I must say, it was worth the wait!
For months (in 2017), I waited patiently for the opening of the new MGM Cotai just like everyone else. Sadly, it didn’t happen. But today (January 2018), I was finally given a chance to tour the property. Man, I am impressed!
I must first note that there is no spoiler here in this article and that I am not paid by any entity to write this article. Honestly, I truly believe this property is the way forward, in several dimensions, for Macao and its integrated resorts. This is how we should be different. This is how we should diversify, while keeping true to our values and heritage. This is how we can attract the younger visitors, along with the older ones.
Macao and its integrated resorts have come a long way since the liberalization of Macao’s casino gaming industry in 2002/03. With the opening of its first truly foreign casino property in May 2004 in Macao Peninsula, Macao attracted the attention of investors and media worldwide. Because of the scarcity of land, a newly reclaimed land called Cotai was born. The new land linked the island of Coloane to the island of Taipa, and hence its name Cotai. Cotai is the future of Macao.
The development of Cotai and its integrated resorts plays an important role in modern Macao history – post changeover from 1999. It is the birthplace of Asia’s Las Vegas and, in many ways, a test bed for new property concepts. With the new land up came properties like the Grand Waldo Hotel, Venetian Macao, City of Dreams, Galaxy Macau, Sands Cotai Central, Studio City, Wynn Palace and Parisian Macao. Each of these properties has its own uniqueness but yet do not meaningfully display the kind of values that showcase Macao and its Chinese heritage. There is something missing in them.
But the new MGM Cotai provides a very different customer experience from other properties in Cotai. It is attractive and posh, and has a unique identity. It is full of small details and embodies many aspects of Chinese culture as well as Macao historical and contemporary values. It mixes modern digital technology with intimate personal touches, metal with wood, young with old, and East with West. It blends Chinese collectivism with a light pinch of individualistic values—a multi-facet, high-tech and terminal-type complex with some emphasis on individualistic style and desire. In this property, space appears well defined within a relatively small compound (versus its competitors) and superbly utilized to give a three-dimensional sensation or experience.
These are important elements and values for Macao and its integrated resorts. These are what make integrated resorts in this part of the world truly Macao/Chinese. This is how Macao’s integrated resorts can be uniquely positioned to the rest of the world. Rather than replicating, MGM Cotai shows us how we can innovate in order to be different from the rest of the world and still stick to our core values. There is no replication; Macao is neither Las Vegas nor Europe.
Builders and designers of new integrated resorts in Japan, Korea and other parts of Asia should take note. How can Asia’s integrated resorts be different and have its own identity? Just look. This is the right way forward for Asia’s integrated resorts.
