This has to be one of the more unusual Waldorf Astoria hotel openings in the pipeline…
In this post:
Waldorf Astoria Minsk opening March 2025
The Waldorf Astoria Minsk, Belarus, is expected to open in March 2025 (though isn’t accepting reservations yet), and will be known as the Grand Hotel Minsk. For those not familiar, Belarus is a country that’s closely aligned with Russia, and which has been growing increasingly isolated from European Union countries in recent years, given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The hotel will be located on the Svislach River, along Yanka Kupala Street, on a site previously occupied by the BelExpo exhibition center.
The Waldorf Astoria will feature 192 guest rooms and suites, and all kinds of amenities, including a full-service spa, a casino and nightclub, a fitness center and pool, and more. As far as dining goes, the hotel will have Marmo Steakhouse (the signature restaurant), Peacock Alley (the brand standard Waldorf Astoria bar), and Zolo (the breakfast restaurant).
Below you can find some renderings of the new property. They’re quite low quality, but better than nothing.
This is an interesting addition to the Hilton portfolio
When it opens, the Waldorf Astoria will almost certainly be the most luxurious address in Minsk, as there’s currently no hotel of this caliber. Hilton has a significant presence in Belarus, as this will be the brand’s fifth property in the country. However, Hilton isn’t the only international hotel chain with properties in Belarus — for example, there’s also the Marriott Minsk, which looks excellent (well, for a “plain” Marriott).
In recent years we’ve seen many international hotel groups fully pull out of Russia. That doesn’t apply to Belarus in the same way, though it is interesting to note how Hilton is one of the hotel groups that continues to operate in Russia, and I can’t help but wonder if that contributed to the branding decision here.
What I find most noteworthy is that this hotel is just months from opening, but I haven’t really seen an official announcement about these plans. I suspect that’s intentional, as Hilton probably doesn’t want to highlight in the West that it’s expanding in Belarus.
I’m still curious about the background of this project. My guess is that the hotel was initially supposed to be branded as something else, but the partner pulled out of the project in light of circumstances. For example, I see some webpages about Grand Hotel Minsk that suggest this hotel was supposed to be a Viceroy, which I find to be an even stranger branding choice.
Bottom line
The Waldorf Astoria Minsk is expected to open in March 2025, and should be Belarus’ most luxurious hotel. The property looks great, though I can’t say that returning to Minsk is near the top of my travel list at the moment…
What do you make of the Waldorf Astoria Minsk?
Very much looking forward to this opening. I've been watching the construction for the past 18 months or so. Its a very impressive looking properly.
The Basilian (Curio Collection) is part of the same development next to the river. That opened about 18 months ago and has 39 rooms. The Waldorf Astoria will have 155 rooms.
This will definitely be the most luxurious hotel in Minsk when it opens but should be a big success....
Very much looking forward to this opening. I've been watching the construction for the past 18 months or so. Its a very impressive looking properly.
The Basilian (Curio Collection) is part of the same development next to the river. That opened about 18 months ago and has 39 rooms. The Waldorf Astoria will have 155 rooms.
This will definitely be the most luxurious hotel in Minsk when it opens but should be a big success. The number of tourists visiting Minsk in recent years has been increasing rapidly.
I wonder how long it will be until this project stops because Belarus is increasingly isolated in the world.
Belarus is becoming increasingly isolated by the 'Western world', not the world. The amount of money from the Middle East being invested in Belarus currently is quite staggering
I love that the average gaslit westerner who doesn't realise it's their own deep state / establishment who are the "baddies" have there eyes shut to what's really going on in the world :)
How's Moscow this time of year, comrade?
@James
Do you realize that Putin is pretty much of a McCarthyist?
It's 2024 and Russia now, not 1974 and Soviet Union.
A young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk
I’m LTD with Hilton.
Been to 29 Waldorf Astoria all over the world
My heritage is from Belarus. My father from Orsha and Vitebsk
Belorus is on my list to visit ( my niece located my great grandfather grave in Vitebsk) but definitely not now.
Mixed feelings
Some similar design tones to the WA Kuwait.
