Raffles International

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Raffles International is a Singapore-based hotel chain in the Raffles Holdings group, which is in turn owned by Los-Angeles, CA based Colony Capital, LLC. The group manages two brands of hotels under their arm, Raffles and Swissôtel, with 41 hotels and resorts in 35 destinations, including the historical Raffles Hotel as the flagship.

In January, 2006 Colony Capital, LLC and Saudi Arabian Kingdom Holding Company announced they would together acquire Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and intended to combine aspects of Fairmont's business with Raffles.

1 Brief history
2 Concepts
3 Locations
4 External links

[edit] Brief history

Raffles Hotel, Singapore is the flagship hotel of Raffles International.

Started in 1989 to oversee the restoration of Raffles Hotel and the restructuring of Raffles City. The hotel reopened on September 16, 1991.

The company purchased Swissôtel chain in 2001, and took over the then Westin Stamford and Plaza as the contract expired at the end of the year. On January 1, 2002, the two hotels were renamed Swissôtel The Stamford and Raffles The Plaza respectively with a refurbished look. In 2005, it was ranked around 17th or 18th position.

Former owner, Raffles Holdings, announce the sale of the chain in July 18, 2005 to its current owner, Colony Capital from October 1, 2005. The sale included all its 41 hotels and resorts and also its hotels under development. This included Raffles Hotel, which is on a 100 year lease to Colony Capital. However, Raffles City was owned by Raffles Holdings under Tincel Properties Pte Ltd when it was sold, but was eventually sold to CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust in July 2006.

The hotel has alliances with Taj Hotels and Palaces and Okura Hotels and Resorts. It recently tied up with American Express to operate Centurion Suites in 8 hotels. It is to provide luxury service and amenities for AMEX Centurion cardholders.

[edit] Concepts

The hotel has developed around 50 food and beverage concepts in their portfolio. This includes Equinox, Jaan, Doc Cheng's and THOS SB Raffles. This also includes a spa and fitness centre, Amrita Spa, which flagship is at Raffles City in Singapore which has the largest spa in Asia, which opened in 2000. The group has other spas including Osaka, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sydney, Raffles Hotel and Swissôtel Merchant Court.