Review of Raffles Le Royal Hotel, by Caroline Major

Opened in 1929, Hotel Le Royal has weathered the political instability of Cambodia with admirable fortitude. In numerous guises, it’s risen and fallen with the powers. Born of the heady 18th century race by the French and English for domination in Indochina, Le Royal has been home for buccaneering explorers and adventurous authors. When that ended, and European attention focused closer to home, the lazy charm continued serving those left to administer the capital.

Later, in the throes of the second world war, when the Japanese liberated Cambodia from the French, Le Royal reinvented itself as a field hospital, and then in ‘50’s with Cambodia’s new found independence, a hotel once more. Under Pol Pot, it was converted to a guest-house for communist cadres visiting this newest outpost of the red world. More recently, the United Nations ran their aid operations from here, before it reopened as a hotel once more. After a period of closure, it was bought by the Raffles group, and with extensive renovations and additions, Le Royal has risen again in a style close to the original.

Considering that past, it’s a wonder that the hotel has retained so many of its original fixtures and fittings. The hotel was never destroyed, but commandeered with appreciation for the excellent location in downtown Phnom Pehn and superior construction and function in Cambodia’s hot sticky climate. Arriving today, it is easy to imagine yourself in the pages of a Somerset Maugham tale, lounging on the verandah in the midday heat, preparing mentally for an adventure that will involve swashbuckling through dense jungles. Of course you’ll be taking plenty of gin and tonic to beat the blasted mosquitos while the coolies run around procuring supplies, and cursing the monkies swinging down from the eaves...

Now, Raffles maintains a Memoirs of Phnom Penh romantic nostalgia, with rattan backed chairs, black and white photos of French Cambodia and potted ferns, palms and the tropical perfumes of jasmine and frangipani. Up the historic staircase in the original wing, through the cool marble verandahs and in the high-ceilinged suites hide original claw footed bath-tubs from the 1920s. Everything is finished with French and reproduction deco furnishings It is the only hotel in Phnom Penh with a swimming pool.