The number of hotel rooms in Macau is set to increase by almost one-third over the next few years.
As of the first quarter this year, there were 20 hotel projects under construction and a further 27 projects in planning stage, the latest data from Macau’s Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau shows. That would together provide the city with 12,750 new hotel rooms. The data did not give estimated completion dates for the new hotel projects.
Macau had approximately 38,700 hotel rooms – including guesthouses – at the end of March this year.
A majority of the new hotel rooms under construction is on Cotai. As official data show, out of the 20 hotel projects with the respective 7,556 hotel rooms under development, a total of 6,242 are being built in Cotai. That comes from a total of 4 hotel projects.
Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd is currently developing the HKD36-billion Grand Lisboa Palace in Cotai. The firm had mentioned in its first quarter results that it “continued to make progress” with the construction work of the project in the period. In February, SJM Holdings’ chief executive Ambrose So Shu Fai said the company was aiming to start operations in Cotai in 2019.
Upon completion, the hotel towers in the Cotai project bearing the insignia “Grand Lisboa Palace”, “Palazzo Versace” and “Karl Lagerfeld” will bring in total approximately 2,000 rooms, SJM Holdings noted in its annual report 2017 filed last month.
Rival Macau-based casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd is also speeding up the development of Galaxy Macau Phases 3 and 4, the firm’s chairman Lui Che Woo mentioned to media earlier this month. Phase 3 of the Cotai project is designed to provide 1,500 hotel rooms; while Phase 4 is designed to supply approximately 3,000 rooms.
Morpheus, the fifth hotel tower at the casino resort City of Dreams Macau, is due to open in the first half of this year. The property – promoted by Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd – will feature approximately 780 hotel rooms, suites and villas.
Melco is also set to develop the second phase of Studio City, another casino resort property at Cotai. Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, chairman and chief executive of Melco, mentioned in March that this new phase of Studio City would feature “additional entertainment and additional hotel rooms” to complement phase one.
According to the latest government data, as of the first quarter this year, Macau has seen 27 hotel projects in the planning stage, with the potential to provide 5,194 rooms. A majority of them are on Macau peninsula – the traditional downtown gaming area – where there are 22 projects of 2,534 rooms; and another three hotel projects are being planned in Cotai, which can potentially bring a supply of 2,077 rooms.
