New global hotel brand planned
Macau, China – 30 November 2016
Melco Crown Entertainment’s billionaire chairman said he wants to be the first resort operator to use Macau as the launchpad for a global hotel brand, beginning with a US$1 billion project in the world’s biggest gambling centre with ambitions to expand to Japan and other Asian countries, Bloomberg reported.
Casino tycoon Lawrence Ho plans to debut the company’s first Morpheus hotel, a futuristic high-rise designed by late architect Zaha Hadid, on Macau’s Cotai strip in the first half of 2018, he said. Ho intends “to build something special in big jurisdictions like Japan or other parts of Asia” to expand the lodging brand aimed at “the most sophisticated international travellers.”
Along with developing a global hotel brand, Melco Crown is mapping a global expansion beyond its Macau flagships with casino projects in Cyprus, Russia and other Asian countries.
“It’s a global footprint that we are developing,” said Ho. “We have done well in Macau and we want to see how we can do even better internationally.”