Opening jointly with Galaxy Macau Phase II last week amid the city’s recent falling hotel occupancy rate and slower visitor growth, the Vice-President of Operations at JW Marriot Hotel Macau and The Ritz-Carlton Macau, Rauf Malik, said he was confident in the city’s tourism development and believed that the two hotels would take the lead amongst their peers within five years. Mr. Malik was quoted as saying so in interviews published yesterday in Hong Kong’s Chinese-language newspapers Hong Kong Economic Journal and Apple Daily. Luxury hotels JW Marriott Macau and The Ritz-Carlton Macau came online on the occasion of the opening of Galaxy Macau Phase II casino-resort on May 27. JW Marriott Macau, heralded as the largest in Asia, has 1,015 rooms and suites; The Ritz-Carlton Macau offers over 250 one to two-bedroom suites. Speaking to the Hong Kong media outlets, Mr. Malik said he was confident in the outlook for Macau’s hotel industry and believed that the new hotels in operation here can enjoy high occupancy rates. The city’s 3-star to 5-star hotels have experienced falls in occupancy rate for the first four months this year, according to statistics published by the Macau Hotel Association. The average occupancy rate for 3-star to 5-star hotels for the January-April period stood at 82.83 per cent, a fall of 7.92 per cent when compared to the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the city has also seen a 3.6 per cent drop in visitor arrivals (at 9.96 million) for the first four months of this year, of which visitors from Mainland China also registered a fall of 3.7 per cent to about 6.66 million, official data shows. The average room rate for 3-star to 5-star hotels has also registered an annual drop for the first four months this year, which is a fall of 2.92 per cent to MOP1,568 (US$202) whilst 3-star hotels showed the biggest room rate drop of over 13 per cent, according to Macau Hotel Association’s data. While some hotels here have offered big room rate discounts amid the weaker occupancy rate performance, Mr. Malik told the Hong Kong newspapers that he did not reckon the JW Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton would get involved in a “price war”. The hotel operation’s boss added that he believed the two new hotels would continue to maintain their room rate level and operation strategy as the most high-end hotels here still register a slight growth in their occupancy rates. Mr. Malik also believed that the Skytop Aquatic Adventure River Ride, part of the Grand Resort Deck of Galaxy Macau Phase II, will help attract a new source of family visitors to the new hotels. S.L.
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