The Venetian Macao opens for business

IF there was one defining moment when the enormity of the humongous infrastructure could have hit you that night of August 28, it must have been that time when you, a late-comer, were being ushered into the Arena.We were running a few minutes late and our minder said that we should all keep our fingers crossed that there were still some seats available. When asked for the Arena’s capacity, she said 15,000.It had been reported many times over how big The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel in Cotai Strip would turn out to be. Still, experiencing the figures could still be quite surprising. That night, the statistics started rolling again: 3,000 suites; 1,000,000 square feet of convention, exhibition and meeting facilities; 550,000 square feet of casino floor; and 1,000,000 square feet of retail space. It turned out that it was our lucky night, after all, and managed to find seats.On the stage before us and up on the air above us, performers were feting invited guests with a sampler of what The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel in Cotai Strip had to offer in terms of entertainment. Canto pop stars, Ms. Diana Ross and Cirque du Soleil performed on the stage and a couple of the latter’s colleagues hovered up above with a man on a boat sailing on air, accompanied later on by a red dragon flying alongside him.“In this day and age, it’s commonplace to throw around phrases like historic, groundbreaking and revolutionary,” said Sheldon Adelson, chair and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., the parent company of The Venetian Macao. “But it is no overstatement to say that the opening of The Venetian Macao represents a massive paradigm shift for Macao and the future of tourism development in Asia.”The 40-storey Venetian Macao was built on a US$2.4-billion investment and serves as an anchor for the seven resort hotels on the Cotai Strip.With such a massive, impressive property for their newest competitors, it was just very natural for other hotels in Macau to react. There were those who remained optimistic that their selling points will remain strong despite The Venetian’s wow factors. Some found it quite mind-boggling how management will be able to fill up the 3,000-all-suite hotel.But Adelson, in several interviews, indicated that he knows what he is doing. It was reported that his company is investing up to US$12 billon in Macau and that he is batting for his guests to stay for an average of three-and a-half days, getting help from his property’s entertainment and convention facilities.Currently, hotel guests in Macau stay for an average of only a little over a day. For some guests during the opening night, the only jarring factor could have been what seemed like the subzero setting of centralised airconditioning.Based on the thick throngs of humanity lining outside for their turn to step into this first tangible piece of Cotai Strip, there would be more than enough bodies to keep the temperature comfortably cool.