My guys in Macau will be touring the casinos, as they always do, and hopefully providing a unique perspective and some anecdotals regarding volume, trends, etc. This post includes some thoughts on the newly opened Four Seasons Hotel and Plaza casino. I’m going to leave the discussion of the aesthetics and amenities of the new property to the rest of the sell side.

Suffice it to say the hotel and retail mall are beautiful as expected. It is the Plaza Casino where we have some concerns. I’m still trying to reconcile the target market of high end mass market and direct VIP customers with the current casino configuration and product. More on that in another post. The casino appears to be in an unfortunate location at the very end of the current Cotai development. It’s not easy to get to since a) there is no direct turn-off for cars from the Strip to the Four Seasons (cars need to run all the way to the Lotus Bridge roundabout and then come back about 300+ yards) and b) as far from the main entrance of the Venetian as it can be. Easily a 10 minute walk for someone who doesn’t know their way around or is not heading straight toward the Plaza Casino at a fast pace.

In terms of volume, the Plaza Casino was pretty empty on Monday afternoon. My guys reported that only half the tables were even open and with only a total of 20 players in the room. Contrast this with The Venetian where the floor was quite busy at the same time. No complaints with The Venetian ramp as revenue trends and market share continue to move higher with the increase in ferry service. Back to the Plaza, we’ll keep you posted as more definitive conclusions can be reached.