Raffles Hotel was just next to Raffles Institution (now Raffles City Shopping Mall) where I started my Secondary One studies in 1963.
During my Secondary and Pre-University studies at Raffles Institution, the Raffles Hotel was not of any interest to a teenager. The girls of the Convent of the Infant Holy Jesus school (now no more) and the St Anthony's Convent (now no more) were forbidden fruits and much more interesting.
Over the next 5 decades, Raffles Hotel was just a luxury hotel, out of bounds to most Singaporeans. It did not have the tim-sum lunches like Shangri-la Hotel, a place that I could invite a special friend to lunch with and maybe impress her.
However, Raffles Hotel has the historical romance of famous writers like Somerset Maugham and others. I used to read Somerset Maugham stories and so must be many others during my era, as Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew mentioned in his speech at the 120th Anniversary Celebrations on Sep 16, 2007.
This is what I believed Mr Lee said.
Those important people who met Mr Lee had asked him to arrange for a drink at Raffles Hotel during the 1980s. "They must have heard of Somerset Maugham and other writers having stayed at Raffles Hotel," Mr Lee said. "This means that Raffles Hotel had a good name. However, I did not recommend them to stay there. Raffles Hotel was in a period of decadence."
He told the management that the government would acquire Raffles Hotel if the management continued their existing way of doing things.
Renovations were done and a piece of land behind the hotel was given to them.
(In 2006 and 2007, it received awards of "Best Luxury Hotel in Asia" and "Best Hotel in Asia" respectively.)
Mr Lee began his speech which captured the attention of the audience crowded inside the lobby. There was a drizzle in the outdoor stage and so all went indoors to the large lobby.
"The reason I am invited is because I got married in Raffles Hotel," Mr Lee said, without the need to refer to written notes. This was the only time I saw him giving a speech in person although I have lived in Singapore for the past 5 decades. Most business people in the audience would have more contacts with him.
This must be the only occasion he got the audience of several hundred people clapping their hands spontaneously at the commencement of his speech and his first sentence. (He was 84 years old on this 120th Raffles Hotel Anniversary Celebration day, according to a Business Times report on the Raffles Hotel Anniversary celebration on Sep 17, 2007, it was also his birthday.)
He ended his speech with an indirect advice to the audience of business people something along these lines of thought: "A famous name (such as Raffles Hotel) is insufficient nowadays with so many top class hotels as competitors. The guest must receive an experience he will not forget while staying at the hotel (so that he will recommend the hotel to others and return to stay)."
To me, this event was very interesting. A guide took us to visit the inside of the hotel. The romantic honeymoon suites which are in great demand, the spas, the swimming pool and its presidential suites at $7,500 per night? The "Original Raffles Hotel" moon-cakes presented to us were the first time I had tasted it. I must say it ranked top, as good as those from Shangri-la Hotel I tasted a few years ago when a client presented them to me.
Now, which room did Somerset Maugham live in when he stayed in Raffles Hotel? That was what I wanted to see. Well, I guessed the tour guide forgot about this most important aspect for the "120 writers" who participated in the writing contest.
Raffles Hotel Singapore has another famous living writer that it ought to consider mentioning in its history book. It was the hotel where this writer had his wedding reception on Sep 16. He went on to manage a country called Singapore, making it world class.
P.S.
"WHAT RAFFLES HOTEL MEANS TO ME" IN 120 WORDS.
“My husband always stays at Raffles Hotel,” the attractive hatmaker had invited me for my first-time tea at Ah Teng’s Bakery in 2006. “One day, I’ll ask my connections to show you where Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling lived!”
I had told her that I enjoyed visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon when I studied to be a veterinarian in Glasgow 3 decades ago.
Her global business expands explosively. I cannot impose on her promise. Raffles Hotel today means more than a memory of a most beautiful hatmaker-veterinarian friendship. Its “Best Hotel in Asia” award and the success of the hatmaker teach me that I must provide the highest quality services or products to be a top dog in my profession.
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