Aug
28
Welcome Venetian Macao!
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Venetian Macao | 4 Comments
KEEP CHECKING BACK, I’LL KEEP UPDATING FOR FIRST FEW DAYS.
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From TV: Video | Video | Video | Video
MacauCasinoWorld.com — many great pictures
Quote of the Day - from the Wall St Journal
“…but the sameness of the color scheme also makes it hard to keep track of where you are. When a hostess at one bar couldn’t tell Ms. Lam how to get to the shopping mall, she turned to three different Las Vegas Sands executives standing nearby for directions. They couldn’t help either. Eventually, a building engineer escorted her up a giant circular staircase to the shops that sit along a re-creation of Venice’s St. Mark’s Square”
Press Release MACAO, Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — With tens of thousands of guests, VIP’s, and more than 1,200 members of the media flocking from throughout the region and across the world to see it and experience it, The Venetian(R) Macao-Resort- Hotel opened its doors today and with it ushered in a new chapter in the storied history of Macao.
“In this day and age its commonplace to throw around phrases like historic, groundbreaking, and revolutionary,” said Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. , the parent company of The Venetian Macao. “But it is no overstatement to say that the opening of The Venetian Macao represents a massive paradigm shift for Macao and the future of tourism development in Asia.”The moment it opened, the US$2.4 billion Venetian Macao became the largest single structure hotel in Asia and the second largest building in the world. Like its sister-property in Las Vegas, The Venetian Macao is a renaissance Venice-themed property featuring stunning replicas of Venice landmarks such as St. Mark’s Square, the Doge’s Palace, Campanile Tower, and three indoor canals with gondolas and singing gondoliers. The hotel has 3,000 all-suite guest rooms and with one million square feet of retail space, which is more than any shopping mall in Hong Kong, The Venetian Macao now becomes a major destination for the region’s top shoppers. The casino floor, at 550,000 square feet, is the largest in the world and is home to 870 table games and more than 3,400 slot machines.The facility also features the 15,000-seat Venetian Arena, which will make its debut by holding the hotel’s star-studded Grand Opening event later this evening. In the coming weeks, The Venetian Arena will play host to a pair of NBA exhibition games and a match-up of tennis greats Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. The arena’s seating capacity and state-of-the-art equipment instantly make it the top entertainment facility in the region.
The Venetian Macao also has 1.2 million-square feet of meeting, convention and exhibition space, more than twice the amount of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The facility features the largest pillar-less ballroom in Asia and has the catering facilities to provide a five-course banquet for 15,000 guests. Early next year, the 1,800 seat Venetian Theatre will open featuring an original production from world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
“All of the amazing offerings inside The Venetian make it not only the first fully integrated resort in Macao, they make the building the first-of- its kind anywhere in Asia,” said William P. Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands. “The Venetian Macao is truly a destination within itself and its presence will help Macao realize its future as a multi-day stay leisure and business destination for millions of people across the region.”
Weidner said The Venetian Macao represents, in one location, all of the key elements — fine dining, upscale shopping, entertainment, all-suite rooms, meetings and conventions, expansive recreation amenities — that have helped make Las Vegas one of the world’s top leisure and business destinations.
“It has taken 76 years and several different generations of transformation to build Las Vegas into a destination that now successfully attracts more than 40 million people annually,” said Weidner. “The majority of that success has happened over the past two decades, a time in which destination resort offerings saw their most substantial levels of innovation. The Venetian Macao represents the very best of that innovation, only now it is being applied in Asia for the very first time to create a multi-day stay destination for Macao.”
In addition to the excitement surrounding The Venetian Macao, the festivities also marks the opening of Las Vegas Sands’ Cotai Strip(TM). The Cotai Strip is a collection of hotel properties to be run by some of the most prestigious names in the hotel industry, including Four Seasons, Sheraton, St. Regis, Shangri-La, Traders, Hilton, Conrad, Fairmont, and Raffles. Las Vegas Sands Corp. will construct and own each of the hotels, as well as operate the casinos and entertainment venues in each hotel. At completion, the Cotai Strip properties will combine to feature 20,000 guest rooms, more than 3 million square feet of retail space and nearly 30,000 seats of live entertainment offerings.
top photo courtesy of cabol74 @ flickr
bottom two photos from Michael Vu at flickr
bottom interior photos from unlvgrad03 and gregoireg at flickr
Aug
26
LVS Interview ahead of Venetian’s Cotai Strip® opening
Filed Under Cotai, Las Vegas Sands, Venetian Macao, Wall Street | Leave a Comment
Does bigger mean better?
