Does Singapore have a shot at setting up another Raffles Hotel?

[SINGAPORE] At the Singapore Tourism Industry Conference in May, details were shared about the transformation of Orchard Road.

New concepts and pop-up spaces will be introduced to enhance the shopping belt’s street-level appeal, for example. 

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will also work with Singapore-based property investor and developer Pacific Eagle Real Estate to redevelop Tanglin Shopping Centre into a mixed-used development with retail, office, wellness and cultural uses.

Near the former Tanglin Shopping Centre, four heritage bungalows sit on 1.9 hectares of land at Seton Close. This site has been rezoned for hotel use. 

Rachel Loh, STB’s executive director for hospitality and tourism talent, said that the site is “suitable for a unique, low-density hospitality concept, leveraging its prime location adjacent to Orchard Road and the tranquil Tanglin precinct”.

A different hospitality concept could add to the diversity of hotel types in Orchard Road, where currently, most of the hotels are of the high-rise type.

From around the turn of the 19th century, classic black-and-white bungalows emerged in Singapore’s architectural landscape.

With spacious verandas, they sat amid extensive greenery and were well-ventilated and breezy, something especially welcome in the days before air-conditioning. 

The bungalows generally housed those who worked in the British colonial administration, and expatriates.

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Global pop icon Taylor Swift revealed a personal link to these homes when she performed in Singapore a couple of years ago. Her mother and grandmother, an opera singer, were in the country for some years and lived in a black-and-white bungalow. 

If some of them were turned into a hotel, a group of fans would undoubtedly be among the tourists drawn to the charm of such buildings. 

Raffles Hotel Singapore’s charm lies in colonial history

Such charm is somewhat similar to that offered by the legendary Raffles Hotel, given that it is no swanky skyscraper, and its building dates back to the colonial period as well.   

Topping the list of the World’s 50 Best Hotels is the ultra-modern Rosewood Hong Kong, epitomising the pinnacle of luxury.

Its waterfront location on Victoria Harbour and stunning views of Hong Kong’s iconic skyline are unparalleled.

Raffles Hotel also features on the list, coming in fifth.

Its attraction is its heritage, harkening back to a golden age of travel when literary figures regularly passed through its doors.

After all, the famous incident of a tiger being shot occurred on its premises.

At that time, the Bar and Billiard Room, now an Italian restaurant, was a raised building, with the runaway tiger hiding under it. 

The success of Raffles Hotel illustrates that its heritage-rich past does have an advantage in this day and age, with modern luxury hotels being a dime a dozen.

This is especially for those who visit modern Singapore, with many of them seeking to find an authentic link to the country’s past.

If the Seton Close project can pull off a compelling story about Singapore’s history, this could well convince world-weary travellers to stop and stay.