The monumental headquarters of the Holland America Line (HAL) on the Wilhelmina Pier, dating back to 1901, fell empty in 1978 when the shipping company moved its core activities to the US. The municipality of Rotterdam bought the run-down premises in 1989 and, several years later, approved our plan to turn it into an upmarket hotel-café-restaurant with its own special allure.

1993 saw the grand opening of Hotel New York. In keeping with the authentic character of the building and its emotional value for the people of Rotterdam, we created a meeting point which has been unflaggingly popular with Rotterdammers, business people and tourists from all parts of the world for the past 25 years.