MACAU BUSINESS
2,200 rooms on day one because you need to have the demand for the additional supply to the market. But all the essential facilities that we want to show to the public and that are important to our visitors, for our stay-in guests will be made available.” The property will also include “some” meeting and convention facilities but not on a large scale. “We will be able to cater to all type of functions,” says Mr Yap. “In future development phases, we might be thinking of about expanding into building more MICE facilities.” It is important to remember that Galaxy Macau
only occupies one third of the plot that it sits in. The company is currently drafting future development stages for the rest of the land.
Asian flavours
Galaxy Macau’s marketing strategy is anchored by the slogan “World Class, Asian Heart”. World class is a reference to the hardware, the hotel operators’ credentials and Galaxy Entertainment itself as a gaming operator. As for Asian heart, it is supposed to represent the goal of Asian hospitality, according to Asian tastes, sensibilities and design influences. “We are very Asian centric,” Mr Yap says. While not enjoying a first-mover advantage like the
Venetian Macao or a strong entertainment offering like City of Dreams with The House of Dancing Water,
Galaxy Macau says it has its own wild card. “We have more than 50 food and beverage outlets of which more than half are very much Asian cuisine. We hope to anchor on the food; food as being an integrated part of the Asian traveller experience. Food will be the anchor that we will aggressively market on.”
The property’s amenities are aimed squarely at middle to upper class Chinese. “It has to be the key focus in an integrated resort of such a scale. This resort will obviously very much be a mass market driven property,” says Mr Yap. He adds he is confident that there is enough demand for a huge property such as Galaxy in Cotai, which is already home to the two biggest properties in town. “We obviously have done a very detailed study of the market. We certainly will not fall into the trap of over-building, over-supplying.”
Critical mass With Galaxy Macau, Galaxy Entertainment will
extend its footprint in Cotai to two properties. The company also operates the casino at the Grand Waldo (but doesn’t own the property, as stressed by Mr Yap), the first resort to open in Cotai, in September 2006, but which has so far lacked eye-catching results. Mr Yap says Grand Waldo’s problem was the lack of critical mass in Cotai four years ago. There was simply not enough to attract people away from the peninsula. As more properties open and the gaming zone matures, he is predicting a “spill-over effect among all properties” in Cotai. It is an impact Sands China is unfazed by. Sands boss Sheldon Adelson said last month that Galaxy Macau’s opening would not have a big impact on Cotai since the company had been there for the past four years with the Grand Waldo and it could not be considered a success. He also added that Galaxy was not a good operator,
as most of the company’s gaming operations were in the hands of third parties (see report in this section). Mr Yap did not comment in the criticisms. “Every company has its own business model,” says Mr Yap. “We have a very successful business model, which we are proud of.”
24 MARCH 2011
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