The Hottest New Hotel Openings in Macau in 2018
Some of the most hotly anticipated new hotels are set to open this year in the southern Chinese city of Macau, dubbed ‘The Las Vegas of the East’. Here’s our pick of the ones to look out for.
MGM COTAI
Opening date: 29 January 2018
Cost: US$3.4 billion
Rooms: 1,400
Despite a series of delays, the US$3.4 billion MGM COTAI resort looks set to be worth the wait. Pegged to open to the public on January 29, 2018, it’s been billed as ‘the jewellery box of Macau’s Cotai Strip’. With its striking façade, the hotel has been designed to look like a collection of Chinese jewellery boxes that a team of more than 350 architects, designers and consultants came together to create.
In addition to offering 1,400 rooms and suites, standout features will include Asia’s first dynamic theatre installed with the world’s largest permanent indoor LED wall. The theatre will play host to two resident shows called The Experience and Destiny that aim to redefine an immersive theatrical experience.
The hotel has invested a lot in its culinary offering as well and will introduce new dining concepts to the city by celebrity chefs, including a steakhouse from Michelin two-star award-winning chef Mauro Colagreco and Macau’s first Nikkei cuisine restaurant AJI. There’s also a pastry shop from Singaporean Janice Wong who was voted Asia’s best Pastry Chef for two consecutive years.
Continuing their MGM Macau brand’s commitment to art, they have invested over HK$100 million in more than 300 artworks ranging from 28 Chinese imperial carpets from the Qing Dynasty to contemporary Asian paintings, sculptures and freshly commissioned works by local talent.
For those looking to stay in style, the resort will also house the first international MGM Mansions for VIP guests – imagine a mini hotel within a hotel and you’ll get the picture.
THE 13
Opening date: 31 March 2018 (latest date announced)
Cost: US$1.3 billion
Rooms: 200 multilevel suites
THE 13 in Macau has already whipped up a mass of media attention before its even opened. Earning itself the title ‘the world’s most luxurious hotel’, US$7 million has been spent on each of its 200 multilevel, all-villa suites, and it promises to offer ‘a gateway to the refined and remarkable’.
Much of the hotel’s interior design is inspired by the Palace of Versailles with an opulence and attention to detail that is unparalleled in Macau. The 13’s entry-level accommodation, La Villa Du Comte, offers guests a generous 2,000 sq ft with its own private elevator lobby, 24-hour butler service, Roman bath, and more. 31 of the villas are even larger, topping out at a monumental 30,000 square feet for the Villa de Stephen.
No more piling into hotel shuttle buses, all guests of The 13 will be chauffeured to and from the hotel by The 13’s fleet of 30 bespoke, red, extended wheel base Rolls-Royce Phantoms and two highly bespoke gold infused Phantoms which, at the time of commissioning, were the most expensive Rolls-Royce Phantoms ever built.
Foodies are in for a treat, too; The 13 will be home to the only outpost of L’Ambroisie outside of Paris – the only Parisian restaurant to have maintained three Michelin stars continuously since 1988.
The spa is reportedly in a league of its own as well, and in addition, the hotel will also feature L’Atelier, the world’s first private, invitation-only shopping experience featuring haute couture and high jewellery by the world’s leading luxury brands.
Morpheus Hotel
Opening: May 10, 2018 (tentative date)
Cost: US$1 billion
Rooms: 780
Named after the Greek god of dreams, the Morpheus Hotel in Macau (set to open in spring 2018) will be a mould-breaking new landmark in the city, offering something that is innovative, striking and unique to the area.
Visually, it’s arguably the most striking hotel that Macau has seen to date. Encased by a giant exoskeleton steel structure – it’s the first in the world built in tower form. Designed by renowned Zaha Hadid Architects, the US$1 billion hotel will cater to the expectations of sophisticated and high-end travellers on Macau’s Cotai Strip.
Inside, the hotel aims to be just as impressive with 40 floors, offering 780 guest rooms, suites and sky villas, along with meeting and event facilities, a casino, restaurants, spa and a rooftop infinity pool 130 metres (427 feet) above ground.
Its culinary offering is also set to be a big draw, as Morpheus will offer not one, but two restaurants from world-renowned French chef Alain Ducasse. Both restaurants will occupy an entire floor of the hotel, making it the first Ducasse floor in the world.
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