Next year Ritz-Carlton is scheduled to open a hotel at the Macao Studio City property, on the southern end of the Cotai Strip. Earlier in the week, the group’s president, Simon Cooper was reported by the China Daily as saying he expects recruiting and holding on to talented employees to be the company’s biggest concern in Macau.

He added that Macau does not have the international air routes to develop a Las Vegas style entertainment centre.

The hotel is still definitely committed to the Cotai project, even though the hotel is nervous about the increasing competition.

“Hoteliers are always cautious and if you think about it you are getting close to 18,000 hotel rooms in Macau and close to 50,000 in the next few years,” said Mr Cheung.

“This will rightfully create what I would call the motivation to outperform the competition.”

In addition to the Ritz-Carlton, the Macao Studio City development will also house a Marriott Hotel, W Hotel and the first boutique Tang Hotel in the world. Phase one is slated for opening in the first half of next year.

With permission :: Macau Daily Times

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• W Hotels To Open in Macau Studio City
• Macao Studio City
• PBL ups ante on Macau casinos
• Venetian Macau Opens Today

For the 23 projects waiting for approval, not including eight for which there is no detailed data, the remaining projects will provide a total of about 14,000 guestrooms which includes 12 hotel projects with 300 to 600 guestrooms, and two grand hotels with 3,000 to 4,000 rooms.

According to local media, the hotel occupancy rate in Macau is averaging about 80% at present. Many domestic and overseas investors are selecting Macau because they are optimistic about the prospects for the gambling tourism market.

Source :: Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau of Macau

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American billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam inaugurated the $2.4 billion Venetian Macao Resort Hotel on Cotai by smashing a bottle of champagne against a gondola, which will float down one of three indoor canals, compared with only one at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

Casinos like the Wynn and Adelson’s Sands have led this small city in southern China past the Las Vegas Strip as the world’s most lucrative gambling center.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Adelson wants to take it a step further with the 10.5 million square foot Venetian.

Hundreds of visitor streamed under the golden dome just inside the entrance Tuesday, treading on thick champagne colored carpet and taking in the fresco paintings on the wall.

Adelson hopes the complex will transform Macau from a gambling pit stop for Chinese tourists to a vacation and business convention destination, where visitors shop, watch shows _ and roll the dice.

‘Today is the beginning of what has been a dream of mine for some time _ to reproduce the capital of entertainment in Asia for Asians,’ Adelson said Tuesday at a news conference.

Macau’s casinos are currently scattered across the territory, a peninsula connected to mainland China and two outlying islands by a reclaimed strip of land called Cotai.

Adelson said his Venetian Macao Resort Hotel on Cotai is the cornerstone of what will become a concentrated resort area he calls the Cotai Strip.

Las Vegas Sands claims the 10.5 million square foot Venetian _ twice the size of the Las Vegas original _ is the largest building in Asia and the second largest in the world. Boeing Co. claims it has the world’s largest building _ a plant in Washington state.

The Venetian boasts what it claims to be the world’s largest gaming space of 550,000 square feet, housing 3,400 slot machines _ with room to expand to 6,000 _ and more than 800 gambling tables.

It has 3,000 rooms, a 15,000-seat sports arena, retail space for 350 stores, 1.2 million square feet of convention space, fine dining and a Cirque du Soleil-produced show.

Its decor is Venice inspired _ with a Chinese touch. Chinese-style sampans as well as gondolas will sail down canals. The resort also features a replica of Venice’s St. Mark’s Square.

Adelson also plans to open more hotels under brands such as Four Seasons, Sheraton and St. Regis. In all, his Las Vegas Sands Corp., which also runs the Sands Macao on the Macau peninsula, plans to invest up to $12 billion and build 20,000 hotel rooms on the Cotai Strip by 2010.

Some analysts say Adelson is smart in trying to lure new tourists to Macau. The convention business _ a specialty of the Las Vegas Sands _ is a lucrative one, they say.

‘The Venetian will get new customers who are right now not going to Macau at all,’ analyst Billy Ng at JPMorgan Securities said.

Las Vegas Sands President William Weidner said 44 major conventions have already been scheduled at the Venetian over the next two years.

He also said he expects the Venetian Macao to lengthen the average guest stay to three to four days, from 1.2 days in other Macau hotels.

But it may take time to make Macau a major tourist destination.

Rob Hart at Morgan Stanley said Macau will never be Las Vegas.

‘It’s going to be slow transition … it’s never going to happen to the same extent,’ Hart said.

Source : topix.com

Casino Operations Management

• Venetian Macau to Soft Open on August 28, 2007
• Sands Progresses With Cotai Plans
• GAMBLING BEYOND NEVADA : Just like Vegas, half a world away
• Several multi-year trade shows already signed up for the Venetian Macau
• Sands settles retail terms in Macau

Melco PBL Entertainment (Greater China) Ltd., is building a casino resort on 27 acres of land in Cotai, Macau. The “City of Dreams” project will house a 40,000-square meter underwater- themed casino with more than 450 gaming tables and about 3,000 slot machines, the companies said in a statement today. The project will have four hotels with 2,000 rooms and serviced apartments.

Full article about Melco PBL Macau

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• a 1,200-room Hilton Hotel,
• a 300- room Conrad Hotel, and
• 300,000 square feet of Conrad-branded vacation suites in the resort complex

Beverly Hills, California-based Hilton and Las Vegas Sands, based in Las Vegas, will sign an agreement in the second quarter.Hilton’s hotels will join retail, entertainment, and casino gaming facilities being developed by Las Vegas Sands, which is building projects such as The Venetian Macau on the Cotai Strip.

Other companies developing projects in Macau include

• Four Seasons;
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which will operate Sheraton and St. Regis hotels; and
• the MGM Mirage, which is constructing a resort set to open next year.

• Sands, Cirque du Soleil In Macau Tie Up
• Hilton to double appearance in China, three hotels in Macau
• Venetian Macau Host World-Class Basketball Game
• Sands Progresses With Cotai Plans
• Adelson Breaks Ground On Four Hotels at The Cotai Strip