Raffles Hotel Le Royal

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Raffles Hotel Le Royal is a luxury five star boutique hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The hotel is located at 92 Rukhak Vithei Daun Penh. It was first established in 1929, and in its early heyday enjoyed an international clientèle comprising globetrotters and adventurers, writers and journalists, royalty and dignitaries.

1 History
2 Special features
3 Literature
4 See also
5 Footnotes

[edit] History

The hotel was reopened in 1997, after a careful restoration and refurbishment program by Raffles Hotels and Resorts; the historic hotel was upgraded to fulfill the requirements of a modern world-class hotel with its facilities and amenities, but has an old-world charm through its style and décor.^[1]

The hotel was a regular staying place for jetsetters like Charlie Chaplin, Jackie O, Andre Malraux, and W. Somerset Maugham. Later, journalists Sydney Schanberg and Jon Swain would stay here while they were covering the Khmer Rouge.^[2]

Between 1970 and 1975 most journalists working in Phnom Penh stayed here, and part of the film The Killing Fields was set in the hotel. It featured in the film as the last refuge for foreign journalists before the Khmer Rouge forced all French nationals into the French Embassy.

[edit] Special features

The hotel has five distinctive restaurants and bars. Restaurant Le Royal offers traditional Khmer cuisine under a ceiling of lotus and honeysuckle paintings by an Asasax painter and commissioned by His Majesty King Sihanouk. The artwork is based on the ceiling of the Dance pavilion at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. Café Monivong is a traditional French café. Elephant Bar has paintings on the ceiling of this watering hole that lend it its name. Guests can order Femme Chic, the cocktail named in honour of Jacqueline Kennedy, the Airavata, a cocktail of secret ingredients or the Million Dollar Cocktail which gained notoriety in Somerset Maugham's bedside tale, The Letter. Writers Bar is a relaxed laid back bar. Le Phnom Deli is a deli that offers Cambodian cuisine.^[3]

Another distinctive feature is the four Personality Suites that take their direction from people who have a close link with the hotel. Prized memorabilia and original artifacts of the famous occupants of these rooms can be found in these rooms. They are named after Jacqueline Kennedy, Somerset Maugham, Charles de Gaulle and Andre Malraux.