Hi Ben,
Just came across a news article about the Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris. Apparently, the hotel refused to hang the Chinese flag despite pressure from a Chinese influencer. This has led to the hotel being removed from Trip.com. Have you heard about this?
I wouldn’t hold your breath for it to open any time soon. Look at what happened with the Hyatt and the Kempinski.
@the clowns who are joking about lying why nobody should go to Belarus - the country has thousands of political prisoners, including one Nobel prize laureate behind bars and another in forced exile. It summarily arrests foreigners and uses them as for its negotiations with the West. A German citizen was just...
I wouldn’t hold your breath for it to open any time soon. Look at what happened with the Hyatt and the Kempinski.
@the clowns who are joking about lying why nobody should go to Belarus - the country has thousands of political prisoners, including one Nobel prize laureate behind bars and another in forced exile. It summarily arrests foreigners and uses them as for its negotiations with the West. A German citizen was just released earlier this month after being sentenced to death.
Damn autocorrect.
Another airline blogger went to Kiev last year. He had a young kid at home.
A basketball player traffic drugs to Russia, unintentionally.
The more famous you are, the bigger target you become.
People do stupid stuff all the time.
But you forgot that every prisoner swap means a bad guy set free. Unless of course we also detain idiots doing similar things from the other side as political pawns too, but we definitely never admit it.
Hmm might be time to organize an erotic journey from Milan to Minsk to check it out. Hope Rochelle Rochelle is there
As it’s an American company questions should be asked. Or I assume they simply use the name to fool people given it would be difficult to take legal action
Hilton are still fully operating all their hotels in Russia. Why would Belarus be an issue? And it's Middle Eastern money financing this hotel and other recent openings in Minsk.
Shame on me but I didn’t realise that some global hotel brands were still operating in Russia, can’t boycott them on work trips but certainly will for my holidays.
Now be a good brainwashed Westerner and demand your employer stop doing business with them or you will go on strike.
Don't be a bad brainwashed hypocrite and cancel a brand only when it's convenient for you.
@eskimo that's some weird ass analysis my guy, "not allowed to calibrate risk/benefit" lmao
@digital_notmad
Hence, the term "hypocrite"
And why this country is broken.
I can do anything I want because I calibrate risk/benefit and it's convenient for me not because I believe in the reason or cause.
You can go rob a bank if risk/benefit is in your favor. Not because it's wrong?
You're supposed to not rob anyone even if you can get away with it.
I’m sure it will be rebranded to a Tr*#mp property once his family has moved to White Russia in shame. It has a casino so all good…they know how to bankrupt a casino better than anyone.
Same country that forced a commercial plane to emergency land from its airspace just to arrest someone they didnt like, no thanks to visiting!
Indeed, who was then later convicted, and not long after given a Presidential pardon and released.
i'll chip in $10 for lucky's stay there
What about sanctions?
Businesses pull out of Russia not because of Russia but because of the idiots who would cancel the brand.
Unfortunately there are so many idiots that losing Russia is cheaper than losing the idiots.
I'm surprised that you actually made a fair point this time.
But totally true, there are bunch of people who would cancel any brands operating in Russia, while they'll continue to buy brands not only operating in, but also supporting... whatever country you can think about. Of course someone would say that I'm talking about some country in the Middle East with the name starting with "I", but that's totally ignorant about what's happening...
I'm surprised that you actually made a fair point this time.
But totally true, there are bunch of people who would cancel any brands operating in Russia, while they'll continue to buy brands not only operating in, but also supporting... whatever country you can think about. Of course someone would say that I'm talking about some country in the Middle East with the name starting with "I", but that's totally ignorant about what's happening with some of their neighbouring countries, in addition to some huge country in the Far East, to say the least.
What’s the issue with Minsk?
The people on TV told me that Russia is bad so Belarus must be too
@Kendall. Or perhaps because you only watch TV and Tucker’s report from Moscow. Try reading a bit more.
It’s a dictatorship and Russia’s lapdog.
Have you heard about this war thing happening in Ukraine?
Minsk is a beautiful city and one of the safest in Europe.