Q&A | Ascott Macau opens with a long-term view: Chew Hang Song Ascott China – City Manager for Hong Kong & Macau

Chew Hang Song

On the sidelines of the opening of the Ascott Macau yesterday evening, the Times spoke to Mr Chew Hang Song, Ascott China city manager for Hong Kong and Macau, to learn more about this new property and his market expectations.

Macau Daily Times – Ascott Macau opens its doors with a different concept from what we can find across the territory, can you explain to us more about that concept?
Chew Hang Song – Ascott Macau is indeed a luxury property, with all the facilities that you can find in the 5-star hotels around Macau, except the casino. We’d rather focus our efforts into the details, the furnishing and into the design. We want to have a close connection with Macau and its heritage; for example, all the floors’ lift lobbies are decorated with photography-based art décor that depicts different landmarks of Macau. We will try to infuse all of these little details of Macau into our property on several levels to create a different atmosphere. We want to create a more friendly and comfortable ambience for the travellers, especially for those who come with families. We want to be a refreshing change for travellers that are used to coming to Macau and checking-in to a typical Casino-hotel.

MDT – Who do you think will be the guests of Ascott Macau?
CHS – I would say that we are targeting mostly family travellers and business travellers. We have been around the globe for the past thirty years and we are a very recognized brand, not just for corporate travellers but also private travelers, whom we want to particularly aim this towards, especially since China has been growing at such a fast pace, even if it has been slowing down in the last few months it is still growing. We have a long-term view of the situation around this area of the planet and we are confident that in the next ten to twenty years China will still be a booming market and Macau will benefit from that too.

MDT – Does the location of the property have a direct relation to its target clientele?
 CHS – Yes, precisely! The Macau government is trying to steer away from only the gaming industry and opening up more to other industries. The overall economy is still very healthy and we definitely stand to benefit in the long run.

MDT – One of the open-to-public features of the property is the Heart Bar. What can people expect from that venue?
CHS – Heart Bar is actually a quiet, functional venue, with mainly tree-filled areas, a fine dining area with nice food and drinks, the pure bar with a wide menu of cocktails, fine drinks and wines and an out-­door space that can be very pleasant for people to enjoy the open air with each other. We are trying to attract local people to come, I would say that this is more for them even, to enjoy and relax at the Heart Bar. Once more, we bet on a sophisticated design with a lot of attention to detail and a pleasant atmosphere where all people can find their space and feel comfortable. Besides the bar we also have three restaurants that will be open to all, featuring Western, Chinese and Japanese cuisines. We are really betting on the convenience and in the quality of what we offer.

MDT – Do you have any figures on the expected occupancy for the coming months?
CHS – We have been doing pretty fine actually and I can say that, for example, during the first week of September we reached 100 percent of our occupancy which is quite surprising for a property that had only been open for a few days. For the next few times we expect an average occupancy of about 60 percent so we are quite confident in the market.
MDT – Normally other Ascott properties search for guests who have plans to stay longer than just a couple of days; do you expect that to also happen in Macau?
CHS – Definitely I think we will receive such requests here too because we have a very strong corporate base and also very strong clientele that have known us for many years from other places in the world and especially from mainland China, where we are very strong and currently operating in 26 cities. That demand happens there so I expect a similar response here too. RM