MACAU BUSINESS
the Four Seasons Hotel Macao could not previously reach. Mr Elliott expects the opening of the Sheraton in September to do more of the same, but also do it in the meetings and conventions market. The Sheraton chain’s parent company, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc, has a special loyalty programme for planners of meetings and conventions.
Venetian benchmark
Although Wells Fargo analyst Cameron McKnight said last month that the data so far show no signs of Cotai Central being a big driver of growth in the number of visitors to Macau, Mr Elliott says the casino resort is performing as expected. “The second quarter is the most quiet period in the year. We are on track. We are doing quite well in regards to the product positioning over there,” Mr Elliott says. Apart from Sands Cotai Central, Sands China
also has the Plaza Macao and the Venetian in Cotai. Mr Elliott says the Venetian is the easiest part of the Sands China portfolio to market. “It is an iconic property. When we look at the other integrated resorts built around, it has all been benchmarked against the Venetian,” he says. But, he adds that the resort “still needs to
24 JULY/AUGUST 2012
have its brand appeal, its awareness. You can’t just sit back.” The results of research published recently by Union Gaming indicate that the Venetian leads Cotai’s walk-in mass market, with a share of 50 percent. It is also the overall leader in the mass market in Macau, with a share of 20.4 percent, while Galaxy Macau comes in third, with 12.1 percent, the research shows. The Lisboa complex, on the peninsula, is the second most sought-after property, with a mass market share of 14.7 percent. A great deal of Mr Elliott’s effort goes into
developing new markets. “To fill the world’s largest Conrad, the world’s largest Holiday Inn and currently Asia’s largest hotel, it requires a diversification of segmentation. We cannot rely just on one segment,” he says.
Brendon Elliott, VP sales and resort marketing of Venetian Macau Ltd
Mr Elliott was at IMEX
Frankfurt in Germany, one of the world’s main trade shows for incentive travel, meetings and events, recently. “It went phenomenally well,” he says. “We walked away with more enquiries that we have ever in the past.”
Entertainment envelope
Sands China took part in the event under the Sands Cotai Macao brand, a trade brand that brings the strengths of all its Cotai operations under one umbrella. “That allows us to compete on a global scale with some strength and credibility,” Mr Elliot says. Sands China has also been developing special packages, bundling together entertainment with hotel stays. “We do a phenomenal amount of our business-to- business through packages.” Sands China in general, and the Venetian in
particular, have played an important role in the city’s effort into tap the Indian market. The process began in 2009, when the Venetian played host to the annual India International Film Awards ceremony, broadcast to an estimated audience of 500 million. Since then the property has hosted other Indian shows, the latest being January’s Zee Cine Awards. “The great thing about the Indian market is that people are very aspirational, they love
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62