Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Raffles

Raffles hotels

Personal butlers carry Singapore's grand hotel tradition into landmark buildings and island resorts.

Raffles carries the tradition of its 1887 Singapore flagship into grand city hotels and distinctive resorts around the world. Now part of Accor, the collection pairs landmark architecture and restoration with personal butler service, giving each address a close connection to the history and culture around it.

27 Raffles hotels in 18 countries on the Luxury Hotels Atlas (2 not open yet), each placed on the six LHA Tiers.

• Owned by Accor
• Worldwide: 24 hotels, resorts and palaces across 19 countries on five continents as of mid-2026, with a deep pipeline of seven or more confirmed additions through 2030. Raffles deliberately constrains its footprint, capping growth to protect positioning.
• On the atlas: 2 Apex Luxury, 20 Grand Luxury, 3 High Luxury, 2 Core Luxury

History

Raffles’ Singapore flagship established the connection between a hotel and its city’s history. Restorations in Cambodia, Paris, and London later gave that idea new forms. From Le Royal Monceau to the Old War Office, the collection brings existing buildings into hotel life while retaining the architecture and stories that made them significant.

Timeline

• 1878 — Dr. Charles Emerson leases a beach house on Beach Road, Singapore, converting it into a modest seaside hotel, the site that will become Raffles.
• 1887 — December 1, 1887: The Armenian-Persian Sarkies brothers (Martin and Tigran, later joined by Arshak and Aviet) reopen the renamed Raffles Hotel with 10 rooms, naming it in honor of Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of modern Singapore, that year being Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, when a statue of Raffles had just been unveiled on the Padang.
• 1890s — Demand explodes; the Sarkies add three new buildings, expanding capacity from 10 to 75 rooms. The hotel acquires a veranda, ballroom, and billiards hall, each room equipped with electric lights and ceiling fans, novel in Southeast Asia.
• 1899 — Architect Regent Alfred John Bidwell of Swan and Maclaren rebuilds the main structure; the new Neo-Renaissance building opens in November 1899, cementing Raffles' status as Southeast Asia's preeminent grand hotel.
• 1907 — Tigran and Aviet Sarkies purchase the land at No. 3 Beach Road for $125,064, securing the hotel's long-term footprint.
• 1915 — Hainanese bartender Ngiam Tong Boon creates the Singapore Sling at the Long Bar, a gin, pineapple juice, lime, curaçao, Bénédictine, grenadine and cherry liqueur cocktail designed to look like fruit juice so women could drink alcohol in public without social censure. The cocktail sells 800–1,200 glasses a day at the Long Bar and generates S$15 million in annual bar revenue.
• 1920s–30s — The Long Bar becomes "the rendezvous of planters." Literary giants including Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, W. Somerset Maugham, Noël Coward, and later James Michener and Hunter S. Thompson are regulars or extended guests; Maugham reportedly writes many Eastern stories under a frangipani tree in the Palm Court.
• 1931 — The Great Depression forces the last surviving Sarkies brother into bankruptcy. The hotel survives thanks to its pre-existing long-term land lease.
• 1942–45 — Japanese forces occupy Singapore; Raffles serves as a transit point for British prisoners of war. The hotel reopens when British troops return in 1945.
• 1987 — Raffles Hotel Singapore is declared a Singapore National Monument on its centenary.
• 1989 — Raffles International Ltd is formed as hotel management arm of Raffles Holdings Ltd.
• 1991 — After a two-and-a-half-year restoration, Raffles Hotel Singapore reopens on 16 September 1991, converted into an all-suite property.
• 1997 — Raffles reopens two landmark Cambodian hotels: Raffles Hotel Le Royal (Phnom Penh, originally 1929) and Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor (Siem Reap, originally 1932), extending the brand's heritage formula beyond Singapore for the first time.
• 2001 — Raffles Holdings acquires Swissôtel from SAirGroup for €268 million, expanding its room capacity 139% to 13,500 units across 17 countries.
• 2005 — Colony Capital acquires Raffles Holdings from the Singapore government for $1 billion.
• 2006 — Raffles, Fairmont, and Swissôtel are consolidated into FRHI Hotels & Resorts. Raffles Dubai, the brand's first Middle East hotel, opens.
• 2010 — Raffles Makkah Palace opens. Le Royal Monceau, Raffles Paris relaunches after a two-year transformation led by Philippe Starck.
• 2011 — Raffles Seychelles opens on Praslin Island, the brand's first dedicated resort and first Indian Ocean address.
• 2016 — July 2016: Accor finalises its $2.7 billion acquisition of FRHI, bringing Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel into the Accor group and adding critical mass in the ultra-luxury segment. Raffles Beijing Hotel departs the brand, rebranding as Beijing Hotel NUO under Key International Hotels Management.
• 2018 — Raffles Europejski Warsaw opens in an 1857 Enrico Marconi neo-Renaissance palace, the brand's first Eastern European address.
• 2019 — Raffles Singapore reopens in August 2019 after a two-year restoration by Thierry Despont, retaining all 115 suites, restoring teak floors and four-poster beds, and adding six restaurants and bars including the revived Long Bar. Raffles Maldives Meradhoo (rebranded from Jumeirah Dhevanafushi in 2017) and Raffles Shenzhen open. Accor appoints Omer Acar as CEO of Raffles Hotels & Resorts in 2023, bringing a luxury specialist to lead aggressive expansion.
• 2023 — Raffles London at The OWO opens (September 29), the brand's first UK property in the restored Old War Office on Whitehall, with 120 rooms by Thierry Despont and nine restaurants by Mauro Colagreco. Raffles at Galaxy Macau and Raffles Al Areen Palace Bahrain open.
• 2023–24 — Raffles Boston opens, the brand's first North American hotel. Raffles Jaipur opens (July 2024) as the first Raffles in India's Pink City.
• 2025 — Raffles Sentosa Singapore opens March 1, 2025, Singapore's first all-villa resort. Raffles Maldives Meradhoo exits the brand (October 31, 2025), rebadging to The Halcyon Private Isles Maldives, Autograph Collection (Marriott).
• 2025 — Raffles Singapore ranked No. 5 in The World's 50 Best Hotels 2025; Raffles London at The OWO ranked No. 31 in the same list. Raffles Singapore is the only hotel in Singapore to receive Three MICHELIN Keys (the highest MICHELIN hotel distinction) in 2025.
• 2026+ — Raffles Jeddah opens on the Red Sea Corniche. Confirmed pipeline: Raffles Lake Como (2027), Raffles Courchevel (2028), Raffles Tokyo (2028), Raffles Goa Shiroda (by 2030), Raffles Estera East Cape, Mexico (2029).

