The Raffles Istanbul hotel, which will offer the services of an Art Concierge, has 130 rooms and 51 suites, a reception hall and several restaurants and bars, including one reminiscent of the famous Long Bar in the brand's original palace in Singapore. After Istanbul and Turkey, Raffles will be setting up in Jakarta, another city and another leading country in the new global economy, in the second half of the year. The hotel, located in the heart of the financial district, will comprise 180 rooms and suites and a 2,500 square metre function room. But Raffles is not the only brand in the FRHI Hotels & Resorts group to continue its growth. Fairmont Hotels and Swissôtel also have numerous plans for the current year. "We have put in place an aggressive development plan to achieve our growth target of +50% over the next five years," said Michael Glennie, President and COO of FRHI. The high-end Swissôtel business brand, which opened two hotels in Sochi just before the start of the Winter Olympics, is expecting a new hotel in Bodrum, Turkey. For its part, the Fairmont brand is interested in the Middle East, with two openings scheduled in Ryadh, as part of a mixed hotel-convention centre-shopping mall project, before a resort in Ajman, in the United Arab Emirates.
