Macau mass-market focused properties are on track to have all standard hotel rooms fully booked out for the upcoming Golden Week celebrations, with occupancy rates city-wide expected to be better than in 2017, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.
In a research note, Praveen Choudhary and Jeremy An say that every hotel in Macau with a casino attached is booked out for at least four of Golden Week’s seven nights from 1 to 7 October 2018, while five hotels are already fully booked for the entire duration. Those five include Wynn Palace, MGM COTAI and the Parisian in Cotai plus Wynn Macau and Grand Lisboa on the Peninsula. Another five are fully booked for six days.
Notably, the bookings suggest grind mass leading the way, Choudhary and An state, with premium brands such as Ritz-Carlton and Banyan Tree – both located at Galaxy Macau – experiencing lower occupancy and average daily rates.
“We expect strong GGR growth in the second half of September due to the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and strong hotel ADR/occupancy should bode well for October,” they add. “However, the growth rate is slowing and grind mass is probably doing better than premium mass.”