Raffles opened on 1 December 1887 with ten rooms. The Sarkies brothers, Armenian hoteliers, ran it. They understood what travellers wanted before travellers knew.

The hotel grew with the colony. The verandahs filled. The myth built itself, one long stay at a time.

The courtyard of Raffles Hotel with the bust of Sir Stamford Raffles
The courtyard at Raffles, with the bust of Sir Stamford Raffles. The building is a designated Singapore National Monument and still a working hotel. Photograph: Daniel Case (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In time, the building was designated a Singapore National Monument. It is protected. It is also still a working hotel, which is rarer.

From 2017 to 2019, Raffles underwent a full restoration. The work was careful. The facade was cleaned. The interiors were renewed without being reinvented.

The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel
The Long Bar, one of the hotel's most storied rooms. During the 2017 to 2019 restoration, the interiors were renewed without being reinvented. Photograph: Daniel Case (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The hotel now has one hundred and fifteen suites. Each is large. Each has a parlour. The butler service is part of the architecture.

The facade of Raffles Hotel, Singapore
The Raffles facade. It opened on 1 December 1887 with ten rooms under the Sarkies brothers; today it has one hundred and fifteen suites. Photograph: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Raffles is not nostalgic. It is continuous. The same address, the same standards, for well over a century.