Forbes Travel Guide Awards Raffles Hotel Le Royal A 4-Star Rating
Raffles Hotel Le Royal has added another accolade as it has earned a prestigious Four-Star rating from Forbes Travel Guide. The Phnom Penh luxury heritage hotel has picked up several international awards and was one of only two hotels to be recognised in the Cambodian capital by Forbes.
Forbes Travel Guide's ratings are highly sought after in the global luxury hospitality industry and the guide’s inspectors wrote in their review of the hotel, "Raffles Hotel Le Royal has been Phnom Penh’s defining word in opulence ever since its doors first swung open in 1929."
Raffles Hotel Le Royal features 175 rooms and suites that underwent a full refurbishment as part of a meticulous one-year restoration project in 2019.
Raffles Hotel Le Royal’s General Manager Dennis de Groot said of the recognition:
There is no greater honour for a hotel than to be recognized by Forbes Travel Guide. Our staff understand we are all caretakers of an incredible legacy in the Grand Dame of Cambodian hospitality, and we look forward each day to providing warm and attentive service to all of our cherished guests.
Forbes Travel Guide, originally launched in 1958 (then as Mobil Travel Guide), is the oldest travel guide in the United States and the creator of the original Five-Star rating system for hotels.
"It's still the go-to for Cambodian high society looking to host wedding banquets and celebratory balls, while the colonial wood-panelled Elephant Bar is a must for post-event drinks. This is also the best place in Phnom Penh to enjoy afternoon tea; the refined airs and immaculately attired staff practically transport you back in time,” it added.
The Four-Star rating denotes “exceptional properties, offering high levels of service and quality of facility to match.” The highest approval was also bestowed on Restaurant Le Royal, the hotel’s signature Khmer fine-dining venue, calling it “one of the best meals in town.”
The inspectors praised Raffles Hotel Le Royal, saying “While all accommodations [at the hotel] offer Old World luxury, the Landmark Rooms serve as a beautiful time capsule. The high-ceilinged rooms appear much as they did in 1929, including their enticing claw-foot baths.”
Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Cambodia has won several awards over the years and was voted one of the ‘World’s Best City Hotels’ in 2023 by UK-based Luxury Lifestyle Magazine, named as one of the top city hotels in Cambodia by Travel + Leisure in 2023, and voted the No. 1 hotel in Cambodia by readers of Condé Nast Traveler in its annual Readers’ Choice Awards in 2022.