The houses to know

1. Raffles Singapore, Singapore, Singapore — The Sarkies brothers’ original Singapore hotel grew into a landmark whose Long Bar gave the city the Singapore Sling.
2. Raffles London at The OWO, London, United Kingdom — The former Old War Office brings Raffles into a landmark building with two and a half miles of corridors.
3. Raffles Doha, Doha, Qatar — Katara Towers’ crossed-scimitar form gives the all-suite hotel a distinctive Lusail skyline setting.
4. Raffles Boston, Boston, United States — The hotel brings Raffles to Boston’s Back Bay, a neighbourhood built on reclaimed tidal flats.
5. Le Royal Monceau - Raffles Paris, Paris, France — Le Royal Monceau opened in 1928 on Avenue Hoche before Philippe Starck's comprehensive 2010 redesign relaunched it under the Raffles flag.
6. Raffles Al Areen Palace Bahrain, Zallaq, Bahrain — Private pools and generous villa spaces give the Bahrain retreat an intimate residential atmosphere.
7. Raffles Europejski Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland — Enrico Marconi’s Hotel Europejski opened on Warsaw’s Royal Route on 1 January 1857.
8. Raffles Makati, Makati, Philippines — The hotel is in Makati, Philippines.
9. Raffles İstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey — Emre Arolat and Tabanlıoğlu’s tower gives Raffles a contemporary Istanbul home within Zorlu Center.
10. Raffles at Galaxy Macau, Macau, Macau — Two connected towers give the Macau hotel a substantial all-suite setting within Galaxy.

