Sands China’s hotel capacity is now back to 90%, the company revealed Thursday, as expectation grows of further recovery momentum during the current June quarter.
The update was provided by Sands China President Dr Wilfred Wong on Thursday, who told media that the company had been gradually increasing manpower since the easing of border restrictions on 8 January.
As reported by IAG, Sands China revealed during its 1Q23 earnings call last week that an average of 31% of its hotel rooms had been offline in Q1 due to labor issues, equivalent to 3,800 of the company’s total 12,392 hotel room capacity.
“We are now back to 90% capacity, with more than 11,000 hotel rooms in operation, and two days during the May Day Golden Week were fully occupied, with an overall occupancy rate of 90%,” Dr Wong said.
He also noted that Sands has been recruiting staff and that all hotel rooms will be open within this month.
“With the recruitment of staff, manpower is no longer our biggest problem,” he explained.
On the issue of staffing in the hotel industry, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said that of the 46,000 hotel rooms in Macau, only around 2,000 were closed during Golden Week.
Meanwhile, Dr Wong also confirmed that Sands China’s brand-new entertainment facility, Londoner Arena, would open on 25 May, the same day as The Londoner Macao – formerly known as Sands Cotai Central – holds its Grand Opening following a US$2 billion transformation.