Carried away? Okay. I'll try not to. The brand, yes, like many highend brands, was purchased. And - like the RITZ and others I won't mention - perhaps diminished in lesser, more egalitarian, hands.
RAFFLES had something of a sordid start in the 1880s. It was a curious blend of a British royal, an Armenian business family and a Singapore/Middle East enterprise of questionable ethics that created what we know today. There was nothing bottom-line about it. The former beach house of ten rooms became an institution among the well-traveled, well-healed few who were lucky enough to be in the know. Statesmen, Generals, authors, on and on. It did not become a chain until the 1980s. By that time, however, it was already registered as a national monument in Singapore. It has been a mimicked and sought after destination for decades.
I won't bore you with further details, except to say - yes, it has had its ups and downs, but its place in history, in Singapore and beyond, is doubtless. To diminish it as just another "geographically limited chain" is an unfair, uninformed, appraisal.
I love that it is coming to Boston. It reflects well on our city. I simply wish we were providing a more stately (singular?) home for the new Long Bar, where the Singapore Sling was first created.