Inside Asian Gaming

IAG SEP 2022年9月 亞博匯 34 are about five times higher in terms of GGR and against the same month in 2019 we are 150% higher. For the whole year so far, remembering that from January to March it was still very uncertain because of COVID, we are higher by around 250% against last year and then against 2019 we are higher by around 40%. This was mostly achieved from the second quarter because the first quarter was pretty much even or lower than that of 2019. So our recovery from the pandemic is done. The Marriott has been outperforming pre-pandemic levels since April and we have been operating our hotels since March with around 90% occupancy on average. So the feedback from the market is very, very strong. And I think this is just starting – Clark has a lot of potential ahead as well. BB: Why did you decide that Swissôtel was the right hotel brand for Hann? DH: There is a story behind it. When I signed the contract with Accor for Banyan Tree, I had to build another hotel. I thought of having my own brand but during this deal Accor proposed an arrangement that would be mutually beneficial. And the theme of this Swissôtel suits because I wanted this modern, contemporary lifestyle kind of thing. I'm not saying that Marriott Hyatt is bad. It is very, very nice, but it is more rigid and more of a business resort, whereas I believe the lifestyle brand goes better with a casino. That’s the reason why I decided, when they offered me Swissôtel, that I liked this brand. BB: You still have the old Widus casino area attached to this brand new Hann Casino Resort. Do you have plans for a similar upgrade to really bring it into line with Hann? DH: When I designed [Hann Casino Resort] I predicted that around three or four years after I opened this one I was probably going to need to expand to another area or something like that – but the expansion needs to be attached to this. What we are doing right now is talking to some very well-known architects … we’re doing this competition for the master plan. And [Hann] is basically done in one or two months from now so we’re going to start designing the expansion, which is going COVER STORY