New president for an expanding Raffles

RAFFLES Hotels & Resorts, which is celebrating its 125-year origins, will have a new president, four new properties opening soon and anniversary initiatives to encourage the travel trade to book.

Peter French, regional vice president - Europe, Middle East & Africa for Raffles Hotels & Resorts and general manager of Raffles Dubai, will succeed John Johnston from January 1 as president, based in Singapore.

Johnston, who has held this role since 2009 and who has been with parent company Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI) since 1998, will be retiring at the end of the year.

The luxury chain is scheduled to open Raffles Makati next month, Raffles Hainan in 1Q2013, Raffles Istanbul in the third quarter and Raffles Jakarta in 2013. It currently has eight hotels in operation.

In conjunction with its 125^th anniversary, it has a different promotion each month and special deals such as the ‘125 Hours’ series.

125 Hours in Paris with Raffles, for instance, packs in an extraordinary five-day adventure in and around Paris, based at Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris, featuring exclusives such as behind-the-scenes jewellery class at Van Cleef & Arpels, a six-hour tour of Parisian art with the hotel's art concierge, helicopter trip to the Loire Valley with lunch, and cooking class with the hotel's celebrated chef, among others.

Diana Banks, Raffles’ vice president sales & marketing, said: “Our focus is to get the travel community to understand how we have successfully transferred our service and expertise to locations from here (Singapore).

Sourced: TTG Asia