Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming November 2015 12 star designation resulted from technicalities in Macau government regulations. The all-suite Star Tower has 602 keys ranging from Star Premier Kings at 65 square meters to the Star Grand Suite at 185 square meters. All Star Tower rooms feature a 55 inch LCD high definition television and Blu-Ray DVD player, coffee machine, rain shower and separate bathtub. Room packages with breakfast, Batman and Golden Reel tickets for two start at MOP$1,698 for weeknights and MOP$1,848 for weekends. The Celebrity Tower with nearly 1,000 keys is reserved for tour groups with smaller rooms and fewer amenities, but still comfortable. Hotel guests have access to Studio City’s indoor and outdoor pools, the latter with a white sand beach. The outdoor deck on level three also offers RiverScape, a three route tube floating ride. The Aqua Play children’s pool has a trio of waterslides. Each tower has a fitness center and there’s a beauty salon and Zensa Spa with vitally pools, saunas, steam and snow rooms. On the ground floor, The Boulevard at Studio City’s 65 retail shops ring the casino and link the hotel towers. Run by Taubman Asia, The Boulevard skews heavily toward global luxury brands and fashion-forward labels. Studio City boasts Macau’s first outlets for clothier Balmain and British outerwear specialist Bellstaff, as well as Asia Pacific’s largest Tom Ford. The resort also caters to the trendy set with East Asia’s first Pacha, the renowned Ibiza nightclub that’s spread to six continents. Studio City has more than 30 food and beverage outlets that run the gamut from world renowned chefs to out of this world fast food at Cosmos Food Station with holographic projections of deep space. Signature restaurants include Michelin starred chef Tam Kwok Fung’s Pearl Dragon presenting provincial Chinese dishes, Trattoria Il Mulino bringing chef Michele Mazza’s casual chic Italian from its New York flagship and chef Hide Yamamoto’s eponymous four concept Japanese restaurant with fish flown in from Tokyo’s Tsukji market for sushi, plus teppanyaki, robata and ramen. Pierre Herme, known as the Picasso of Pastry, has brought his renowned macaroons and chocolates to The Boulevard. Next year, Hawaiian celebrity chef Alan Wong and chef Ducasse will join the cast. At the casual end and in line with Macau authorities’ desire that IRs support the city’s small and medium enterprises, Macau Gourmet Walk features homegrown favorites such as pork chop buns and egg tarts, along with outlets of bakeries Yeng Kee and Choi Heong Yuen producing signature souvenir sweets. Six years ago, Melco Crown opened City of Dreams during Macau’s last dark period of pessimism and stalled growth, triggered by a combination of economic factors and government policies. Perhaps coincidentally, City of Dream’s opening marked the bottom of the market and Macau’s growth resumed at a breakneck pace for nearly five years. Melco Crown opens Studio City as some see signs of stabilization in the mass gaming market amid government policy changes and promises to help Macau reverse its world worst GDP decline. “We hope Studio City will be a catalyst to turn the market around,” Mr Ho says, while downplaying the current long running gaming revenue contraction. “When you invest $3.2 billion, you’re looking at the next ten years.” Nevertheless, it’s a good bet that Melco Crown would like to see history repeat itself, as it so often does in the movies, and have Studio City write a happy ending for Macau’s slump. “We hope Studio City will be a catalyst to turn the market around,” Mr Ho says, while downplaying the current long running gaming revenue contraction. “When you invest $3.2 billion, you’re looking at the next ten years.” Cover Story