Inside Asian Gaming

January 2015 inside asian gaming 25 Fly-Drive Special Entertainment City is barely six kilometers from Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport yet the trip can take more than an hour in the Philippine capital’s legendary traffic. However, work is well under way on an elevated toll road that will connect the airport to Entertainment City, as well as the main business district Makati and Metro Manila’s highway network. The Entertainment City portion could be completed by the end of this year, and Solaire President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas Arasi can’t wait. “The trip from the airport, you can hardly call it a trip. It’s going to be under 10 minutes,” he says. In September, Caesars Entertainment pitched Philippine President Benigno Aquino on a US$1 billion integrated resort in Manila directly adjacent to the airport. Caesars President for International Development Steve Tight believes Entertainment City is too far away, but Mr Arasi maintains, “If you look at those roads coming in, how much closer could you get to the airport?” He also suggests being adjacent to the airport could subject guest rooms to jet noise. “There’s no other major gaming destination where you have a critical mass of integrated resorts like Entertainment City where the airport is as close,” he asserts, although he concedes that the south end of the Las Vegas Strip is nearer to that city’s McCarran International Airport. “If you’re at the north end of the Strip, then it’s a dogfight” with Entertainment City for the shortest distance from tarmac to chip rack. “Point is, that’s really important,” he says of airport proximity. “It provides a low-friction coefficient” for bringing guests to the resort. The Cotai Strip is awfully close to Macau International Airport, Mr Arasi acknowledges. “But I believe the vast majority of [air travel] customers come into Hong Kong,” he says. “So they’ve got to go into Hong Kong, then they’ve got to get over to the ferry, then they’ve got to get on the ferry, then they’ve got to get off the ferry. It’s all very efficient, but it’s more friction for the international customer.” up to 1,200. Meetings can be a profitable niche business for Solaire, Bloomberry director of investor relations Leo Venezuela believes. “There aren’t a lot of good meeting facilities in Manila,” he points out. Other attractions will open later this year, including 10,000 square meters of luxury retail, a destination spa, karaoke bar and nightclub. Mr Arasi says that’s all just the first course. “Where it becomes transformational for the non-gaming business is when Phase 2 comes in,” he says. Preliminary plans for Phase 2 call for “a lot more of what we currently have,” including hotel rooms, casino space, entertainment and retail. A decision on whether to proceed with Phase 2 from Mr Razon and the Bloomberry board of directors, where Mr Arasi holds a seat, could come as soon as the completion of the Sky Tower. “What the Bay Tower and the Sky Tower have done is given us an incredible property that is of global luxury standard, and we’re in there, we’re in that global top echelon,” Mr Arasi says. “Phase 2 enhances that top echelon position of what’s already open, [and] it actually gives us more global scale. It gives us a lot more of everything again, so we just have a lot more facilities and supply to offer, so we can really scale up, and we can leverage the brand we will have built, we can leverage our position, our marketing presence, our loyalty programs, our goodwill, our management expertise, and of course our site.” Cover Story The Theater at Solaire spotlights the property’s move toward becoming a true IR. Built Broadway-style with a relatively narrow footprint, the 1,760-seat theater has a balcony and orchestra pit, plus a theater bar in its lobby.