Mar
30
Crown Macau: the new VIP king
Filed Under Cotai, Taipa, Crown Macau | 1 Comment
Congratulations to the Crown Macau on its dramatic turnaround. The six-star hotel casino continues to gain market share, particularily in the high-end VIP segment. One Wall Street gaming analyst recently wrote:
“Thanks to A-Max’s junkets, Melco PBL’s market share improved substantially from 5.7 per cent in November to 18.1 per cent in February, making Crown Macau the busiest casino in the world in terms of betting volume,” Credit Suisse’s Hong Kong-based gambling analyst, Gabriel Chan, says in a bullish new report on the company.
“If we focus on market share in the high-roller segment alone, the improvement was even more astonishing with market share increasing from 6.6 per cent in November to 24.8 per cent in February.”
That’s Read more
Dec
30
New Crown Macau video
Filed Under Taipa, Crown Macau | Leave a Comment
3 1/2 minutes long. I think its worth checking out.
Oct
27
The upcoming Cotai real estate boom
Filed Under Macao, Cotai, Taipa, Real Estate | Leave a Comment
Relating to an aritcle I posted a few weeks ago, this one is from MacauBusiness.com…
“This month’s Cotai kick-off will mean many things to many people. For residents on Taipa, it will likely mean higher rents. At least that’s what voices in the world of real-estate are forecasting.
According to Terence Ho, the manager of Great Macao Estates based in Taipa’s Supreme Flower City, rental rates on Taipa will likely see a sharp spike soon. Comments Ho, “My guess is that rental prices
May
19
Seems like everything is Super-sized in Cotai
This one is a few months old, but I really haven’t seen it written about it so I thought I’d throw it out there. Plus, everyone would probably prefer to read something other than how bad Melco PBL is screwing up. (*more below*)
“is building 3,500 residential units near (Las Vegas Sands’) Cotai Strip®. This mega project comprises 24 residential blocks and one block of serviced apartments to be developed in four phases by 2013…Aiming to create a self-sustained urban centre, the project is also going to offer around 100,000 square feet of clubhouse facilities and over 700,000 square feet of landscaped garden as well as other amenities. The new project sits on a site which consists of five parcels of land adjacent to one and other, next to the Macau International Airport. The aggregate area of the site is around 78,700 square metres, with a total gross floor area of about 392,505 square metres.”
May
18
Crown Macau off to poor start
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Melco PBL, Taipa, Crown Macau | 1 Comment
Uh-oh!
Only open a week and already deserted?
“Our latest visit was shortly before noon today, when we walked into the newest casino, on Taipa Island, and found staff to be far outnumbering visitors. On the fifth floor, where the high minimum-bet tables are located, we found not a single customer.” (*more below*)
Read more of the spot-check.
May
13
Crown Macau opens
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Melco PBL, Taipa, Crown Macau, COTAI CASINOS, COMPANIES, Wynn Macau, MACAU PENINSULA CASINOS | Leave a Comment
Look out Wynn?
Melco-PBL’s Crown Macau finally opened yesterday, giving the company an early advantage over the Cotai casinos and hotels that will be opening over the next several years.
Some speculate that Crown Macau will also go after the Macau Peninsula’s very high-end customers and will directly take on Wynn Macau. Based on these quotes I’d bet they’ve got their sights aimed directly at Wynn. (*more below*)
“What we want to bring to Macau is the six-star experience.”
“We’re aspiring to the premium individual players around the world who’ll fly in on our own aircraft.”
“What we’re building is a property that’s not the biggest, but we think that quality is more important than quantity.” — this actually sounds like something Wynn would say, doesnt it?
Dont forget to watch the Crown Macau video.
May
10
China bans Crown Macau TV ad
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Taipa, Crown Macau, COTAI CASINOS | 1 Comment
(2 of 2 postings today)
Back to the drawing board
We all know gambling is illegal in China, and alot of people probably know you can’t advertise gambling in China, whether its over the internet or TV. Looks like Crown Macau didnt know. (*more below the ads*)
Preparing for its opening May 12th, Crown Macau shot an expensive ad that was to be used to advertise the casino hotel in China. However, the Chinese government refused to air Crown Macau’s ad and told them they needed to edit the ad if Crown Macau wanted it to be aired over the Chinese airwaves.
Click here to view the Crown Macau video - the video is the opening page of the site so dont click “Enter”
Apr
13
Hengqin’s bridge to Cotai to reopen
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Taipa, Hengqin Island, OTHER, TOURISM | Leave a Comment
Cotai Strip’s lifeline.
MacauDailyBlog.com reports that the Lotus Bridge border crossing between Hengqin Island and Macau’s Cotai area will reopen in May.
This is crucial to Cotai since it is one of the two ways to cross over into Macau from Mainland China. To see why this is so important to Cotai, you need to understand how most Mainland Chinese travel to Macau.
The main and most traveled entrance to Macau is the northern tip of Macau, which is connected to Mainland China. For those visitors to get to Cotai, they would need to travel past the tempting Macau peninsula casinos (Sands, Wynn, Lisboas, etc), deal with all the traffic, then go across another bridge into Taipa. Then, they would need to deal with Taipa traffic and drive south to Cotai.
The Lotus bridge offers a second, and less congested, route to Cotai from Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island. This bridge will not only be crucial to allow easy access from Mainland China to Cotai, but it will also connect the Hengqin Island amenities that Las Vegas Sands is planning to the Cotai Strip.
This map shows Taipa, Cotai, and Coloane in Macau, with Hengqin Island to the west. You should be able to see the Lotus Bridge connecting the two land masses. Scroll north to see the densely populated Macau Peninsula
Mar
9
Melco PBL gives Crown Macau update
Filed Under Macau, Cotai, Melco PBL, Taipa, Crown Macau | Leave a Comment
Hate to see how much the “projected” USD $2 billion City of Dreams ends up costing.
Melco PBL announced three dates as part of the Crown Macau’s opening, along with a 14% hike in the casino’s price tag.
The hotel casino is targeted to finish construction and have its trial opening on April 27th, 2007, followed by the formal opening on May 9th and its grand opening on May 12th.
After giving potential investors a “projected” price tag of USD $512.6 million back in December, just three months later the company now says that the cost has escalated by USD $71 million. The company attributes the increase in cost to three areas: pre-opening and property marketing expenses; FF&E expenses for the casino operations; and design and fit-out expenses for the hotel and casino areas
Dec
1
Competition for new Macau residential projects heating up
Filed Under Macau, Cotai, Taipa, Coloane, OTHER | Leave a Comment
Another article in The Standard is a more detailed follow-up to the last post regarding Cheuk Nang Holdings. Nice quote by Joseph Lau Luen-hung describing the views of the new 3,000 flat complex he is building on Taipa Island - “you can see planes.” Honesty is refreshing isnt it.
Nov
11
Melco PBL hiring 3,800 for Crown Macau Casino
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Melco PBL, Taipa, Crown Macau | Leave a Comment
Melco PBL announced that they are hiring 3,800 people for its Crown Macau casino in Taipa Macau, with 2,500 of the spots being filled with Macanese residents. The high-roller casino is planned to have 216 luxury hotel rooms, 220 gaming tables and more than 500 slot machines, and is supposed to open April, 2007.
Source - Forbes.com