Newest openings

• Raffles Sentosa Singapore — Sentosa Island, Singapore — opened 1 March 2025 — Singapore's first all-villa resort; 62 private-pool villas (211–650 sq m) across 100,000 sq m of forested Sentosa hillside, designed by Yabu Pushelberg, the studio's inaugural collaboration with Raffles and their first resort project; five restaurants including Iyasaka by Hashida (omakase), Royal China (Cantonese), and Empire Grill (modern Italian); Raffles Butler service; Rolls-Royce arrivals; the signature Sentosa Sling uses upcycled watermelon skin from the resort kitchens.
• Raffles Jeddah — Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — opened 2026 — Raffles' first Saudi Arabia property; 182 rooms and suites in two towers on the North Corniche, every room with an uninterrupted Red Sea view from a private terrace; 120 branded residences designed by Robert Angell; Hejazi-heritage palette drawn from Jeddah's historic coral-stone architecture.
• Raffles Jaipur — Jaipur, India — opened July 2024 — 50-room palace designed by Clive Gray of Randolph Gray Design as a modern zenana (Mughal women's quarters), hand-carved entirely from Makrana marble, the same Rajasthan quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal; every arch, jaali screen, and floor executed by local master artisans; awarded MICHELIN Two Keys immediately upon inclusion in the 2025 Guide.
• Raffles Al Areen Palace Bahrain — Zallaq, Bahrain — opened December 2023 — Bahrain's first and only all-villa property: 78 private pool villas each minimum 4,300 sq ft, with dedicated butler service; awarded MICHELIN Two Keys in 2025; a resident botanist maintains botanical gardens and leads date-picking and medicinal herb workshops.

Opening next

• Raffles Lake Como — Moltrasio, Lake Como, Italy — expected 2027 — confirmed; conversion of the former Grand Hotel Imperiale, an Art Nouveau villa from the 1920s with one of the largest hotel shorelines on the lake; ~84 rooms, suites and villas with indoor and outdoor pools, spa, and direct lake access; Raffles' first Italian property and fifth in Europe.
• Raffles Courchevel — Courchevel 1850, France — expected 2028 winter season — confirmed; 50 guestrooms and suites in the exclusive Jardin Alpin precinct; developed and owned by Art de Vivre; interiors by Humbert & Poyet; conceived by JMV; two destination restaurants, signature bar, tea lounge, spa with thermal experiences, and panoramic swimming pool; Raffles' first alpine/ski resort and second French property.
• Raffles Tokyo — Hamamatsuchō, Tokyo, Japan — expected 2028 — confirmed; part of the redevelopment of the landmark World Trade Center in central Tokyo; Raffles' first Japan address.
• Raffles Goa Shiroda — Shiroda, Goa, India — expected by 2030 — confirmed; 120 luxury villas across 27+ acres developed with Dangayach Group; shares a beachfront club with the adjacent Fairmont Goa Shiroda; will include a Long Bar and Raffles Butler Service.

Every Raffles hotel on the atlas

Saudi Arabia

• Raffles Makkah Palace — Makkah · Grand Luxury
• Raffles Jeddah — Jeddah · High Luxury
• Raffles The Red Sea — Shura Island · High Luxury
• Raffles Trojena — Trojena · Core Luxury · Opening soon

Cambodia

• Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor — Siem Reap · Grand Luxury
• Raffles Hotel Le Royal — Phnom Penh · Grand Luxury

China

• Raffles Hainan Clear Water Bay — Lingshui · Grand Luxury
• Raffles Shenzhen — Shenzhen · High Luxury

India

• Raffles Jaipur — Jaipur · Grand Luxury
• Raffles Udaipur — Udaipur · Grand Luxury

Indonesia

• Raffles Bali — Jimbaran · Grand Luxury
• Raffles Jakarta — Jakarta · Grand Luxury

Singapore

• Raffles Singapore — Singapore · Apex Luxury
• Raffles Sentosa Singapore — Sentosa Island · Grand Luxury

United Arab Emirates

• Raffles Dubai — Dubai · Grand Luxury
• Raffles The Palm Dubai — Dubai · Grand Luxury

Bahrain

• Raffles Al Areen Palace Bahrain — Zallaq · Grand Luxury

France

• Le Royal Monceau - Raffles Paris — Paris · Grand Luxury

Japan

• Raffles Tokyo — Tokyo · Core Luxury · Opening soon

Macau

• Raffles at Galaxy Macau — Macau · Grand Luxury

Philippines

• Raffles Makati — Makati · Grand Luxury

Poland

• Raffles Europejski Warsaw — Warsaw · Grand Luxury

Qatar

• Raffles Doha — Doha · Grand Luxury

Seychelles

• Raffles Seychelles — Praslin Island · Grand Luxury

Turkey

• Raffles İstanbul — Istanbul · Grand Luxury

United Kingdom

• Raffles London at The OWO — London · Apex Luxury

United States

• Raffles Boston — Boston · Grand Luxury

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