MGM China says it is targeting mid-2018 for the launch of The Mansion – an exclusive, luxury villa for VIP guests – within its new MGM Cotai integrated resort in Macau. The Mansion, which has proved hugely successful at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is described by the company as “an enclave of privacy and pleasure,” boasting 18th century Italian-inspired architecture and private butler service.
Although MGM Cotai will officially open its doors on 29 January 2018, MGM China will phase in its VIP offerings over the ensuing months, revealing in its 3Q17 earnings call late last week that The Mansion would be one of the services delayed until later in the year.
“At the moment, based on the construction program, we’re looking to get The Mansion online before the middle of the year,” said MGM China CEO and Executive Director Grant Bowie. “We’re just going to work as quickly as we can.
“Clearly bringing the junket and The Mansion and ramping up the VIP all needs to come together because we’ve got to be up to service that customer at the level we know we want to and make the impression … we’re going to create with The Mansion.”
Bowie has previously stated that MGM Cotai will launch with in-house VIP only before introducing junket operations at a later date, but added, “We do have a program to bring that online as quickly as we can – that is a focus for us.”
MGM Resorts Chairman and CEO Jim Murren said he expected The Mansion to become an important addition to MGM Cotai once complete.
“We believe it will have a significant competitive advantage in the VIP business,” he said, adding, “We’ve spent a long time developing, designing, creating, programming a property that would be unique to Macau and certainly unique to the hospitality market.
“We’ve worked hard to deliver on a promise that we’ve made to the government to create an entertainment destination that’s unparalleled. And I think when you see [it] you’ll feel that we delivered on that promise of entertainment, of food and beverage, of retail, that’s uniquely Chinese, uniquely Macanese, and embodies the idea of MGM as an entertainment company.”
