Waldorf-Astoria hotel asks guests to return stolen goods

Rex

Iconic New York hotel Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan has launched an amnesty programme to recover the historic items that have been pinched by its guests.

According to USA Today, Waldorf-Astoria is specifically asking for silverware, ashtrays and other items that guests 'checked out' with from the years before 1960.

The no-questions-asked amnesty period runs until 15 September.

Staff at the hotel will evaluate the returned items and select the best ones to display on the hotel's Facebook page. The best ones will also be showcased in the lobby museum.

Want to return a 'souvenir' you took from the Waldorf-Astoria? Here's what the hotel is asking:

'Returned items should include a brief description, date when the item was taken and the guest's associated memories. The Amnesty Program has been developed as an expansion of the famed hotel's efforts to expand its archives and existing historical gallery, "Host to the World," located beside the main lobby. Valuable items hoping to be retrieved include silver, such as demitasse spoons used during the hotel's supper club years, ashtrays, linens, etc.'

Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria hotel opened in 1931 and quickly became a hotspot for New York's high society and heads of state.

Over the years, hotel guests have stolen items ranging from tiny demitasse spoons used during the supper club years from the 1930s to the 1960s to ornate vent covers.

'People would literally have to have a screwdriver or tool belt to remove some of this stuff, including brass plates on the door lock,' Director of marketing Matt Zolbe told Crain's.

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