(June 25): Singapore’s iconic Raffles Hotel is spreading its wings, planning on opening a luxury resort on Sentosa island.
Accor SA, which owns the brand, is aiming to open the 100,000 square meter hotel in early 2022, it said at a media briefing in the city-state Tuesday. Raffles Sentosa Resort & Spa will house 61 villas with a total maximum occupancy of about 200 people.
Like many things in Singapore, it won’t be cheap. Each villa will cost around $1,500 a night, according to Accor Asia Pacific CEO Michael Issenberg. He said the property should break-even within a year of its opening, declining to elaborate.
Sentosa island, a tiny enclave nestled off Singapore’s south coast, made headlines in 2018 when another one of its hotels hosted the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un. The commercial part of the island is also home to Genting Singapore’s Resorts World, one of the nation’s two casinos.
The new Raffles will be located behind the Sofitel Sentosa on land that real-estate management firm The Royal Group already owns and will cost around $70 million to build. While The Royal Group will continue to own the land once the hotel is completed, Accor will manage the resort.
