Over-the-Top Luxury With a Pronounced Regional Accent: Raffles Boston

will forever be known as the place in Boston where everybody knows your name. And now there’s a new in town.

Your butler knows your name at the elegant Back Bay Raffles Boston Hotel. And, it seems, everybody else does, too. The service is friendly, customized, and gracious at every turn—not surprising, considering exceptional hospitality is the core of the Raffles brand.

Ever since Raffles Hotels & Resorts debuted in Singapore in 1887, private butlers—for all guests—have been a signature amenity. The Raffles portfolio includes Singapore, Paris, Istanbul, Dubai, Doha, Maldives, Udaipur, Phnom Penh, and Bali; with flagship openings upcoming in London, Boston, Macau, and Bahrain.

Raffles made its U.S. debut in Boston in September and has set the bar high in a town already well-versed in hospitable, elegant, dashing hotels—The Ritz-Carlton which has turned heads in Boston for almost a century, Four Seasons (not one, but two properties in Boston) and The Newbury, to name just a few.

Raffles Boston is refined and luxurious but also unpretentious, much like Boston (translation: Norm would be welcome here along with the jet setters and local Brahmins), and there are local influences, like the Boston Sling, a riff on the classic Singapore Sling that is poured by a guest’s butler upon escorting them to their guest room. This Sling is uniquely crafted with cranberry—a nod to the region’s rich history with the tart little red fruit—and is a pour of Blind Duck gin (created for Raffles Boston by GrandTen Distillery), a pomegranate liquor, Drambuie, Nonino Amaro, cranberry compote and house-made apple shrub.

A big presence
The soaring, unassuming glass office building towers over the Back Bay neighborhood, presiding over landmarks like Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library. Guests check in on the 17th floor to the three-story Sky Lobby—with commanding views of the Back Bay, and also where the brand’s signature centerpiece Grand Stair twirls through the atrium. The formidable space is also home to the brand’s signature Writers Lounge—a nod to celebrated writers and poets who have turned to the flagship Raffles Singapore hotel and the other Raffles properties as their muse.

The hotel’s food and beverage venues are also located on the 17th, highlighted by Amar by Chef George Mendes, an elegant, eye-candy restaurant with a modern Portuguese cuisine menu—and again, bringing Boston into the fold with influence from New England’s seafaring culture. Chef Mendes hails from New York City’s Michelin-starred Aldea. At the opposite end of the floor is the striking Long Bar & Terrace, designed by Paola Ferrari, a sprawling, sexy lounge-like cocktail area with couches and intoxicating views of Boston’s trendy South End.

Raffles Boston is home to 147 sophisticated guest rooms, some with lovely city views. The rooms are designed by Stonehill Taylor. The centerpiece of each room is a customized glass-front bar cabinet—where guests’ Boston Slings are prepared by their butler. Orchids are the power flower throughout the hotel and are placed in all the guest rooms. The bathrooms are marble—expect deep-soaking tubs, rain showers, and Guerlain amenities.

Raffles Boston is still a work in progress. A ground-floor patisserie Café Pastel and an Italian fine dining villa concept restaurant, La Pedrona with James Beard Award chef Jody Adams, will open soon. Also soon to launch are a state-of-the-art fitness gym, a 20-meter indoor pool, and Guerlain Spa.

Raffles is part of Accor, a world-leading hospitality group counting over 5,500 properties throughout more than 110 countries, and a participating brand in ALL—Accor Live Limitless—a lifestyle loyalty program providing access to a wide variety of rewards, services, and experiences.