A slice of London on Cotai Strip expected to be a boon: experts

Much-anticipated resort The Londoner Macao is set to roll out the red carpet to commemorate its first phase opening on February 8, strategically scheduled in time for Lunar New Year. Experts expect the newcomer to be a great boon for the city’s tourism industry.
The new mega integrated resort on the Cotai Strip, rebranded and remodeled from Sands Cotai Central, is a replica of London. It represents a new addition not only to Sands China Ltd.’s (SCL) hotel arsenal, but also to Macau’s tourism appeal.
The opening of The Londoner will make Macau more attractive to tourists and gaming customers, as they all seek new travel experiences, Wang Changbin, director of the Centre for Gaming & Tourism Studies at the Macao Polytechnic Institute, told the Times.
Sands China has so far invested MOP15.2 billion into the projects of The Londoner Macao — a resort imbued with a London-themed concept and attractions.
In an interview with the Times, Ben Lee, managing partner of IGamiX Management & Consulting, commented: “The Londoner is a rejuvenation of a property that never really had a distinctive market positioning. The face-lift and rejigging of the rooms to target the premium mass market may have, in better times, [given] them [SCL] a better chance of a significant improvement in market share.”
The first-phase opening on February 8 marks the lead-off curtain-raiser, featuring new hotspots, including the all-suite The Londoner Hotel, Crystal Palace atrium, new eateries, and many interactive London-themed attractions.

A knack for city-theming
Sands China has notable credentials in managing city-themed resorts in Macau, considering the accomplishment in its two other hotel brands, The Venetian Macao and The Parisian Macao.
The London theme itself is a key drawcard to attract visitors, as “properties with European style are desirable to most of the Asian customers, who like to see something different from home,” Wang commented.
“The practice of country-theming had already run its course in Las Vegas, and by the time Macau’s borders open up, there is a real possibility that the same evolution in visitors’ preferences may occur in China or Macau,” Lee projects.
Meanwhile, Wang forecasts that The Londoner, with The Venetian and The Parisian, “will strengthen the leading position of Sands in [the] Macau mass market, both in gaming and shopping.”
However, Lee thinks the future still presents some challenges for the new resort. “With the uncertainties surrounding China outbound travel as it looks to curb international travel to focus on improving its own economy, it is difficult to see The Londoner theming having a huge, major impact in the next couple of years,” he said.
In a offical statement released in December 2020, Wilfred Wong, president of Sands China said: “London is an iconic city and we anticipate this addition will further raise the profile of [Macau] while increasing the number of visitors, as our other flagship properties have done.”
Robert Goldstein, the chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), the parent company of SCL, said: “Our investment in The Londoner Macao is a clear signal that we believe [Macau’s] future as one of the world’s most important leisure and business destinations remains on course.”

What’s New?
The Londoner Hotel will be the first all-suite accommodation to open at The Londoner Macao resort. The new hotel, with its interiors designed by Hong Kong’s Steve Leung Design, features around 600 suites.
The Crystal Palace atrium will be another new attraction. The entrance to the resorts is embellished with glass and iron, emulating Victorian design. Its interiors are inspired by ancient classical architectural orders, which offered inspirations for many great historical pieces of architecture in England.
In terms of food and beverage elements, two eateries, the British restaurant Churchill’s Table and North Palace, which offers North Chinese cuisine, will launch on February 8, according to a SCL staff member.
To coincide with Chinese New Year (CNY), SCL will offer a string of festival entertainments from February 13 to 21 to uplift the visitor experience, including 10 streetmosphere performances, the Gentleman Magician show, Acappella Choir, and so on.
During the festival, several interactive installations will pop up in the resort, such as the Black Cab Escape, offering a virtual taxi ride with David Beckham in London.
The surprise factor will not end with the first opening in February. Sands China confirmed earlier that other official openings will “launch progressively throughout the year of 2021.” They include the 14 Suites by David Beckham, the city’s first celebrity-designed suites, as well as Beckham’s first worldwide; Londoner Court, another all-suite hotel inside the resort; the rethemed Shoppes at Londoner; and Londoner Arena.

Good Timing
The first-phase opening of The Londoner Macao comes in good time, as it arrives after Sands China posted positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of USD47 million in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020.
The figure represents a noticeable advancement from the EBITDA loss of USD312 million and USD233 million in the second and third quarter of 2020, respectively — a sign of the recovery of SCL’s businesses during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
On the back of the positive tally, Goldstein has been assured of the promising prospect of SCL, and said earlier: “There is no doubt in my mind that our business will rebound to pre-Covid levels in the future.”
As stated in SCL’s financial report, The Venetian Macao raked in a positive USD73 million adjusted EBITDA in Q4 2020 — the most lucrative among SCL’s five hotel brands in Macau.
Meanwhile, The Londoner Macao registered a negative EBITDA of USD34 million. The other two brands, namely The Parisian Macao and Sands Macao, also reported a negative EBITDA of USD7 million and USD18 million, respectively.
The Londoner Macao is one of the key projects of the late Sheldon Adelson, the founder of LVS, who passed away at 87 on January 12 this year, after battling with lymphoma.
In 2017, Adelson said he wanted to transform the resort into recognizable landmarks, adding: “If you think about London, it’s iconic in so many ways; [from] the buses to the Beefeaters, and there’s just so many opportunities there.”