Over the last few years, there have been a number of events that have changed the course of the hospitality world forever. Unfortunately, these have been negative events, such as September 11, 2001 and the Asian Tsunami of 2004.
So it is always good to hear of an event that has changed the course of hospitality forever! That event was the opening of a hotel in Macau, China that has single-handledly changed the course of Asian tourism and hospitality forever.
So how can one hotel have such an effect, you ask?
Well, maybe some statistics will explain it:
On August 28, 2007, the doors of the Venetian Hotel, Macau opened to a loud fanfare.
- Two weeks later, the hotel had welcomed it’s one millionth visitor. Yes, thats right, one million (different) people had come through the doors, counted by face-recognition cameras.
- The resort boasts three million pieces of gold leaf.
- 3000 suites, equal to 25% of Macau’s hotel inventory.
- One million square feet of exhibition space.
- A 15,000 seater theatre.
- The hotel accounts for 52% of Macau’s energy consumption.
- The world’s biggest casino space.
- 12,000 staff with 45,000 more vacancies to be filled shortly.
This is a hotel that is attracting so many customers that due to a shortage of ferries on the island, the hotel has commissioned the building of new ferries and the purchase of additional coaches to transport the visitors to the hotel.
The parent company plans to invest $12 billion in the area ofver the next five years in an attempt at replicating the las vegas strip on the other side of the world. Mind boggling.
