The 13 Hotel delays opening until July

The company responsible for the development of The 13 Hotel has once again delayed the resorts opening, this time until July 31, 2018.

Citing problems highlighted during inspections by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), South Shore Holdings – formerly known as The 13 Holdings – reported the latest delay in a filing yesterday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

“Based on the current status of the hotel’s development,” wrote the firm, “the directors of the Company believe that they could obtain all the licenses for the operation of hotel business from the relevant authorities by the end of July 2018.”

The property’s name, The 13 Hotel, is an abbreviation of the 17th century French King Louis XIII. It was originally scheduled to open by the end of the first quarter of 2017, but the operating firm has postponed the property launch at least six times in little over a year.

In the filing, South Shore Holdings said it needed more time to resolve problems detected by government inspectors, who began probing the hotel only on June 4.

“The Company has focused on completing [the] remaining works and installation of furniture, fixtures and equipment and operating supplies and equipment in preparation for hotel licensing inspections by the MGTO,” it wrote.

“Due to additional time being required for completing defective works after the inspection by MGTO, the Company has further revised the expected opening date of the Hotel to  July 31, 2018 (which may be further revised according to the actual circumstances in respect of the development).”

Even when the hotel opens its doors to the public, it is still unknown if it will be permitted to operate a casino, nor which gaming operator might be willing to part with the scarce resource that is live-dealer tables.

In February 2018, the company said that its casino would probably not start operating until March 2019. A later statement noted that the property was prepared to open this year with or without a casino.

Also in the filing, South Shore Holdings reported losses before tax surpassing HKD1.57 billion for the year ending March 31, nearly 35 times more than in the previous 12-month period.

Its consolidated assets amounted to some HKD13.9 billion, against almost HKD8.5 billion in consolidated liabilities.

The company recorded an increase in gross profit from HKD247 million in the previous year to HKD299 million in the year ending March 2018. DB