End of an era for Bangkok's Oriental hotel | Kurt Wachtveitl Retires | herald tribune

Kurt Wachtveitl, the general manager at Bangkok's famed Oriental hotel for more than four decades, announced his retirement at a dinner he was hosting for the wine critic Robert Parker. The 72-year-old Wachtveitl, credited with transforming the riverside hotel that was built in 1876 from a charming but aging Bangkok landmark into one of Asia's leading hotels, said he would step down in May.