If you’ve been looking forward to a little taste of London in Macau, then you’ll be happy to know that its slowly becoming a reality. GGRAsia reports the Sands Cotai Central has begun their renovation efforts, with the aim of being rebranded as “The Londoner Macau.”
The makeover is already apparent. Billboards have been put up in the atrium area of the ground floor, featuring the iconic red-circle logo of the London Underground subway system. There’s also images of an escalator, with a sign that reads in both English and Chinese, “Next stop, London.”
Wildred Wong Ying Wai, president and chief operating officer of Sands China, told reporters who might not have gotten the hint, “That is for the conversion of… The Londoner Macao hotel.” He also mentioned the new signs somehow related to the Holiday Inn Macao tower portion of the resort, but did not specify if parts of that hotel were now under renovation or closed to the public.
Las Vegas Sands originally announced their intention to rebrand the Macau casino in October, 2017, with a price tag of $1.1 billion. They’ve since doubled that estimate.
Robert Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer of the operator, spelled out the strategy of the new Londoner Macau on a recent earnings call:
“It’s [The Londoner Macao] going to be a magnificent success story that we’ll be opening probably late 2020. It’s underway already. It’s a big challenge. We’re taking a 1,200-room hotel [Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central] and making into a 600 rooms all-suite hotel in The Londoner. There will be some disruption.
““We will not lose a table game or a slot machine in the portfolio. We have the ability to transfer assets in the Sands Cotai Central as well as on to other gaming floors if need be.”
According to a recent analysis of Sans by Sanford C. Bernstein, it’s going to be worth it. They said in January that Las Vegas Sands, with this new branding and shift to high margin premium mass business, will have “a strong balance sheet and hefty dividends.”
