Transformed landscapes, tourist sentiments: the place making narrative of a luxury heritage hotel in Singapore

Abstract

The position of heritage hotels in place making narratives is not secure, given the challenges of new local developments and larger international forces. This research examines Singapore’s iconic luxury heritage hotel, Raffles Singapore, against the relatively new hotels, The Fullerton Hotel Singapore and Marina Bay Sands, to identify the nexus between the island city-state’s historical and contemporary position in the changing hospitality landscape, specifically addressing the concept of place making as a dynamic narrative. Applying sentiment analysis, 454 hotel guest reviews on internationally recognized travel websites were examined. The findings suggest that the dominance of a luxury heritage hotel in the narratives of place making can shift over time, subject to postmodern architectural developments in the hotel landscape and competition from other luxury heritage hotels with iconic and location histories. A key contribution to the hospitality discipline is the measurement of a luxury heritage hotel’s staying power through continuous place making amid glocal challenges. The significance of the findings should alert hospitality practitioners specializing in marketing to potential shifts arising from continuing new competitive narratives in place making.