GGRAsia – Macau hotel room rates up in July, year-to-date: trade body

Macau hotel room rates up in July, year-to-date: trade body

Aug 21, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The average cost of a Macau hotel room increased by 3.9 percent in July compared to the prior-year period, as the average hotel occupancy for the period also went up by 0.4 percentage points, to 93.5 percent. That is according to data recently released by the Macau Hotel Association.

In July, the average rate of a hotel room in Macau was MOP1,355.5 (US$167.8) per night, said the trade body.

The average room rate for five-star hotels – many of which are located in casino resorts – rose by 3.3 percent year-on-year to MOP1,631.2 in July. Rates for 3-star hotels posted an increase of 6.8 percent in year-on-year terms.

The average cost of a Macau hotel room for the first seven months of the year was up by 2.4 percent in year-on-year terms, to MOP1,354.9, according to the trade group. Average hotel occupancy rate for the period between January and July increased by 1.2 percentage points, to 92.5 percent.

The Macau Hotel Association includes among its members the majority of the city’s hotels located at casino resort complexes.

Macau had about 37,900 hotel rooms and 800 guesthouse rooms at the end of June, show data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service. Around two thirds of Macau’s current hotel room inventory is located in five-star hotels.

A number of Macau casino operators have complained about lack of enough room inventory to meet existing demand. During a conference call with investment analysts earlier this month, Wynn Macau Ltd’s chief executive Matt Maddox stated it was “clear” that the company needed more rooms at Wynn Palace casino resort on Cotai. He added at the time: “Our hotel is full. On the weekends, we’re turning away customers that we do not want to be turning away.”

All casino operators in Macau have announced plans to increase and/or revamp existing room supply. The majority of the new supply will be located in Cotai, where the city’s six casino operators have all been developing new large-scale casino resorts featuring hotels with hundreds of rooms each.