Why Even Icons Like The Plaza Had to Start Over

From The Editor’s Desk (My Laptop)

The Plaza, a hotel that almost never became a legend.

Here’s the part most people don’t know: The Plaza’s first act was a failure. And what happened holds lessons for every travel professional today.

Back in the 1880s, the site at Fifth Avenue and 59th was home to the New York Skating Club. Developers launched a bold plan for a luxury apartment hotel, but the project stalled. Money dried up, the bank foreclosed, and when the first Plaza Hotel finally opened in 1890, it was elegant but unprofitable.

Within 15 years, it was gone.

And that’s when a new group of owners made a radical choice.

They didn’t patch the old Plaza. They demolished it and started over.

Their vision wasn’t “a good hotel.” It was the greatest hotel in the world.

They hired Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, the architect of the Dakota, (already celebrated for designing The Dakota on Central Park West) and gave him license to dream big.

What rose from the rubble was a French Renaissance-style chateau: 19 stories, 1,650 crystal chandeliers, gold-encrusted china, and ballrooms that would host a century of legends. Construction cost $12.5 million, an astronomical sum at the time.

On October 1, 1907, the new Plaza opened its doors.

Almost immediately, it became the heartbeat of New York society. The Palm Court, the Grand Ballroom, and its suites hosted presidents, royalty, and stars. Fitzgerald wove it into The Great Gatsby. Kay Thompson dreamed up Eloise in her penthouse suite. Truman Capote staged his Black and White Ball there, still remembered as “the party of the century.” The Beatles stayed there on their first trip to America. Hollywood claimed it for films from North by Northwest to Home Alone 2.

The Plaza became more than a hotel. It became a stage where history and culture unfolded.

But none of it would have happened without that radical reinvention.

The first Plaza failed. The second Plaza aimed higher, and became an icon.

And that’s the lesson we, as travel professionals miss. Too often, we patch and tweak what’s broken instead of rebuilding. We keep proposals that read like spreadsheets. We cling to marketing habits that never really worked. We stretch ourselves thinner instead of designing systems that scale.

Meanwhile, the advisors who grow, the ones who become legends in their own right, are those who dare to reinvent, just like The Plaza did in 1907.

Global Luxury Travel News

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Yes, the same NYT that once decoded geopolitics is now asking: “Where should Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce honeymoon?” Because what every luxury traveler needs is honeymoon predictions from the paper behind literary criticism and serious journalism. Reading Pulitzer‑adjacent insights while considering artisan villas and private islands for Taylor and Tarvis. Iconic indeed. NYT (And you even have to pay to read. Paywalled).

Does this mean that next week we’ll read “Top 10 luxury safaris Harry and Meghan haven’t booked yet”?? 🤦🏻‍♂️

Virginia Reignites Steam Elegance for Five Weekends

This fall, the legendary Norfolk & Western No. 611, the only surviving Class J “Queen of Steam” locomotive, returns to the Shenandoah Valley. Starting September 26, the “Shenandoah Valley Limited” (here) will run just five weekends, sweeping passengers through fiery foliage aboard vintage carriages. Like stepping into a Wes Anderson dream, only the steam’s real and the colors are better.

Don't wait: legends don’t linger.

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And yes, the ship does sail too.

The Marketing Corner

5 Lessons from The Plaza’s Reinvention We can Learn as Travel Professionals

The Plaza is not just a hotel. It is a blueprint for what happens when vision outpaces “good enough.” Its first act failed, its second became legend, and in between are lessons that can reshape how we work today.

1. Dream Bigger Than “Nice Enough”
The owners of the second Plaza weren’t chasing profitability. They were chasing immortality. As travel professionals, we should not settle for offering a “nice getaway.” We should design journeys that become family lore, the kind of story clients will still be telling at anniversaries and dinner parties decades later.

2. When Fixing Fails, Rebuild
The first Plaza was patched, polished, and still unprofitable. So they tore it down. Sometimes our proposals or systems are not meant to be fixed. We should have the courage to scrap what’s broken and rebuild with smarter templates, AI workflows, and narratives that do the heavy lifting for us. Legends aren’t born. They’re rebuilt.

3. Luxury Lives in the Details
Gold-encrusted china. Crystal chandeliers. Details that whispered “you are somewhere extraordinary.” In our world, that might be a handwritten welcome card, an itinerary that looks like a coffee table book, or a single, carefully chosen local touch. Luxury does not shout. It lingers in the margins, waiting to be noticed.

4. Stories Outlast Logistics
Nobody remembers “Room 312, breakfast included.” They remember Eloise, Capote’s ball, and The Beatles’ first American stay. Our proposals should work the same way. A trip is not a list of line items. It is a story our clients can begin to live before they ever board the plane.

5. Evolve to Stay Iconic
The Plaza survived because it adapted: new owners, renovations, even condos. We cannot scale if we cling to what worked ten years ago. We should refresh our marketing, test new channels, and let technology free our time. Icons evolve. So should we.

Last Thought
The Plaza did not become a legend by accident. It became one because it dared to reinvent itself when the first act fell flat. We don’t need chandeliers to do the same. We only need the courage to rebuild our old habits into something unforgettable.

Global Events Calendar

• F1 – Italian Grand Prix, Monza | Sept 5–7
  Champagne, carbon fiber, and the fastest weekend in Italy.

• US Open – New York | Now–Sept 7
  Hard-court elegance at the year’s final Grand Slam.

• Coldplay – Wembley Stadium, London | Sept 3, 4, 6 & 12
  Stadium lights meet 90,000 voices in harmony.

• Eagles – The Sphere, Las Vegas | Sept & Oct dates
  “Hotel California” wrapped in 360-degree spectacle.

• NFL Season Kickoff | Sept 4
  Eagles vs. Cowboys opens the season. Luxury boxes, full again.

📌 This Events Calendar is brought to you in partnership with,