Raffles Hotel Explained

Hotel Name:Raffles Singapore
Architectural Style:Colonial
Location:1 Beach Road, Singapore 189673
Renovation Date:1894,1899,1906,1989-1991, 2017–2019
Developer:Sarkies Brothers
Architect:Regent Alfred John Bidwell
Operator:Accor
Owner:Katara Hospitality
Number Of Rooms:115
Number Of Suites:115
Number Of Restaurants:8
Floors:3

Raffles Singapore is a historic luxury hotel at 1 Beach Road, in Singapore. It was established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887. The hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore.[1]

It is the flagship property of Raffles Hotels & Resorts, and is managed by AccorHotels after Accor acquired FRHI Hotels & Resorts. The hotel is owned by Qatar-based, government-owned Katara Hospitality.[2]

History

Raffles Hotel Singapore started as a privately owned beach house built in the early 1830s. It first became Emerson's Hotel when Dr. Charles Emerson leased the building in 1878. Upon his death in 1883, the hotel closed, and the Raffles Institution stepped in to use the building as a boarding house until Dr. Emerson's lease expired in September 1887.[3]

Almost immediately after the first lease expired, the Sarkies Brothers leased the property from Syed Mohamed Alsagoff, its owner, with the intention of turning it into a high-end hotel. A few months later, on 1 December 1887, the ten-room Raffles Hotel opened. Its proximity to the beach and its reputation for high standards in services and accommodations made the hotel popular with wealthy clientele.

Within the hotel's first decade, three new buildings were added on to the original beach house. First, a pair of two-story wings were completed in 1890, each containing 22 guest suites. Soon afterward, the Sarkies Brothers leased a neighboring building at No. 3 Beach Road, renovated it, and in 1894, the Palm Court Wing was completed. The new additions brought the hotel's total guest rooms to 75.[4]

A few years later, a new main building was constructed on the site of the original beach house. Designed by architect Regent Alfred John Bidwell of Swan and Maclaren, it was completed in 1899. The new main building offered numerous state-of-the-art (for the time) features, including powered ceiling fans and electric lights. In fact, the Raffles Hotel was the first hotel in the region to have electric lights.[5]

The hotel continued to expand over the years with the addition of wings, a veranda, a ballroom, a bar and billiards room, as well as other buildings and rooms.

In 1902, a tiger that had escaped from a nearby circus was shot in a storage place under the Bar & Billiards room, which was originally constructed at an elevation.[6] [7]

The Great Depression spelled trouble for Raffles Hotel and, in 1931, the Sarkies Brothers declared bankruptcy. In 1933, the financial troubles were resolved, and a public company called Raffles Hotel Ltd. was established, taking over from the Sarkies.[8]

Upon the start of the Japanese occupation of Singapore on 15 February 1942, it is said that the Japanese soldiers encountered the guests in Raffles Hotel dancing one final waltz.[9] Meanwhile, staff buried the hotel silver—including the silver beef trolley—in the Palm Court.

During World War II, Raffles Hotel was renamed, incorporating Syonan ("Light of the South"), the Japanese name for occupied Singapore, and ryokan, the name for a traditional Japanese inn. The hotel was reclaimed in 1945 during Operation Tiderace by the British Navy. Stanley Redington raised the British Naval Jack on top of the Raffles Hotel.

In 1987, a century after it first opened, Austrian writer and researcher Andreas Augustin discovered the long lost original drawings of Raffles Hotel, hidden in a Singaporean archive. That year these drawings were published for the first time in the book The Raffles Treasury. Raffles Hotel was declared a National Monument by the Singapore government in 1987.[10]

In 1989, the hotel closed to undergo an extensive renovation that lasted two years and cost $160 million. The hotel reopened on 16 September 1991. While the hotel was restored to the grand style of its 1915 heyday, significant changes were made. All guest rooms were converted to suites. In addition, Long Bar, which was a favorite spot of celebrities such as Somerset Maugham, was relocated from the lobby to a new adjoining shopping arcade.[11] The Long Bar is notable for patrons' unusual practice of throwing peanut casings onto the floor.[12] Long Bar is also where the national cocktail, the Singapore Sling, was invented by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon.[13]

On 18 July 2005, it was announced that Colony Capital LLC would purchase Raffles Holdings the entire chain of Raffles Hotels, which included the Raffles Hotel, for $1.45 billion.[14]

In April 2010, it was reported that a Qatari sovereign wealth fund bought Raffles Hotel for $275 million. In addition to taking over the Raffles Hotel, the Qatar Investment Authority would inject $467 million into Fairmont Raffles Hotels International in exchange for a 40% stake in the luxury hotel chain.[15]

At one time, Raffles Hotel maintained a hotel museum. It displayed memorabilia such as photographs, silver and china items, postcards and menus, as well as old and rare editions of the works of the famous writers who had stayed there. The museum also displayed photographs of its famous guests and visitors.[16] The Raffles Hotel Museum closed in 2012.[17] In December 2015, the Fairmont/Raffles brands were purchased by the French multinational hotel group AccorHotels.[18]

A major renovation of the hotel was undertaken starting January 2017,[19] and the hotel closed in December 2017 to allow renovation work to proceed.[20] The rooms were refurbished and soundproofed, and the number of suites increased from 103 to 115. New technologies were incorporated and a new marble floor was installed. Its various food and beverage outlets were revamped, and the Writer's Bar formerly in a corner of the lobby given its own space.[21] Its former Jubilee Theatre was transformed into a ballroom.[22] The hotel reopened on 1 August 2019.[23]

Arcade

Raffles Hotel has a shopping arcade with 40 speciality boutiques. The arcade also houses most of the hotel's restaurants.

