Inside Asian Gaming

19 18 Niche Benefits Wynn Macau is scheduled to open on September 5, becoming the first full-fledged Vegas-style destination resort to open in the city (the following images from Wynn Las Vegas offer an idea of what the property will offer). Much larger casino-centred resorts will follow hot on its heels, but Executive Director of Hotel Operations Mark- land Blaiklock believes Wynn Macau will maintain its appeal among a more discerning crowd n the last issue of Inside Asian Gam- ing, Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) Chairman Sheldon Adelson sought to deride the scale of Wynn Macau in relation to the mammoth Venetian Macau property he is developing along the Cotai Strip, but the folks at Wynn Macau are not concerned. They have a clear idea of the high-end niche the 600-room Wynn Macau will fill in the emerging Macau resort market when it opens on September 5th,and believe they can retain their position even after the 3,000-suite Venetian Macau opens in mid-2007. A Room-for-Room Comparison Wynn Macau has a strict policy of not com- mentingoncompetitors,sowe felt compelled to respond on its behalf to Mr. Adelson’s un- favourable comparisons of Wynn Macau with his property. The total budget for Wynn Macau, in- cluding an expansion scheduled for comple- tion by the first half of 2007, comes to about US$1.2 billion. Venetian Macau, meanwhile, will cost US$2.3 billion.While it’s hardly rigor- ous to make such a comparison, that means each room at Wynn Macau will have almost 3.5 times as much investment devoted to it as one at Venetian Macau. Venetian Macau may enjoy economies of scale, but it will also spend a lot more money on other facilities. Wynn Macau will have 13 shops in its mall and 24,000 sq. ft of meeting space, while Venetian Macau will have 350 shops and 1.2 million sq. ft of con- vention and exhibition space. Wynn Macau will add a 600-seat theatre in its expansion phase, while Venetian Macau will boast a 1,800-seat theatre and 15,000-seat stadium. Mr. Adelson uses such comparisons to argue Wynn Macau’s claims to be a destination resort are a “joke.”Wynn Macau can equally claim that room-for-room, it is spending a lot more on providing Vegas-style luxury than Mr. Adelson. Wynn Macau is a mirror-image, scaled- down version of the 2,716-room Wynn Las Vegas, though it’s hard to discern the differ- ence in scale from the pictures, or even from street-level. The architects eliminated scale- revealing details from the original property’s glass façade in order to disguise the size of the hotel – the Vegas property pictured across is in fact 50-storeys tall. Wynn Las Ve- gas cost US$2.7 billion, and is currently con- sidered the most expensive gaming complex ever built – each room has about US$1 mil- lion in spending associated to it, while each room at Wynn Macau will have about US$2 million.Wynn Macau can perhaps claim to be the world’s most pricey gaming resort on a room-for-room basis. Even after LVS opens its US$3.6 billion 2,500-room integrated resort in Singapore’s Marina Bay, Wynn Macau can continue making that boast. Small Benefits A New York Times review of Wynn Las Vegas gushed about the facilities,from the spacious bathtubs which fill in record time to the gal- lery featuring paintings from Steve Wynn’s fabled private collection. The recurring fault the review pointed to was the enormous size of the property, which “makes impromptu movements practically impossible.” For ex- ample, “say you’re at the pool and decide you want to read a newspaper. Do you really want to spend half an hour walking to the gift shop?”Waiting for an elevator in the 50- storey property “can be maddening,” and in the morning,“you may not want to hike to a restaurant for your first cup of coffee.” Markland Blaiklock,Wynn Macau’s Execu- tive Director of Hotel Operations, points out that the Wynn Las Vegas property “is kind of two hotels in one – the resort side of the ho- tel, and then there’s the tower suite side. The tower suite side is about 600 rooms.We’re on a pretty comparable scale to the tower suite.” It seems Wynn Macau is not merely a mini- me to Wynn Vegas, but perhaps also a distil- lation of its most luxurious elements. Mr. Blaiklock explains that the 16-acre Wynn Macau will break the mould in the city by having all shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities on one level. This will necessitate some walking around, but hardly as much as at your typical mega-re- sort – a half-hour walk from Wynn Macau’s pool would get you most of the way to the China border. Wynn Macau will attempt to entertain visitors from“even before they come into the property,” says Mr. Blaiklock, referring to the “performance lake” at the entrance featuring a musically choreographed water show with fire effects and projected holographic imag- es.“Just the general ambience of the property is one of fun and gaiety and it is a captivating one,” he says, although the theatre will only be completed in the expansion phase. Wynn Macau’s guests can unwind at a lush pool garden or at the spa.They can dine at one of six restaurants,all of which“will have natural light and views over the pool garden, or out over the exterior of the property, look- ing out over Nam Van lake or over our per- formance lake in front of the property,” says Mr. Blaiklock.The signature restaurant will be Cantonese, with top chefs hired from Hong Kong. There will also be Japanese and Italian restaurants, a noodle shop, a Macanese/Por- tuguese café and a “food fair.” Defining the Niche According to Mr. Blaiklock, Wynn Macau aims to bring “a new customer to Macau.” The property’s core business will come from “people who are looking for a destination ex- perience.They’ll come to the destination,Ma- I Evening pool cabanas