GGRAsia – MBS Tower 3′s room revamp done by CNY 2025: LVS

MBS Tower 3′s room revamp done by CNY 2025: LVS

Jan 26, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck

U.S.-based casino developer Las Vegas Sands Corp says it expects to make available to the public the revamped rooms of Tower 3 of its Singapore casino complex Marina Bay Sands, “by Chinese New Year [CNY] 2025”.

The company is investing an additional US$750 million to revamp Marina Bay Sands’ Tower 3, as well as the property’s hotel lobby, and the rooftop Sands SkyPark. That is supplementary to the US$1-billion earmarked for the renovation of Tower 1 and Tower 2.

The Singapore room revamp is separate from the group’s commitment to the city-state’s authorities to invest at least SGD4.5 billion (US$3.3 billion) on expansion of the property. That enlargement will include development of a fourth hotel tower

Following the second phase of renovation work, Tower 3 will have 550 rooms, including 380 suites. These are expected to be “in service by Chinese New Year 2025,” stated Las Vegas Sands in its fourth-quarter earnings presentation deck.

On a conference call on Wednesday with investment analysts following issuance of the quarterly results, Patrick Dumont, Las Vegas Sands’ president and chief operating officer, stated: “We’ll see some amenities that have to be done across parts of 2025, but by the mid-part of 2025, we’re basically going to have what is, in effect, a brand-new building.”

According to Mr Dumont, the investment in Marina Bay Sands “will drive very high returns”, with the property’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) expected to continue to grow.

“We think Tower 3 will be very accretive in terms of investment,” said the group’s COO.

Once the renovation is completed, Marina Bay Sands’ three hotel towers will offer 1,850 refurbished rooms, 770 of which will be suites. Before the revamp, there were about 2,560 rooms and suites.

Robert Goldstein, Las Vegas Sands chairman and chief executive, said on the call that mass-market tourism was a key element in the expansion of the Singapore market in coming years.

“We look at this asset [Marina Bay Sands] as [able to generate] US$2 billion annualised EBITDA, but we believe it can grow 10 percent to 20 percent over the next three to four years,” said Mr Goldstein.

He added: “We see ourselves now at US$2 billion, going to US$2.2, billion, US$2.3 billion, US$2.4 billion and eventually stepping up to US$3 billion.”