Raffles Boston

"A newly opened luxury hotel with butler service and a rooftop restaurant. Known for its expansive Guerlain Spa and the Boston Sling cocktail." - Stacey Leasca Stacey Leasca Stacey Leasca is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Be a Travel Writer, an online course for the next generation of travel journalists. Her photos, videos, and words have appeare

"The city's newest luxury hotel, offering stunning views of Back Bay and a Portuguese-inspired restaurant." - Hannah Selinger

"Real ones know: just because it’s not flashy like New York or Miami, doesn’t mean there isn’t a luxury scene in Boston. There absolutely is, and the arrival of Raffles debut Americas location right in the heart of Back Bay proves it. This dazzling new build opened in 2023 after numerous pandemic-era delays, and features all the five-star bells and whistles you’d expect from a global luxury brand of Raffles’ caliber: a sleek, sexy design courtesy of Rockwell Group and Stonehill Taylor; a 17th story sky lobby with soaring views; a signature Portuguese fine dining restaurant Amar by acclaimed chef George Mendes; a spa by Guerlain; marble bathrooms; spacious bedrooms; and butler service everywhere you go. Don’t mistake Raffles Boston as being just for jet-setting international types, however–the speakeasy Blind Duck is one of the toughest spots to snag a table on a Saturday night, and word on the street is that nearly all of the multi-million dollar residences were purchased not my foreign investors but, in fact, by locals." - Shannon McMahon, Todd Plummer

"Last year, Boston was abuzz with the opening of the Raffles Boston, the ultra-luxe brand’s North American flagship hotel. Located in the Back Bay, this 147-room stunner has classic New England design touches (think wainscotting, wood flooring, and warm tones) mixed with glam all-marble bathrooms and black soaking tubs. Its signature restaurant, Amar, is a delicious ode to Massachusetts’ Portuguese community — the largest in the country. Must-orders include the Jamon Iberico (aged five years) with housemade sourdough, the Arroz de Mariscos with local seafood, and the chef’s take on a pasteis de nata." - Katie Lockhart

"Why book? A new build, a new brand, a new chapter for Boston’s luxury scene: Raffles’ splashy North America debut hits all the right notes. Set the scene Raffles has a huge footprint across Asia and Europe, and its first U.S. property delivers that same degree of cosmopolitan glamor. From street level, you’re whisked by elevator up to the seventeenth floor, where the soaring three-story Sky Lobby exudes a certain gravitas and scale that no Boston hotel in recent memory has been able to capture. Anchored by a massive, three-story floating staircase, the lobby buzzes with sophisticated energy, and the check-in process inside the Writer’s Lounge—a plush sort of living room space, and a signature of Raffles properties—is pulled off with élan and panache. When you’re here, you can’t help but feel like a jet setter. The backstory The development of 430 Stuart Street has been over a decade in the making, and the Raffles Hotel portion has experienced numerous delays. But now that it’s finally here, it feels like an exciting new chapter for Boston: a vote of confidence that this city is truly a major player in the international hospitality, design, and luxury scenes. The rooms Modern, but make it Back Bay (read: classic). Stonehill Taylor (The Ned Nomad, TWA Hotel, J.W. Marriott Nashville) designed the rooms here in an old-meets-new, quintessential Boston ethos. Textured wallpapers, wood paneling, marble accent tables and custom glass-front bar cabinets and closets make the rooms here feel less like a hotel, and more like your most glamorous friend’s pied-a-terre. Homey touches abound, from fresh orchids on your nightstand to a minibar stocked with locally-sourced snacks and tipples, including maple bourbon pecans from Q’s Nuts and pre-mixed negronis from Bully Boy Distillers. The marble bathrooms are stylish and spacious, with deep soaking tubs, dual sinks, and impossibly plush Garnier Thiebault linens. The rooms do feel like Raffles, but they also feel like Boston—a duality that global hotel brands don’t always manage to pull off. Food and drink There’s a lot of F&B to get excited about here. The hotel is still in the process of rolling out its eventual six dining outposts, but two stand out so far. First is the Long Bar and Terrace (a nod to the original Raffles Singapore’s Long Bar, and not to be confused with the OAK Long Bar at the Fairmont Copley Plaza a block away). Even on its second night in operation, the bar and gorgeous outdoor terrace were packed with sceney locals throwing back Boston Slings (a cranberry-tinged update on the Singapore Sling, naturally) and taking in the unobstructed views over the South End. Two nights in, this place is already fabulous. The other dining hotspot to watch out for is Amar, which will undoubtedly become one of the city’s toughest tables to book. Despite being a city with such vibrant Portuguese communities, Portuguese cuisine has never really been represented in Boston’s fine dining–until now, thanks to chef George Mendes, whom foodies may recall from NYC’s Michelin-starred Aldea. The menu skews towards seafood and vegetables, doing so with authenticity and flair. The aromatic, delicately flavored arroz for two came with heaps of perfectly cooked shellfish, at once homey and exciting. It was Portuguese, it was Boston, it was decadent–and it felt like an exciting new addition to this city’s food scene. The neighborhood/area Tucked away on Stuart Street between Clarendon and Dartmouth Streets, the location is extremely central without being smack-dab in the Theater District’s pandemonium. Everything you’d want to experience in the Back Bay–the Boston Public Library on Copley Square, shopping on Newbury Street, promenading down the Commonwealth Avenue mall–is just steps away. The service Raffles’s signature butler service makes the hotel’s steep price tag worth it, for the right customer. Friendly, personalized service is never more than a phone call or text message away, and beautifully walks that fine line of being accessible yet never overbearing. For families With all the glitz and glam—not to mention the pricetag—Raffles definitely skews towards a more grown-up clientele. Accessibility As part of a brand new building, Raffles is fully accessible, with regulation door frames, elevator access everywhere you go, and assistive devices at the (soon to be opened) swimming pool. Anything left to mention? There are a number of pending spaces at this hotel that we weren’t able to experience as of September 2023. They are slated to open over the coming weeks and months, including: the Guerlain Spa and twenty-meter indoor swimming pool; a ground floor patisserie Café Pastel; and an Italian fine dining concept La Pedrona from James Beard Award-winning chef Jody Adams. But if the hotel’s numerous overarching delays and sumptuous debut are any indication, some things are worth waiting for." - Todd Plummer