Singapore  - It is the epitome of colonial grandeur. It is the place to stay when in Singapore. It is home to the city-state's most famous cocktail - the Singapore sling - and for thousands of its guests, it is simply the grandest of all grand hotels in the world: the Raffles.

Dozens of legends and stories have grown up around Singapore's national monument at 1 Beach Road since the hotel's opening in 1887. Some of them are true, some of them are false.

Now the famous hotel - named after Singapore's British founder, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, and opened by the Armenian Sarkies brothers - is once again in the centre of a story that might be true, or not.

Rumours have it that the hotel's owner, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, is seeking buyers for the Raffles, after his wealth has plummeted in the worldwide recession.

According to Forbes Magazine's list of billionaires, the prince's fortune dropped from 21 billion US dollars to about 13 billion US dollars over the past year.

Shaken by the global financial meltdown, the prince, whose Kingdom Holding Co has a controlling stake in Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, has put the Raffles up for sale for 450 million US dollars, London's Times newspaper reported.

The news broke just days after Fairmont Raffles said it obtained approval from Singapore authorities to redevelop the hotel's shopping arcade and add up to 78 guest rooms to the Raffles.

"This approval will add significant value to the hotel," Kingdom Holding said, stressing at the same time that Fairmont Raffles is "an integral component" of its diverse hotel portfolio.

The announcement left Singaporeans wondering about the future of their icon luxury hotel.

"Surely Fairmont Raffles Hotel International has no plans to sell the hotel if it is still planning to expand it, some say," commented Emilyn Yap in Singapore's Business Times newspaper.

But supposing that Raffles Hotel is up for sale, the expansion option would make the offer more attractive to potential buyers, she added.

Kingdom Holding did not shed any light on its plans.

All information regarding the Raffles Hotel had been mentioned in the press release about the approval of the expansion plans, a company spokesman wrote in an e-mail when asked about the rumours.

Should the Raffles really go to a new owner, it would be for the second time in four years.

In 2005, Singapore's Raffles Holding, controlled by the city-state's investment arm Temasek, sold the hotel to US-based Colony Capital, which later became a partner of Prince Alwaleed.

The twists and turns in the Raffles' recent past and present did not bother guests and tourists sitting on rattan chairs in the hotel's courts and enjoying fresh breezes coming from ceiling fans.

They rather think back to the times when writers Somerset Maugham and Noel Coward, film stars like Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, and dozens of other celebrities came to the Raffles, when locals and world travellers met at the hotel to enjoy nightly dances in what was called "the largest ballroom in the East."

And in 1915, Raffles bartender Ngiam Tong Boon created the Singapore sling in the hotel's Long Bar, a pink-coloured cocktail with a base of cherry liqueur and gin.

Today, even backpackers dress up to sit in the Long Bar, where "pool attire is not permitted," sip a pre-mixed Singapore sling and throw the shells of their monkey nuts onto the floor, thus following a tradition dating back to the hotel's colonial times.

Other customs and legends live on at the Raffles. The hotel was reputedly the place where in 1902, Singapore's last wild tiger was found under a billiard table and eventually shot.

It is true, a tiger was shot in the Raffles.

But "the beast in question ... escaped from a nearby circus, took refuge in the space beneath the billiard room floor and was shot," a hotel brochure explained.

Popular stories and the aura of its colonial past, all well-preserved, still making the Raffles a magnet for travellers.

The story of a Saudi prince hoping to sell the legendary hotel for a hefty sum even when the property market is severely depressed might just add to the hotel's mythical reputation. (dpa)