In Business Las Vegas sat down with Las Vegas Sands executive Brad Stone. I’ve listed a few of my favorite Cotai tidbits, but you still check out the whole article since its a great read.
“I think you’re going to see a significant shift away from the peninsula to the Cotai Strip®, and I think the Venetian is so unique, it’ll happen instantly with the opening of that property”
“As big as this building (Venetian Las Vegas) is, I kiddingly say it looks like a motel compared to the Venetian Macau”
“The Pentagon is half the size. The Pentagon is 6.9 million square feet. The Venetian Macau is about 10.5 million square feet”
Aug
24
Austal launches first ferry for Cotai Strip®
The Cotai Strip® CotaiJet , the first of ten 47.5 meter passenger catamarans for Venetian Marketing Services Limited has been launched at Austal’s Henderson shipyard–unveiling the fleet’s flamboyant livery for the first time.
Finished in electric blue, with a fountain flowing with gold and sparkling stars, the high speed ferries will provide a link from Hong Kong locations to he Cotai Strip® on Macau.
With the tenth hull currently on the production line, Austal is on track to meet its delivery schedule for all vessels to be in operation in 2007 and 2008.
Since signing the contract last November, Austal has been stepping up implementation of Advanced Ship Building (ASB) design and construction techniques.
With the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel on The Cotai Strip® due to officially open on August 28, Austal Chief Operating Officer Steve Murdoch said the company was extremely proud to be able to launch the first vessel so soon after winning the contract. To enable ferry transport support to be made available as soon as the new Pac On Ferry Terminal is available in Macao, the first vessel is scheduled to leave Austal’s Henderson shipyard on September 24, ahead of the remaining vessels, which will follow in multiples.
The Hong Kong to Macao service is already the world’s largest ferry route in terms of passenger numbers with last year’s passenger numbers from Hong Kong to Macao rising more than 13 per cent to 14.3 million passengers. Ridership is likely to double in the next three years, driven by the Las Vegas Sands Corp’s development on the Cotai Strip®.
Powered by four MTU 16 cylinder 4000 series diesel engines, the 47.5 m passenger catamarans have an operating speed of 42 knots carrying more than 400 passengers.
Aug
20
City of Dream’s Cotai Crisis?
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Melco PBL, Wall Street, City of Dreams | Leave a Comment
You think you had a rough week
It was a tough week Melco PBL. Reuter’s ran a story saying that the company could have trouble obtaining the needed financing to finish its Cotai City of Dream’s hotel and casino project. Shares plunged to an all time low as a result.
Reuters said:
“Global credit turmoil is starting to squeeze financing deals in Asia, with bankers saying that Nasdaq-listed Melco PBL Entertainment is struggling to find lenders for its Macau casino projects”
The concern arises from the current paralysis in the US credit markets, where no-one could get a financing package done in today’s environment. The Asian market seems to be in better shape though, and MPEL’s CFO came to the rescue on a Friday conference call with investors:
“The Asian bank loan market is quite separate from the US debt market and it is currently open for business. We are confident that this Asian tranche will be completed in the next two weeks.”
The company’s reassuring remarks, along with the rallying US stock market on Friday, helped MPLE recover most of its losses.
Aug
16
Crown Macao struggles
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Melco PBL, Crown Macau | Leave a Comment
“A six-star hotel in a three-star location”
This story paints a pretty bleak picture of the Crown Macao. It’s worth pointing out that that the writer’s casino review is from June, but from the tone of the story, it doesnt sound like much will change in about a month and half.
“The world’s biggest casino, the Sands Macau, was chock-a-block, with some 2000 people spread across four floors.
Ten minutes away on Taipa Island at Packer’s Crown Macau, it’s a very different story. There is hardly anyone playing. There are roughly 140 tables spread over five floors in the non-VIP area and maybe 150 customers all up.
The punters are easily outnumbered by dealers, waiters and other staff. The top floor is almost deserted.
