GGRAsia – Melco ready to invest more in Macau, will refresh hotels: Ho

Melco ready to invest more in Macau, will refresh hotels: Ho

Sep 09, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, chairman and chief executive of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, says the company is “financially ready” to invest more in the Macau market, in order to meet any additional concession-related investment as required in its contract with the local government.

Under the new concession contracts with the city’s six operators, if Macau’s annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) reaches a MOP180-billion (US$22.3-billion) threshold, the casino firms will have to increase their collective MOP108.7 billion non-gaming and overseas-marketing spending pledges by up to 20 percent.

If Macau’s GGR “hits the over the 20-percent cap … we are financially ready and willing” to invest more, stated Mr Ho. “We will be able to do it.”

Melco Resorts has pledged to invest MOP11.8 billion in return for its new 10-year casino concession, which commenced on January 1. Of the total pledged by the firm, MOP10.0 billion is for non-gaming activities.

Macau’s GGR for the eight months to August 31 reached MOP114.01 billion, a rise of 295.1 percent from the comparable 2022 period.

Mr Ho was speaking to reporters on Friday, on the sidelines of the launch of the W Macau hotel (pictured) at the firm’s majority-owned Studio City casino resort in Macau.

Mr Ho also said that Melco Resorts was still in discussions with the Macau government regarding the specifics of the company’s investment plan for calendar-year 2023, even though the plan had already been approved in May by the Macau authorities.

“We have a lot of dialogue with the government” regarding the investment plan, Mr Ho told reporters.

“Everybody shares the same goal of trying to diversify the market and bring more international visitors … We’re supportive and we’ll continue to talk to the government, to make sure that we’re all on the same page,” said the CEO.

Mr Ho also said the company would revamp some of the existing hotels at its City of Dreams property in Macau. “Over the next few years, we have different hotels that we need to refresh,” said the executive.

The Countdown hotel, located at the City of Dreams, “is one of the first ones that we’re going to [revamp],” he added. “It would be more in line with the rest of City of Dreams, but we haven’t come up with a brand yet.”

The W Macau hotel adds 557 rooms and suites to the Studio City complex. The “W Hotel” marque is a brand of hotel conglomerate Marriott International Inc.

“Studio City has always been about entertainment, fun, and we’re very happy with the addition of W … because it does introduce a new segment to the market,” stated Mr Ho.

He added: “As we’ve seen post-Covid recovery, the customers now coming to Macau are getting younger and younger, and I think W is a perfect brand for that [segment].”