When Alastair Gibson heard that the Waldorf Astoria was closing, he and his wife made reservations to stay there, even though doing so put a strain on their budget.

“We said, ‘If we’re going to New York, let’s do it right,’” Mr. Gibson, a bakery manager from Biggar in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, said as he sat in the Waldorf’s lobby after checking out on Thursday. “We’ll never get the opportunity to stay here again.”

For out-of-towners like the Gibsons, word that the Waldorf would soon take a two- to three-year hiatus for renovations had the urgent ping of a homing signal. They wanted to see for themselves what had made the Waldorf so famous for so long: the corridors where presidents, princes and princesses roamed; the restaurants that gave the world eggs Benedict, veal Oscar, Waldorf salad and Thousand Island dressing; the two-ton clock tower in the lobby topped by a little Statue of Liberty; and Cole Porter’s Steinway piano. Maybe even room service, which the Waldorf claims to have inaugurated.