In Macau, a recent survey found that many of the city’s five-star hotels sold out all rooms during the Chinese New Year 11 days before the celebration began.
The Chinese New Year’s festival will begin on Feb. 15 and end on Feb. 21, with Macau expected to welcome at least 930,000 tourists during the seven-day period.
But these visitors could struggle to find a place to stay, as a survey of 22 five-star hotels found that 10 hotels remained full and no rooms were available during the seven-day Chinese New Year, while a further seven offered only limited availability. Reportedly filled locations included Altira Macao of Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited and MGM China Holdings Limited’ MGM Macao, while some spaces remained included Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited’s Galaxy Macao and Las Vegas Sands Corporation’s Sands China Limited subsidiary’s Venetian Macao.
Surveys also show that some four-star hotels, including Studio City Macao and Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central, are still restricted to use during the Lunar New Year. Quoting a survey by brokerage Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, it said this year’s occupancy rate is likely higher than when it averaged 95.5%.
Macau reportedly offered around 37,100 rooms through 111 hotels and guesthouses as of the end of December, up 2.3% year-on-year. Citing Maria Helena De Senna Fernandes from the government’s tourism agency, GGRAsia said the former Portuguese enclave expects to welcome 2% to 3% more tourists to this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations than during the same period.
Regarding how much these rooms are set to cost per day, GGRAsia quoted Andy Wu Geng Kuong of the Macau Travel Industry Commission as saying that Macau’s five-star fare is likely ‘at least 10%’ higher than the average of $257.80 seen during the 2017 Chinese New Year.
“This year we’ve seen especially high pre-bookings for Kotai hotels.” “While the city’s current stock of rooms is higher, the average number of guests at the hotels is likely to be very similar, if not higher, to last year’s Lunar New Year.”