GGRAsia – Macau’s hotel room inventory to increase by one-quarter

The number of hotel rooms in Macau is set to increase by at least one-quarter over the next few years.

As of the fourth quarter last year there were 17 hotel projects under construction, the latest data from Macau’s Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau show. That would provide the city with 8,607 new hotel rooms. The data did not give estimated completion dates for the new hotel projects.

A further 20 projects were in a planning stage at the end of last year, which would eventually provide an additional 2.268 rooms, according to the data.

Macau had approximately 34,100 hotel rooms at the end of December 2020, showed figures from the city’s Statistics and Census Service. The tally was 8.6 percent down on the 37,300 hotel rooms available in the market as of December-end 2019. One factor was that some hotels were being used, as of the end of the fourth quarter 2020, by the city’s government for medical quarantine of people arriving in Macau from overseas; while other hotels had suspended their operations amid the pandemic.

A majority of the new hotel capacity under construction is associated with Cotai casino resorts. Some are new properties and others are existing venues in expansion phases.

Macau-based casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd is progressing with the development of Galaxy Macau Phases 3 and 4.

Phase 3 – with a completion date likely in the second half of 2021 – is to feature 1,500 hotel rooms, some casino space, a large-scale arena with 16,000 seats, and 400,000 square feet (37,161 square metres) of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) space. Phase 4 is designed to supply approximately 3,000 rooms.

Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd is also developing the second phase of Studio City, a casino resort property at Cotai.

The promoter of the complex – in which Melco Resorts has a majority stake – is currently spending US$1.25 billion to US$1.30 billion on phase two of the Studio City complex. Phase 2 will include two hotel towers with an aggregate of 900 rooms and suites, a cineplex, an indoor water park, and facilities for meetings and exhibitions

According to the latest government data, an aggregate of six hotel projects was completed in 2020, providing 2,245 new hotel rooms. One hotel was located in Coloane, while five were on the Macau peninsula.