Macau concessionaire Sands China will accelerate the transformation of its existing Le Jardin garden into a major garden-themed attraction and conservatory as part of a three-pronged capital investment strategy aimed at enhancing its existing Cotai Strip facilities.
The company revealed this week that it has increased its expected annual capex spend for 2027 and 2028 from US$600 million to US$750 million, with renovation of The Venetian Macao’s full hotel room inventory and the rebranding of Conrad into a Londoner-themed hotel also priorities.
The Le Jardin transformation, first announced in 2022, forms part of Sands China’s commitment under its 10-year gaming concession, under which it has promised to spend US$4.2 billion on non-gaming attractions and initiatives through 2032.
Located alongside The Parisian Macao, Le Jardin is planned to become a year-round botanical garden attraction covering 50,000 square meters and featuring an iconic glass conservatory and themed landscaped areas, among other amenities.
Speaking on the company’s 3Q26 earnings call this week, Sands China President, CEO and Executive Director Grant Chum said the team was “looking to accelerate and bring [the new garden] into Macau earlier than we had previously anticipated.”
He added that Sands was “making good progress on design” and that the project “is going to be one of the most innovative and new tourism landmarks in Macau. We are very excited to bring that forward and deliver that for the city over the coming years.”
On The Venetian and Conrad revamps, Chum described them as the group’s “highest ROI projects” and the most critical in capturing key market segments.
The renovation of all 2,900 rooms at The Venetian Macao is due for completion before Chinese New Year in early 2028. The company has acknowledged that this will cause some disruption, although with around 500 rooms being taken offline at a time, the disruption is not expected to be significant.
“It is still very early days, but we have received very strong feedback from the customers who have experienced the new suites, from a design and functionality perspective,” Chum said during Thursday’s call. “Of course, it is an iconic hotel suite layout that Sheldon (Adelson, company founder) brought to Macau. It is famous for its spacious layout. Everyone knows this room, and that presents an exciting opportunity for us because when this is all fully upgraded and renovated and modernized, it is going to do even better than it has been doing in the last few years.”
Both The Venetian and The Londoner saw their net revenues suffer year-on-year declines in the September 2026 quarter – a trend attributed to weakness at the high end of the market linked to multiple macroeconomic factors – although The Venetian did see its Macau market share rise quarter-on-quarter, from 7.4% in Q2 to 8.2% in Q3. Seaport Research Partners noted that Sands had migrated some premium business from The Venetian to The Londoner to help the new property ramp up, but added that if The Venetian renovation is successful, “Sands could see share gains greater than our forecast over the next two years.”
The Londoner saw its market share fall slightly from 10% in Q2 to 9.6% in Q3, despite producing its best-ever mass share. The decline was entirely due to VIP weakness.
