Starting this quarter, Singapore casino complex Resorts World Sentosa will undertake a phased renovation of three of its hotels, the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, the Hotel Michael and the Festive Hotel and their 1,200 units.
The Festive Hotel will become a “business-leisure” and “work-vacation” hotel “with a variety of mobile working spaces and lifestyle offerings that will meet new work trends,” said Genting Singapore Ltd. in an April 15 filing to the Singapore Exchange.
The renovation of the Resorts World Convention Centre will “strengthen Resorts World Sentosa’s position as a leading business destination that continues to meet the requirements of future MICE events,” the statement continued.
According to GGRAsia, Genting Singapore said an aggregate of SGD400 million (US$294 million) would be spent this year for phase two of its Resorts World Sentosa complex – a project it refers to as “RWS 2.0” – and “related refurbishment works”. The amount had been mentioned in a February announcement, and is part of a pledge to the local authorities to invest SGD4.5 billion in expansion of the existing resort.
It added, “The expansion of Universal Studios Singapore is a key component of Resorts World Sentosa’s expansion plan (RWS 2.0) which will add two new themed zones, i.e. Minion Land and Super Nintendo World, to the park with the aim to grow attendance and yield for a positive impact to overall earnings per share.”
Genting Singapore added it was “making good progress” with RWS 2.0. “Construction works on both Minion Land and Oceanarium will start in the second quarter of this year,” it noted.
Genting Singapore was optimistic about the business outlook under Singapore’s “living with Covid-19” policy.
“With Singapore’s reopening of borders to all fully-vaccinated travelers since 1 April 2022 and further relaxation of Covid-19 related regulations, we are cautiously optimistic of the recovery trajectory in 2022,” Genting stated, adding, “Discretionary leisure travel will take time to return to meaningful levels due to limited flight schedules and ongoing Covid-19 related travel rules and restrictions especially on our traditional markets such as China.”
In January, the only other integrated resort (IR) complex in the market, Marina Bay Sands, also started a $1 billion “renovation project” of hotel accommodations.