The entire room has only one of its 30 tables in operation, with five people gathered around. Another roped-off section has, perhaps, a further dozen tables of which just two or three are in play. It’s always like this, the barman tells me.
The poker machines are no busier. There are supposed to be 479 in Crown Macau - I don’t bother to count them - but, that afternoon, at least 90 per cent appear to be idle.”
Comparing this to the Cotai Strip®’s Venetian Macao and other Cotai Strip® hotel casinos is like comparing apples to oranges, so I wouldnt be overly concerned.
Aug
13
W Hotel Macao coming to Cotai’s Macao Studio City
Filed Under Macao, Cotai, Macau Studio City, W Hotel Macao | Leave a Comment
“warm, witty and worldly”
Chalk up another win for Cotai Macao Studio City casino complex. Starwood’s W Hotels announced a pact with Macao Studio City to open a 563 room hotel at the property. Here are the highlights from the press release.
“W continues to extend beyond the boundaries of everyday travel, offering a magical mix of sexy destinations and sublime design.”
“W Macao marks our fourth property in China and promises to offer extraordinary experiences at every turn through the brand’s key lifestyle elements of provocative spaces, delightful indulgences and experiential surprises.”
“W brings to life its own unique positioning, delivering a differentiated travel experience for travelers and will be an irresistible destination for visitors to Macao. Macao provides guests with a wealth of entertainment options, including world-class shopping and proximity to Macao and China’s most popular attractions, making it a perfect fit for the W brand.”
“Our vision is to create a must-see, must-stay and must-return destination for leisure and business travelers around the world. Along with other hotel partners – not to mention the arrival of the Playboy Mansion Macao – I firmly believe that Macao Studio City will be an experience that visitors will want to return again and again.”
“W will captivate an in-crowd of lifestyle-oriented travelers by offering its special blend of warm, witty and worldly experiences. The brand fits in very well with the overall design and direction of Macao Studio City and its positioning as the coolest place to be in Macao. Macao Studio City will be the place where the stars and celebrities will hang out,” said David Friedman, co-chairman and co-chief executive officer of Macao Studio City.”
“The Cotai area is seeing great momentum, and the addition of W Macao Studio City is certainly going to attract stylish and trendy customers who seek innovative design, comfort and cultural influences, to the ‘new Macao’.”
“Macao Studio City is developing at a rapid pace; our recent announcements have brought other world-class brands in entertainment, retail and hospitality to the complex. We are confident that W Macao Studio City, as well as the Macao Studio City complex itself, will be a tremendous success when it opens in mid-2009.”
“W Macao Studio City will feature 563 rooms and suites, all outfitted with the W signature bed, plasma television and wireless Internet access. The W brand’s signature Living Room will offer a lounge-like atmosphere perfect for reading the paper, sipping a cappuccino or enjoying a cocktail with friends. Other facilities will include a signature restaurant, W Café, a Sweat workout facility, approximately 11,000 square feet of meeting space, an outdoor heated pool, and the W Whatever/Whenever service, the hotel’s 24-hour concierge that provides whatever guests want - from a pair of running shoes to private jet service - whenever they want.”
Looks like Macao Studio City is where all the cool kids will be hanging out on Cotai!
Aug
1
Wynn comments on Cotai plans
Filed Under Cotai, Wynn, WYNN Cotai | Leave a Comment
“Cotai, Cotai, Cotai”
MacauBusiness.com did a great interview with Steve Wynn. The focus of the article is Steve Wynn’s plan for Cotai, which is nice to see since it looked like the project had been put on the backburner. The reason for the delay:
“…pay a little more attention to the Venetian after August. Wouldn’t you?”
It looks like Mr. Wynn has great plans for his Cotai hotel casino:
“I’m going to build in Cotai the single most gorgeous hotel on the planet…it won’t be the biggest hotel, it will just be the fanciest, all suite hotel on the planet”
“The components of the hotel will be broken up into separate issues. It is a style of mine to make what you would call four different hotels or three different hotels.”
“Cotai it will probably be the last great job of my life”
And what would a Steve Wynn interview on Macao be without a jab at his arch rival, Sheldon Adelson:
“Sheldon has antipathy for me, personally, but as far as rivalry in terms of business there is none. We are a completely different category than of Venetian: we are the top end operator and I don’t know if he wanted to be but he is not. He caters to a different market. “