Raffles: Branding a Historic Hotel

By Joan C. Henderson & Nigel Goodwin

Abstract

This case, set in 1991, illustrates the challenges of branding and management for a hotel that was both a commercial enterprise and a historical and cultural landmark. The world renowned Raffles Hotel Singapore, founded in 1887, was famous for its history and its British colonial style. Faced with more modern competition, Raffles suffered alarmingly low occupancy rates and fell into disrepair in the 1970s and 1980s. Seeking to recapture its former grandeur and recreate the atmosphere of its 1920s heyday, the hotel closed its doors in 1989 for a 30-month, S$160 million restoration and redevelopment project. This project would also add new facilities, including restaurants, a theatre and a shopping arcade, adjoining the hotel and built in the same style. As the reopening approached, the hotel's management had to ensure the project's financial success while managing the hotel as a national monument and public interest site.

Issues: Redefining and modernising an established brand after a period of revitalisation and transformation, leveraging a hotel's legacy and core attributes while emphasising new, modern aspects, segmenting both local and overseas markets, and balancing commercial and public interests.

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