Operator News

China – Sands to partially open Londoner Macao in July 2020

By Phil - 30 August 2019

Sands China’s The Londoner Hotel will open in July 2020, according to Sands China Vice-President of Integrated Marketing & Communication, Cristina Quental.

She informed that the project would pay homage to iconic British landmarks including the Palace of Westminster and Houses of Parliament and a full-size Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus’ Shaftsbury Memorial Fountain and a Crystal Palace-style atrium. The shopping mall will be renovated and a new 6,000-seat arena added.

There will be more than 20 dining options including a gastropub inspired by British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey, a Thai restaurant named The Mews and a buffet restaurant named Churchill’s Table.

The gaming floor will cover a 34,000-square-metres with 450 table games and 2,000 slot machines, plus VIP rooms.
The Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central’s 1,200 rooms will be trimmed down to 600 one-bedroom suites to allow for bigger rooms following a ‘lesson learned’ from The Parisian.

Ms. Quental said: “We learned our lesson and we will make sure The Londoner rooms are spectacular from the get-go. We drew inspiration from British artisan craftsmanship picking the most famous bespoke tailors on Savile Row and in Mayfair and we will try to make everything unique. We’ll end up with almost the same number of keys but with what we call luxury room inventory, a much larger one. We’re letting go of entry market room inventory to make room for premium, that’s the trade-off.”

The US$2.2bn renovation project will see a lot of amenities ‘coming online between the second and third quarter. The hotel will be fully completed in July and then the retail area will be opened portion by portion”, Ms. Quental added.
The front of the building will be completed by the end of 2020, with the Sheraton tower converted in 2021.
The renovation aims to target a growing premium mass and family market.

“VIP is exactly where we see the highest demand growth. We’re not so dependent on the VIP segment as other concessionaires, we’re mainly mass but we are really focusing on the premium mass segment. That’s where we’ve seen the largest growth in the last two years and that’s why we believe that there’s enough demand out there to upgrade all our room products, all our service levels to definitely cater to that audience,” she said.