Macau casino operators may be in for the most lucrative Golden Week in the past decade – as indicated by the number of occupied rooms in different integrated resorts.
Bloomberg reported that eighty percent of Macau’s hotels are already fully booked for China’s Golden Week national holiday that runs from October 1 to 8 – and the percentage continues to rise.
Among the three to five star hotels that are already fully booked are MGM Macau; Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace; the Star Tower in Studio City; Melco’s Cotai resort; and StarWorld Hotel.
Of course it goes without saying that hotels are expected to charge significantly higher holiday prices. Rates of rooms peddled by hotel booking websites Expedia and Booking.com for the holiday are now around HK$10,000 ($1,281) a night. Two weeks prior to the Golden Week, the same rooms cost only around HK$2,000.
In a statement, Wynn Macau Ltd. confirmed that their two properties are already fully booked through the period.
“Our occupancy rate has always been very high. The number is almost always above 95 to 96 percent. And it is definitely fully booked during the Golden Week holiday period… We hope that [the business] is better than that of the previous year,” said Linda Chen, executive director and chief operating officer of Wynn Macau Ltd.
Analysts are seeing a strong rebound in Macau’s mass market segment for this month after its tourist arrivals dipped by 0.6 percent in August due to Typhoon Hato. Macau’s Government Tourism Office ordered the suspension of group tours to Macau between August 25 and September 1 as the city tried to bounce back from the powerful storm.
The natural calamity also suppressed Macau’s gaming revenue in August.
Macau will also benefit from the return of high rollers from mainland China and brand-new entertainment options for tourists.
“Macau’s gaming business will be strong during the Golden Week,” Lawrence Ho, chairman and chief executive officer of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd., said, according to the news report. “China’s economy is improving, there’s more visitation to Macau, and the city has better infrastructure now.”
