The Londoner Macao presents a broader mix-and-match event menu

Sands Resorts Macao which stands in the heart of Cotai Strip, now features 10 hotels with 12,500 hotel rooms and suites. Its latest additions are The Londoner Hotel and Londoner Court which opened on May 25, 2023.

The new hotels are marketed under the banner of “The Londoner Macao” which includes The Sheraton, the St. Regis, the Conrad. The Londoner Macao will mimic its parent properties in Las Vegas by offering one-stop event shopping, with a designated team providing comprehensive, end-to-end event management.

The other hotels within Sands Resort Macao - The Venetian, The Parisian, the Four Seasons and Sands Macao – will also give MICE clientele their pick of venue options, accommodation, and leisure amenities.

Sands China’s Kris Kaminsky, senior VP of Hotel Operations said the events department has, “open sale of all the space,” and so MICE groups are not limited to a single hotel venue or convention centre for functions.

MICE guests can use the ballroom at The Parisian for their primary event, senior executives can stay at The Londoner, guests and attendees at The Sheraton, and have breakfast at The Venetian – with a ride to breakfast on a gondola. There are non-traditional spaces in The Londoner – the pool, rooftops, Beckham Suites.

The Londoner’s traditional meeting spaces are quite corporate with breakout ballrooms, whereas The Parisian has a ballroom, a theatre, smaller rooms and is ideal for gala dinners. The Venetian has the largest ballroom and also the expo centre. Each brand has its profile but MICE clients are now free to mix and match spaces and usage from a much larger menu.

The Londoner contributes 34,300 sqm of convention space in 13 ballrooms, six meeting rooms, the 1,700-seat Londoner Theatre, and a new arena designed to cater to mid-sized groups.

“We’ve added the 6,000-seat arena that’s right in the sweet spot for MICE. The Cotai Arena is 15,000 seats, and it fills, but with big, big groups. Here, one-third are retractable seats, so it can be used for a dinner, a plenary or a product launch,” said Kaminsky. “The Londoner has become ideal for tech, consulting, insurance, life sciences and health care, these kinds of industries, and you need a variety of room product for these kinds of groups; it provides the breadth of product those groups demand.”

The Londoner Macao has been operating at roughly 90% occupancy, in line with figures from the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO). Occupancy rates in April 2023 averaged 86.2% across all property types, and room rates have climbed to US$170.

The resort’s first major event of the year is confirmed for July, a multinational consulting firm, with attendees from 60 countries – 1,400 rooms per night for three nights. By Q3, business is expected to return to normal.

Since the January re-opening, Cotai Water Jet, the primary transport link to Macao from Hong Kong, has gradually increased sailing frequencies and will add services as needed. Currently Cotai Water Jet operates 12 return sailings per day, and is adding three Hong Kong departures, and one Macao departure on 9 and 10 June. Unaffiliated TurboJet sailings currently depart every 30 minutes between 7:30am and 6pm, with six night sailings. Transfers from Hong Kong International Airport remain suspended.