“He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his work, and he loved his fans.”
Paris Hilton is following in her family’s footsteps.
The 44-year-old entrepreneur was giving “CBS Mornings” a tour of the newly-renovated Waldorf Astoria hotel, where Paris Hilton grew up, when she let host Gayle King in on a little secret.
“I actually am,” she told King, who asked her if she ever thought about entering the hotel industry.
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“That’s what we are getting together right now, because I really wanted to follow in my family’s footsteps,” she explained of her surprise venture. “We are just right now making plans for everything.”
When asked who the “we” consists of, Paris Hilton clarified: “Me and my team at 11:11. But it’s a surprise, so you’ll be the first to know.”
Paris Hilton founded 11:11 Media (formerly known as Paris Hilton Entertainment) in 2006.
The company describes itself as a “full-stop, integrated media and product company with verticals covering TV, podcasts, digital, licensing, NFTs, music, impact and more.”
Pretty soon, Paris Hilton will be able to add “hospitality” to that description.
“This is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Paris Hilton said of the venture. “I love hospitality. I love real estate. I love entertainment. I love just making beautiful experiences for people.”
When asked what her hotel’s tagline would be, Paris Hilton replied: “Hilton for the stay, Paris for the slay.”
Of course, hospitality is nothing new to the Hilton family.
Paris Hilton’s grandfather, Conrad Hilton, founded the Hilton Hotel empire in 1919 and grew it to be one of the largest private companies in the US.
Today, Hilton Worldwide boasts a portfolio of 24 world-class brands consisting of over 8,600 properties and more than 1.3 million rooms across the world, per a ecent press release.
According to King, Paris Hilton’s grandfather considered Waldorf Astoria his “crown jewel.”
The hotel magnate acquired management rights to the hotel in 1949, according to the Hilton Foundation, and he was rumored to keep a photo of the hotel on his desk.
According to the hotel’s website, Conrad Hilton wrote a single phrase on that photo: “The Greatest of Them All.”
Waldorf Astoria last hosted guests in 2017. It has been undergoing a complete restoration ever since and has faced several setbacks in recent years, but the doors are finally re-opening this summer.
Rooms are expected to cost between $1,500 and $50,000, according to King.
Paris Hilton shares childhood memories at the Waldorf Astoria
It was only fitting to have one of Waldorf Astoria’s most famous residents give King a tour of the hotel.
Paris Hilton, her parents Kathy and Richard Hilton, and her three siblings — sister Nicky Rothschild and brothers Barron and Conrad Hilton — lived in a suite at the Waldorf Astoria for nine years.
Kathy Hilton had worked at the hotel for several years in the 1980s after moving to New York City in 1979.
According to Avenue Magazine, the family later moved into a suite at the hotel in 1996.
While giving King a tour of the hotel, Paris Hilton described the renovation as “gorgeous” and expressed how much she loved “that they kept the architecture just how it was.”
The legendary Waldorf Astoria New York is reopening its doors, after eight years of construction and detailed restoration, in an effort to “take its rightful place back as the most iconic hotel in the world."
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 24, 2025
The iconic hotel is also known for creating culinary classics like… pic.twitter.com/OSeggtrfgo
Paris Hilton also shared some of her fondest memories growing up in the suite.
“My mom was friends with Andy Warhol and we were up in our suite and I was on his lap and we were drawing together,” she recalled.
Warhol is considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, but Paris Hilton remembers him as “a friend of my mom.”
“I just love him so much. He’s so iconic,” she added of Warhol.
Paris Hilton went on to admit that her and her sister “felt like little Eloises” — referring to “Eloise,” a series of children’s books about a young girl who lives in the “room on the tippy-top floor" of the Plaza Hotel.
While she says her and her sister were “well-behaved,” they still found ways to get in trouble.
“When I was 16, I figured out a way how to sneak out of here,” she admitted to King.
Paris Hilton said she would put on a brown wig, go to the stairwell, run down about 10 flights of stairs and go to the service elevator, where she found a way out without security cameras.
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“They would always tell on me to my parents if I would sneak out at night,” she said of the hotel’s security.
