We got a little update on what's going on at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) this weekend from some friends on the ground.

CEO and Chairman, Sheldon Adelson, was apparently in Singapore this weekend and toured MBS, allegedly by driving through the atrium in a car.  While there has been many articles published over the last few days regarding the opening of the first stage of Marina Bay Sands in late March/early April, we're hearing that there could be further delays.  However, with the recent assist from the Singapore government, MBS can now open in stages so it's possible that it will open earlier but with less.

We're hearing the logistics firm, Kuehne & Nagel, will be handed the keys to floors 4-22 on January 4th for all 3 towers.  They expect to have most of the furniture in place by late February.  Apparently there are 198 different room types and configurations across the 3 towers.  We heard this past week that several of the furniture orders were incorrect (i.e. left turning sofas when the rooms were designed for right bends).  All of the super high end rooms are located on floors 50-54, which is where the cranes working on the Sky Garden are currently anchored.  Until those cranes are dismantled, and most of the work on the Sky Garden is complete, work on the high floor rooms cannot begin. 

It's now likely that the initial opening includes only some of the hotel rooms.  The Singapore government recently announced it was relaxing some of the deadlines and allowing the project to open in stages.  We believe the government is very keen on the project succeeding, which must be very encouraging to LVS management.  Hopefully, LVS has learned from its governmental affairs mistakes in Macau.