Raffles Hotel to get new look

• Clivebenss

  10 Apr 10, 01:56

  Apr 9, 2010 - The Straits Times

  Raffles Hotel to get new look

  Plans to double number of rooms

  By Esther Teo

  
  

  AFTER three changes of ownership in seven years, the iconic Raffles Hotel looks headed for a makeover after its pending sale to a Qatar sovereign wealth fund.

  Qatari Diar, which is expected to assume ownership of the hotel by early next year, is looking to fund an earlier-announced extension to the hotel that envisages almost doubling the number of guest rooms.

  Last April, Saudi Arabian investment company Kingdom Holding obtained the nod from the Singapore authorities to redevelop the hotel's shopping arcade to make space for as many as 78 additional guest rooms.

  Qatari Diar is trying to put a figure on the cost of refurbishing the hotel and revamping its adjacent retail and leisure activities, reports The Times of London. The cost is said to be as high as US$100 million (S$140 million).

  Kingdom Holding formerly held a 58.1 per cent stake in Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI), which in turn owned Raffles Hotel, along with about 100 hotels around the world.

  But its stake in FRHI was diluted to 35 per cent earlier this week when Cayman Islands-based Voyager Partners - a private investment company affiliated to Qatari Diar - acquired new shares equivalent to 40 per cent of FRHI's capital.

• FireIce

  10 Apr 10, 01:58

  i dun care wat they do to the hotel as long as Long Bar still be there and serve Singapore Sling

• ditzy

  10 Apr 10, 02:07

  They really need so many rooms meh? Got rich people really stay there meh? Then how come that american dancer millionare chose to stay at shangrila instead and lost her ring?

• Clivebenss

  10 Apr 10, 02:08

  Originally posted by ditzy:

  They really need so many rooms meh? Got rich people really stay there meh? Then how come that american dancer millionare chose to stay at shangrila instead and lost her ring?

  she not nostalgic type lar.

• ditzy

  10 Apr 10, 02:14

  Originally posted by Clivebenss:

  she not nostalgic type lar.

  Well, shangrila isn't that new of a hotel either.

• Clivebenss

  10 Apr 10, 02:17

  Originally posted by ditzy:

  Well, shangrila isn't that new of a hotel either.

  but not as antique as Raffles.

  

• ditzy

  10 Apr 10, 02:24

  I bet she wouldnt have lost her damn ring if she stayed at raffles.

• Clivebenss

  10 Apr 10, 02:29

  Probably.