The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel

Originally published in January 2008

By now, the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel needs no introduction. Thanks to the successful publicity campaign since its opening in 25 August 2007, people in Asia and beyond must already be familiar with the distinctive images of Venice transplanted right here in Macau, complete with canals and gondolas. With its luxurious hotel, convention facilities, food, shopping and casino all under one roof, The Venetian has raised the profile of Macau as a tourist and MICE destination overnight.

While gaming is still very much the key activity here, the sheer size of The Venetian’s convention facilities means that MICE is not really playing second fiddle to the casino. The Venetian has over one million square feet of convention and meeting facilities, comprising the 15,000-seat Venetian Arena for sports and entertainment events, the 1,800-seat Venetian Theatre, and six adjacent exhibition halls with the capacity of some 50,000 people and 5,000 exhibition booths.

In case you think that with this size, The Venetian is way beyond the capacity of your corporate meetings or trade conferences, the various halls and ballrooms can be partitioned into the right size and ambience for your group. The space can be configured into up to 108 concurrent meeting rooms. But perhaps one of the key attractions for an organization to hold a meeting here, is the possibility of having a theme dinner in ‘Venice’ with guaranteed blue sky 24 hours a day, and less the odour from the canal. Venice’s street scene along The Venetian’s Grand Canal Shoppes is indeed very well re-created, except that the canal water is clean, blue and odourless unlike the original. The indoor blue sky is also quite realistic and well done. For those with more faith in the weather, there are also abundant outdoor open space for product launches and theme parties, with canals and gondolas thrown in as standard features.

Supporting the conventions is The Venetian’s 3,000-suite resort hotel. Of course, event delegates will enjoy the spacious hotel accommodation – all luxurious suites of 650 square feet or larger with private bedchamber, oversized bathroom, a sunken living room and other business amenities such as in-suite fax, printer and internet if required.

Service here is definitely quite professional and efficient. “We have our in-house training school for our staff and we also work closely with the government on training and manpower,” said Mr Buddy Lam, Director of Public Relations of The Venetian. On the day of this site visit, the reviewer witnessed how The Venetian’s team efficiently executed a sold-out tennis match between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras at the Arena, despite delayed arrival of the star players and last minute changes that derailed months of planning.

The Venetian looks set to be a winner, if only Macau’s infrastructural development could keep up with the pace of commercial growth…

(NOTE: Since this commentary in early 2008, the Macau authorities have set up an additional new Ferry Terminal, a new airport with direct flights to and from various Asian cities, and more convenient direct ferry services from Hong Kong's airport.)