There are a few hotels in the world whose names have become virtually synonymous with the cities in which they are located – and none more so than Raffles in Singapore.

Named after Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore, Raffles was built 125 years ago, more than a decade before the turn of the nineteenth century.  It soon became the haunt of business tycoons, the great and good, rogues and adventurers, politicians, movie stars, authors and journalists.

Visiting writers included Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and Noel Coward, a host of foreign correspondents – all of whom fed in the stories and legends, fact and fiction, which have clung to the hotel ever since.  Through their stories, the Long Bar, the Palm Court and the Billiard Room with its tiger, became familiar to people who had never even been to Singapore.  Today these stories remain and are relished – but time has not been allowed to stand still at Raffles.

Today, Raffles Hotel Singapore is the proud flagship of the eight strong Raffles Hotels & Resorts, with sister hotels in Paris, Dubai, Cambodia, the Seychelles, Beijing and the Holy City of Makkah.  The company is embarking on a new phase of expansion, with openings in Manila, Istanbul, Jakarta and Hainan in China, over the next two years.

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