf Astoria Residences New York, that means focusing on discretion, flexibility, and service that fits seamlessly into everyday life. The audience remains international and highly discerning, but their expectations have evolved significantly over the past decade.
Q The Towers – 372 private residences layered into a working hotel – make this the largest branded residence project in New York’s history. What does operating a hybrid building of that scale actually demand day-to-day that a pure hotel, or a pure condo, simply doesn’t?
A It requires a very deliberate balance. You are effectively operating Waldorf Astoria New York alongside Waldorf Astoria Residences New York, each with distinct expectations.
Residents want consistency, privacy, and a sense of ownership, while hotel guests expect energy and access. Bringing those together takes careful planning, separate operational flows, and a team that can adapt intuitively.
In many ways, it functions more like a private members’ club, where everything is designed to feel seamless.
Q Devil Wears Prada 2 puts the Waldorf back on screen at exactly the moment the building is rebuilding its cultural presence. Cultural visibility is a double-edged thing at this price point – how do you think about the hotel’s on-screen life without letting it tip the residential product into spectacle?
A Waldorf Astoria New York has always been part of the cultural conversation, and film is a natural extension of that. From Weekend at the Waldorf to The Great Gatsby and Maid in Manhattan, it has long had a presence on screen.
At the same time, discretion is essential. The priority is always the experience within Waldorf Astoria Residences New York. Any visibility should reinforce the legacy of Waldorf Astoria New York without disrupting the sense of privacy that defines life for residents.
Waldorf Astoria’s role in evolving a model
Q Branded residences have roughly doubled as a category in five years, with hotel brands now competing head-on with Aman, Rosewood and Four Seasons for UHNW allocation. What, in your view, is a Waldorf buyer acquiring that a buyer at one of those peers isn’t?
A Residents of Waldorf Astoria New York are acquiring something that cannot be replicated: nearly a century of cultural and social history embedded in the iconic building.
This is a place where many world leaders, as well as globally known figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, and Grace Kelly lived and spent time. That legacy carries through into Waldorf Astoria Residences New York in a very real way.
At the same time, the residences are entirely contemporary with one of the most incredible amenity suites in NYC. It is that balance of heritage and modern living that sets it apart.
Q The economics of a branded residence increasingly rest on service architecture rather than square footage. Where does the real premium live now – in the concierge layer, in the access it confers elsewhere in the portfolio, in something else entirely?
A It really sits in the overall experience. Service is a major part of it, but it is also about how everything comes together within Waldorf Astoria Residences New York. The shared spaces and social infrastructure are equally important.
Residents have access to environments designed for entertaining, culture, and connection, all within a private setting. The premium is in how effortless and elevated daily life feels, rather than in the size of the residence alone.
Q Residents at this altitude of the market tend to hold homes in four or five cities. How does that shape the way you think about Waldorf’s role in their lives – is it a primary residence play, a pied-à-terre play, or something that resists those categories?
A For some, Waldorf Astoria Residences New York will be a primary home, while for others it is a pied à terre. What matters is consistency. When residents arrive at Waldorf Astoria New York, everything feels prepared and familiar. It becomes a dependable base within a very international lifestyle.
Reinventing hospitality’s gold standard
Q “Waldorf Service” is one of the most referenced concepts in 20th-century hospitality – the butler floor, the ambassador protocols, the institutional memory of guests across generations. How much of that translates intact to a residential standard in 2026, and how much has had to be rebuilt from scratch for a buyer whose expectations have been shaped by private aviation and family offices rather than hotels?
A The philosophy translates completely. Waldorf Astoria New York has always been defined by anticipation, discretion, and a highly personal approach to service.
What has evolved is the level of customisation within Waldorf Astoria Residences New York. Today’s residents expect a deeply tailored experience that reflects how they live globally. We have built that into the service model while preserving the warmth and intuition that define Waldorf Astoria New York service.
Q The interiors – SOM’s restoration of the public rooms, AD-Aron Sigal on the residences – land somewhere between preservation and reinvention. On the residential side, where did you hold the line on heritage, and where did you accept that contemporary UHNW buyers simply needed something different?
A We were very intentional about preserving the elements within Waldorf Astoria New York that carry genuine historical significance, particularly in the public and shared spaces.
Within Waldorf Astoria Residences New York, we leaned into contemporary living. That meant refined layouts, integrated technology, and a level of comfort that aligns with modern expectations. It is about creating a dialogue between past and present rather than choosing one over the other.
The final view
Q Five years from now, what’s the measure you’ll use to judge whether this relaunch has actually worked – and what does Waldorf Astoria need to stand for by then that it perhaps doesn’t need to stand for today?
A Success will be measured by relevance as much as performance. If Waldorf Astoria New York is once again seen as one of the defining addresses in the city, and Waldorf Astoria Residences New York is recognised as a benchmark for modern luxury living, then we will have achieved what we set out to do. It should feel timeless, but also very much part of the present moment.
