Starwood Hotels & Resort Worldwide, Inc. today marked a new milestone with the opening of Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central - the largest hotel to open worldwide in 2012. At nearly 4,000 rooms, it is the largest hotel in Starwood's global portfolio and the biggest hotel to open in Macau. Consisting of two sleek towers overlooking the dazzling Cotai Strip®development, the hotel is home to the world's largest Sheraton Club Lounge, a main ballroom the size of more than 11 basketball courts, more than 160,000 square feet of meeting space, three signature restaurants, and three outdoor pools with poolside cafes. The opening coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Sheraton brand and widens Starwood's lead in Asia Pacific, where it is the largest operator of four and five star hotels and on track to reach more than 320 hotels by 2014.
"The opening of Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central represents an historic milestone for Starwood, for Sheraton, and for the hospitality industry as a whole," said Frits van Paasschen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts. "Boasting unparalleled brand recognition and a rich legacy in Asia Pacific, Sheraton is the ideal fit for this spectacular new hotel in Macau, as the brand continues to lead Starwood's growth in the region."
"We proudly welcome the world-renowned Sheraton brand to the Sands® Cotai Central integrated resort," said Sheldon Adelson, Chairman, Las Vegas Sands and Sands China Ltd. "The development of the Cotai Strip, from a muddy swampland to the glittering center of tourism and leisure that stands before us today, represents a vision realized for the company."
Sheraton currently operates 95 hotels in Asia Pacific and expects to reach nearly 150 hotels by 2016. Propelled by the strength of the Sheraton brand, Asia Pacific is Starwood's fastest-growing global market. Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central is the second Starwood hotel to open in Macau, a leading destination for leisure, meetings, incentives and entertainment.
"The new Sheraton in Macau will add even more excitement to the rapidly developing Cotai Strip - the latest world's gathering place with rich cultural identity, vast entertainment options and the world's hottest gaming market, generating four times the revenue of Las Vegas," said Stephen Ho, President, Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Starwood's strength across Asia Pacific highlights our first mover advantage, the strength of our brands and the meaningful relationships we have fostered with our developers, partners, and guests ever since we debuted Sheraton in China in 1985."
"Macau is well on its way to establishing itself as Asia's number one destination for business and leisure travelers," said Edward Tracy, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sands China Ltd. "Sheraton guests are now at the absolute center of the best offerings on the Cotai Strip at Sands Cotai Central, with pathways to adventure, fun and fortune all within reach - exquisite dining, duty-free shopping, world-class entertainment events, gaming excitement and the biggest and best meetings and conventions."
Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central is part of Sands Cotai Central, Macau's newest, fully integrated resort and a premier shopping, dining and entertainment destination on the Cotai Strip. Easily accessible by air, land and sea, Macau was visited by 13 million tourists in the first half of 2012, with the majority coming from mainland China. Macau has surpassed Las Vegas as the world's biggest casino market since 2006 and is the only place in China where casino resorts are legal.
Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central Opens First of Two Towers
Opening in two phases, Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central today opened Sheraton Sky Tower, featuring 1,829 rooms, the 13,000-square-foot Sheraton Club Lounge, the Kashgar Grand Ballroom and additional meeting space. Other highlights include Palms Lounge, the brand's signature Link@SheratonTM communications hub in the lobby, the luxurious Sala Pool on level four, Shine Spa and Sheraton Core Performance fitness facility, featuring the Sheraton brand's revolutionary new health and fitness program, Sheraton Fitness programmed by Core PerformanceTM, designed exclusively for Sheraton guests through its partner Core Performance. The hotel's second tower (Sheraton Earth Tower) opens early next year, and will offer an additional 2,067 rooms, as well as two more outdoor pools, one offering spectacular views of the Cotai Strip.
Macau - Asia's Most Exciting Family Vacation Destination
Modern Macau is rapidly emerging as one of Asia's most exciting entertainment and vacation destinations. Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central offers a variety of leisure amenities designed for families with children, including family suites equipped with children's bedding, a play area, children's books and games. Families will enjoy relaxing at the hotel's three outdoor swimming pools, complete with private cabanas, poolside cafes and lush foliage. The signature Kids Program offers a variety of fun-filled, supervised activities and programs for children of all ages such as scavenger hunts, arts and crafts and pool games. The thoughtfully appointed Kids Club features a Comfyland ExperienceTM play area for toddlers, bounce houses, a toddler play area with a ball pool and climbing equipment, and high-tech entertainment including Wii, Nintendo and Xbox.
The Making of the World's Largest Sheraton
The construction of Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central helped boost the Macau economy and provided locals with a wide range of career opportunities. The hotel team hosted a number of job fairs that yielded more than 10,000 job applications, and traveled nearly 10,000 miles to interview 5,000 candidates. As part of the on-the-job training for its 1,500 associates, the hotel conducted a massive, two-week simulation where 10,000 guests arrived to check in and out of 5,000 rooms. The hotel's uniquely international hotel staff includes speakers of 19 languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, English, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Thai, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Indonesian and various Chinese dialects.
An enormous amount of planning and preparation was required to create the world's largest Sheraton. To light its 3,896 guest rooms, the Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central has purchased and installed 90,796 light bulbs - more than 4.5 times the total number of light bulbs to light the Eiffel Tower. Staff will fold and place 35,217 plush towels in the guest bathrooms, fluff 15,652 pillows, and fold 9,372 bed sheets with perfect hospital corners. The hotel will equip its nearly 4,000 guest rooms with 6,256 Sweet Sleeper beds.
About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1,112 properties in nearly 100 countries and 154,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, Aloft®, and ElementSM. The Company boasts one of the industry's leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), allowing members to earn and redeem points for room stays, room upgrades and flights, with no blackout dates. Starwood also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., a premier provider of world-class vacation experiences through villa-style resorts and privileged access to Starwood brands. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.
About Sands® Cotai Central
Launched in 2012, Sands® Cotai Central is the centre point of the Cotai Strip® - the pathway to adventure, fun and fortune. Featuring three celebrated hotel brands - Conrad, Sheraton and Holiday Inn - Sands Cotai Central offers visitors to the Cotai Strip an expanded offering of affordable luxury available nowhere else in Macau, with approximately 6,000 hotel rooms and suites, and 1.2 million square feet (111,000 square metres) of retail, entertainment and dining facilities, and meetings and convention space. With nearly 100 retail outlets, Shoppes Cotai Central joins Shoppes Grand Canal and Shoppes at Four Seasons to offer a total of over 600 luxury duty-free stores to choose from - the most in any one single location in all of Macau. And with two spas, three health clubs and 300,000 square feet (28,000 square metres) of gaming space in two, uniquely-themed gaming areas, Sands Cotai Central provides a new level of luxury and accessibility to the Cotai Strip*. For more information, please visit www.sandscotaicentral.com.
* All numbers based on completion of all phases of development in early 2013.
(Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and involve risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. These risks and uncertainties are presented in detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained or that results and events will not materially differ. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.)
