Jul
28
Playboy in Cotai Macao
Filed Under Cotai, Macau Studio City, Playboy Club | 1 Comment
I think I already said that I can’t wait, so I’ll just let the video speak for itself…
How big is this for Macao Studio City? Combine Playboy with the TV and film studios, and this place should draw a lot of free publiciity and huge tourist traffic to Cotai.
Jul
26
LVS predicts full occupancy at Cotai Strip®’s Venetian
Filed Under Macao, Cotai, Las Vegas Sands, Venetian Macao | 1 Comment
Weidner’s Crystal Ball
Las Vegas Sand’s William Weidner made several predictions recently in an interview with Dow Jones News Wire about the opening of his Cotai Strip® hotel and casino - The Venetian Macao.
- Expects full occupancy soon after it opens
- “We expect the hotel to be wall-to-wall by October”
- “The length of stay will be longer than average. We will see the beginning of the overnight market developing” — he believes the average guest will stay 3-4 days vs Macau’s current average of 1.5 days
- He thinks the Cotai Strip® resort will draw 40,000 guests per day initially
August 28th!
Jul
19
Crown Macau fully opens
Filed Under Cotai, Melco PBL, Crown Macau | Leave a Comment
Hallelujah!
Melco PBL announced that its Crown Macau hotel and casino on Taipa Island is now completely open. This has been a long time in the making, and am glad they were able to pull it in July.
Next big announcement will be the Venetian Macao on the Cotai Strip® in late August. Let’s hope they have a better opening than the Crown did.
Jul
16
An interesting way to invest in Cotai and Macao?
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Wall Street, Investments | 1 Comment
Let me be perfectly clear. I know almost nothing about investing in Macau’s real estate market.
However, I do see the same headlines as everyone else - skyrocketing home and land values, billions of dollars of casino and hotel investments on the Cotai Strip®, “Asia’s Las Vegas”, Las Vegas Strip real estate selling for USD$35 million per acre, etc. Sure, I could have bought WYNN a few years ago and made 10x on my investment! But I didnt!!!
So I found it very interesting when I read this article on FT.com a few weeks ago about the Macao Property Opportunity Fund. The fund’s objective is to:
“…provide shareholders with an attractive total return through investing in property opportunities in one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest growing regions - Macau and the Western Pearl River Delta of Southern China.”
Like I said, I have no idea about investing in Macau real estate and who knows if these guys know what they’re doing. I just found this as an interesting alternative to the other easy ways to invest in Macau (WYNN, LVS, MPEL).
Alot of the easy money has probably already been made. Maybe you were smart enough to have bought WYNN or LVS at its IPO or to have stayed away from MPEL after its IPO, and have already made your money. So congratulations on your 10x return hotshot. I’ve got news for you though - that ain’t nothin’!
Take a look at this guy. He had the foresight to have registered Macau.com back in 2002 (probably a $40 investment all in). He sold it undeveloped for US$550,000 just a few years later (thats a 14,000x ROI)!!! Frank Schilling, one of the most respected domain investors out there, thinks it was a bargain at US$550,000 and could probably be worth US$10-15 million in the right hands.
Just a few things to think about.
Jul
12
Cotai Strip® Sports
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Sports | Leave a Comment
Macau Dragons vs. Cotai Croupiers
Ok, maybe this is getting alittle ahead of itself. Macau may not have its own professional sporting teams, but it does have alot of hotels and some new great places to watch sports.
This is an interesting little article from last week that I thought was worth mentioning. We hear so much that the Cotai Strip® will soon be “The” Asian entertainment capital because of the casinos, shopping, shows, restaurants and bars, but we rarely hear about the sports.
I have already mentioned the basketball, soccer/football, and tennis coming to Cotai thanks in part to the Venetian Macao, but like I said before, I’m still waiting for some hardcore MMA.
Jul
8
Trump Cotai?
Filed Under Cotai, Melco PBL, City of Dreams | Leave a Comment
I thought NYC was the Donald’s City of Dreams
I knew The Donald couldn’t stay away from Cotai. With all the hotels and casinos being built in Cotai, how could the self-proclaimed world’s greatest real estate mogul not throw his hat into the ring?
It looks like Trump could partner with Melco-PBL to brand the City of Dreams’ condos on the Cotai district. This would obviously help the Donald as he continues his quest for world domination, and could help City of Dreams as it brings in a well-known brand that could help sell the units for a premium.
According to TheStreet.com:
Sources familiar with the Macau market say that Trump International has been looking to team up with Melco for a development in the region. The possible partnership appeared to get more credence on Tuesday, when a sales call between Hong Kong office and institutional investors mentioned the likelihood of a deal between the two parties, according a buy-side source on the call.
The 650 City of Dreams condo hotel units are planned for a total of 1.3 million square feet on Cotai with a completion date of year-end 2009.
Jul
3
Cotai Strip® pictures of hotels and casinos
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Venetian Macao, Crown Macau, Hengqin Island, Wynn Macau, City of Dreams, Grand Waldo Hotel, MGM Grand Macau, Grand Lisboa, Hotel Lisboa | Leave a Comment
Here are some pictures of the Cotai Strip® hotels and casinos that i’ve gathered from a few places on the web. Sorry for how messy and disorganized this looks - I did my best!
I believe many of my readers have never actually been to Macau, or havent been there in along time, so I hope this helps. I will try to do this more often, so if you have any pictures of Cotai or Macau hotels and casinos that you would like to share, please send them to me ateditor@cotaicasinonews.com. Next time I will have hopefully figured out a better way to post pictures.
Cotai Strip® June ‘07 from
Source: flickr.com/photos/elusivek/
Venetian Macao
Both June 07 | Source: MacauCasinoWorld.com
June, May, May | Source: flickr.com/photos/cindyshinkansen/
AND STEPPING AWAY FROM LAS VEGAS SANDS’ COTAI STRIP®, WE HAVE THE REST OF COTAI:
Grand Waldo Hotel on Cotai June ‘07
Source: MacauCasinoWorld.com
Source: flickr.com/photos/nancy_ho/
Crown Macau
April, May | Source: flickr.com/photos/cindyshinkansen/
City of Dreams May ‘07
Source: flickr.com/photos/cindyshinkansen/
Hengqin and Cotai
Miscellaneous
Free casino shuttles from border crossing | Source:MacauCasinoWorld.com
June ‘07 Grand Lisboa, Hotel Lisboa, Wynn Macau and MGM Grand Macau; MGM Grand Macao | flickr.com/photos/cindyshinkansen/
June ‘07 Grand Lisboa, Grand Lisboa and Hotel Lisboa | MacauCasinoWorld.com
Thank you to everyone for giving me permission to use your pictures!
Jul
2
Cotai Strip®, Macau, and Vegas room rates
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Venetian Macao, Crown Macau, Wynn Macau, Galaxy Starworld, Sands Macao | 2 Comments
I thought it would be interesting to compare hotel room rates across some of the different casinos and hotels in Vegas, Macau and the Cotai Strip®. I used a Tues night and a Saturday night in October. No hotel room rate is listed for the Crown Macau and Starworld because every Friday and Saturday night is reserved (I guess for VIPs). All rates are in USD.
- Hotels, Sat Night, Tues Night
- Venetian Las Vegas $579, 379
- Venetian Macao $306, 190
- Wynn Las Vegas $599, $239
- Wynn Macau $344, $216
- Hotel Lisboa $173, $109
- Crown Macau Unavail, $561
- Starworld, Unavail, $194