In popular culture

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Civilizing the people of Southeast Asia: Sir Stamford Raffles' town plan for Singapore, 1819–23. Ellen C.. Cangi. 1 April 1993. Planning Perspectives. 8. 2. 166–187. 10.1080/02665439308725769.
  2. Web site: Accor Buys Luxury Fairmont Brands as Hotel Deals Heat Up. BloomburgBusiness. 29 December 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151216105836/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-10/accor-buys-luxury-fairmont-brands-as-hotel-acquisitions-heat-up. 16 December 2015. live. dmy-all.
  3. Web site: Raffles Hotel . Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board Singapore. 28 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150910062559/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_37_2005-01-05.html. 10 September 2015. live. dmy-all.
  4. Web site: Raffles Hotel, Singapore. Amassia Publishing. 29 September 2015. 28 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171028221538/http://www.amassia.com.au/Raffles.htm. dead.
  5. Book: Edwards. Norman. Keys. Peter. Singapore – A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places. 1988. Times Books International. 9971-65-231-5. 29 September 2015.
  6. Web site: Fergus. Molly. Memories and Photos of the Raffles Hotel Singapore on Its 125th Anniversary. 2021-01-08. Condé Nast Traveler. 16 September 2012. en-us.
  7. Web site: Skeletons, Royalty & Pop Stars: Secrets Of Raffles Hotel, As Told By Their Resident Historian Who's Worked Here For 48 Years. 2022-02-07. 8 Days. en.
  8. Web site: The Sarkies Brothers: forming Asia’s first hotel chain | Famoushotels.org. famoushotels.org.
  9. Book: Meade. Martin. Fitchett. Joseph. Lawrence. Anthony. Grand Oriental Hotels from Cairo to Tokyo, 1800–1939. 1987. J.M. Dent & Sons. 0-460-04754-X. 172.
  10. Web site: Raffles Hotel – About Us. Raffles Hotel. Fairmont Raffles Hotels International. 31 March 2019.
  11. News: Shenon . Philip . Singapore Journal; Back to Somerset Maugham and Life's Seamy Side . 29 September 2015 . The New York Times . 10 October 1991 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150525224830/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/10/world/singapore-journal-back-to-somerset-maugham-and-life-s-seamy-side.html . 25 May 2015 . live . dmy-all.
  12. Web site: Hinson. Tamara. 2019-07-30. How to make the Singapore Sling, from the hotel that invented it. 2021-01-08. The Independent. en.
  13. Web site: Raffles Hotel – Long Bar . Raffles Hotel . Fairmont Raffles Hotels International . 29 September 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151005131355/http://www.raffles.com/singapore/dining/long-bar/ . 5 October 2015 . dmy-all.
  14. News: Ling. Chan Sue. Chua. Linus. Colony to Buy Raffles' Hotel Business for S$1.45 Bln (Update5). 29 September 2015. Bloomberg. 18 July 2005.
  15. Web site: Raffles Hotel sold to Qatari Diar for $275 Million . SWFI. Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. 29 September 2015.
  16. Web site: Raffles Hotel, The Grand Old Lady of Singapore, Has Its Own Museum . Thai Airways . 29 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20180505205725/https://www.thaiairways.com/plan-your-trip/destinations/en/wtf-raffles-hotel-the-grand-old-lady-of-singapore.htm. 5 May 2018. live. dmy-all.
  17. Web site: Visiting the Long Bar at Singapore's Historic Raffles Hotel. Traveling With the Jones. 29 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20141220053334/http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/09/visiting-the-long-bar-at-singapores-historic-raffles-hotel/. 20 December 2014. live. dmy-all.
  18. Web site: Accor Buys Luxury Fairmont Brands as Hotel Deals Heat Up . Bloomburg Business. 29 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151216105836/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-10/accor-buys-luxury-fairmont-brands-as-hotel-acquisitions-heat-up. 16 December 2015. live. dmy-all.
  19. News: Raffles Hotel to close for 6 months for major renovation . Mayuko Tani . Nikkei . 13 October 2016 .
  20. News: Inside the recently reopened Raffles Hotel: raise a Singapore sling to the marvellous makeover . Daven . Wu. 11 September 2019 . South China Morning Post .
  21. Web site: Literature and history are transformed into cocktails at the new Writer's Bar . Beatrice. Bowers . 3 September 2019 .
  22. News: New 'old' Raffles Hotel reopens after 2-year renovation. Here's how it looks inside. Candice. Cai . ASIAONE. 1 August 2019 .
  23. News: Singapore's historic Raffles Hotel reopens following two-year makeover . Karla . Cripps. CNN . 3 August 2019 .
  24. Web site: 2018-08-09 . Where Was 'Crazy Rich Asians' Filmed? . 2024-02-07 . Condé Nast Traveler . en-US.
  25. Web site: Raffles: An Icon Reborn . CNA . 2020-12-06.
  26. Web site: Winners New Zealand Book Awards Trust . 2024-04-08 . www.nzbookawards.nz.

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