CNBC’s Sara Eisen speaks with Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta to discuss the reopening of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, luxury spending and tariff impact to global travel and bookings.

Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta marked the reopening of New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel, which has undergone extensive renovations and now features nearly 400 guest rooms, suites, and expanded event spaces. Nassetta highlighted the significant investment in restoring the historic property, emphasizing the attention to detail and quality of the work.

Nassetta noted that demand from high-end customers has remained strong, with luxury spending showing resilience even as other segments have experienced more variability. He expressed optimism about broader economic improvements, citing factors such as easing inflation, lower interest rates, and increased investment, which he believes will benefit the middle and lower segments of the market. Nassetta also commented on the indirect effects of tariffs on international travel, noting recent declines but expressing confidence that these issues will resolve over time.

Hilton CEO: The high-end customer has been super strong

Welcome back to Money Movers. In 2017, New York's iconic Waldorf Astoria Hotel closed for extensive renovations. Now, eight years later, the doors to the Waldorf are back open for bookings in the nearly 400 guest rooms and suites. And today, the hotel announcing the reopening of its 43,000 square feet of event spaces, including a 1,500-person capacity grand ballroom, a historic one. I got a chance to be in there with the CEO, Chris Nassetta of Hilton. We also talked exclusively about the company's bet on luxury, international travel, tariffs, and, of course, how long and how extensive the restoration project of the Waldorf Astoria has been in the making. Take a look. This is a very big moment. I have been running the company 18 years, so I would say for me, it's been 18 years in the making. It was one of the things I committed to myself and our company when I got to Hilton is that I was not going to keep kicking the can on the Waldorf Astoria, which has been, you know, a storied part of New York culture and, frankly, invented the luxury hotel business as we know it, both in the United States and in the world. But over an almost 100-year life, it didn't get the tender loving care, let's say, that it needed. And it really, over time, had started to deteriorate in a meaningful way. I think $2 billion. Is that what the total cost? We sold the hotel for just under $2 billion, and then our partners were responsible for the full restoration. The hotel went from a 1,400-room hotel to a 375-room hotel and 375 condominiums, which are in the process of being sold. They invested considerable amounts of money because we are a capital-A business, which we love, and we were not investing our dollars. I actually don't know the sum total, but a very, very large amount of money went in, as you look around. They didn't cut costs. They did not cut costs. They did not cut corners, you know, every little detail. Again, I challenge you to, like, this is what I do for a living. I look at everything, every corner, every, you know, every piece of millwork, every piece of stone, how they fit it together, and this has been done exceptionally well. So what about luxury spending right now? Have you seen any slowdown? Not much. I mean, you know, it's really interesting what's going on. There's sort of a bifurcation that's going on. You know, what I've seen is bifurcation, which High-end, low-end. High-end, low-end. Or, you know, I would say high and everything else. Yeah. So middle and low. I'd say the high has been, you know, if you put it all together, the economy's been pretty darn resilient when you think about it. And hanging in there, GDP growth rates obviously, you know, have been trending up and have been good. But the high-end customer has been super strong because, hey, listen, the markets are good. My own belief is that as we look into the fourth quarter and particularly into next year, we're going to see a very big shift in those dynamics, meaning I don't think you're going to continue to have this bifurcation. That's not to say I think the high-end's going to get worse or bad. I just think the middle and the low-end is going to move up. Why? Why? Inflation's coming down. That's, you know, part of the squeeze. Interest rates are coming down. That's part of it. You have certainty on tax, right? You got the legislation done, so the world knows what's going on in tax. You have a regulatory environment that's going to be a lot easier, particularly in financial services and otherwise. So there's going to be there's going to be more money in the system. And you have a massive wave of investment that's going to be coming. I mean, you can debate, is it fourth quarter? Probably not. But, you know, does it take three quarters, two quarters, six quarters? But over the next couple of years, if you think about core infrastructure spend, like that was done, the $1.4 trillion that was done under Biden that is still just really getting trickling through, that's coming. And then you think about what's been done recently in terms of the investment in the AI complex broadly, the energy around it, the data centers around that, and then some incremental reshoring of manufacturing that's going, you know, that is underlying some of what's going on. It's a bright picture. Yeah. And so when you put all that together, like you have to believe I just I'm not, you know, I don't know what quarter it is, but you have to believe over the next several quarters that that starts to kick the economy and growth into a different gear. And that, most importantly, it's much broader based, meaning that the middle and the lower goes with it. What about tariffs? Tariffs? I mean, we're not directly in the line of fire and tariffs. We're sort of indirectly in the line of fire, meaning when there's tariffs, it might affect inbound international travel, which is happening. Yes, definitely. This summer, you know, we saw declines year over year, and it's not altogether tariffs, but that's part of it. But again, I'm an optimist, but I think the tariff thing, you know, over the next, you know, let's say six or 12 months, they're sort of going to sort themselves out.

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