This room better come with a continental breakfast. According to GGRAsia, the boutique casino hotel Louis XIII, now under construction in Macau, plans to charge as much as HK million (US9,000) per night for its most luxurious hotel accommodation.
Hong Kong-listed Louis XIII Holdings Ltd. plans to open the US$1.1 billion property next July 1.
“The company plans to have 16 VIP tables and 50 mass tables,” wrote Japanese brokerage firm Nomura. “The minimum buy-in would be HK$300,000, while the minimum bet for tables will be set at HK$10,000. The company plans to charge HK$15,000 to HKD1 million per night for their luxurious hotel suites.
The property’s management has described the hotel’s 200 rooms as “the largest in the world.” Most are 2,000 square feet (186 square meters); 29 suites include the option for private in-suite table gaming. Despite the opulent accommodations, the property does not intend to target high rollers, wrote Nomura.
“As per management, the VIP segment is not the company’s focus, and it only expects 5 percent EBITDA contribution from this segment.” The property plans to do business with a single junket, the Neptune Group, the note continued, “and believes this could reduce the cannibalization between junkets.”
Meanwhile, other room rates in the market are expected to fall with the opening of new resorts in Cotai. In May, the average room rate in Macau was MOP1485 (US$186), down 7.5 percent from a year ago, based on data from the Macau Government Tourist Office. The occupancy rate throughout Macau was 83.9 percent in May, down 6.4 percent from a year earlier. But the office expects business to improve in the coming months.
Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd. analysts Praveen Choudhary and Alex Poon say operators “started slashing prices to attract incremental customers. Hence, in the last few months, we have seen hotel REVPAR and EBITDA margins coming down.”
