Marina Bay Sands to open April 27
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Marina Bay casino opens
SINGAPORE'S second casino - the US$5.5 billion (S$7.5 billion) Marina Bay Sands - opened its doors to the public at the auspicious time of 3.18pm on Wednesday, giving a fresh boost to the city's tourism sector.
Built by US gaming giant Las Vegas Sands, it is the group's first casino in Asia outside Macau. Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson, who flew here for the opening, said he expects to recoup his Singapore investment in five years.
'Most of the high-end players are reputable business people. They have to travel anyway so they typically would travel to the major cities, like Hong Kong and Singapore, wherein they do business,' he told reporters.
Hours before the official opening, earlybirds started streaming into the integrated resort, hoping to be among the first to catch a glimpse of the new tourist attraction. Those waiting to enter the casino were ushered into the Sands Expo and Convention Center to take a queue number and wait in comfort. They were later allowed to enter the casino in the order that they have arrived. This was a measure taken by MBS to prevent a repeat of the overcrowding and crush at the Resorts World Sentosa opening on Feb 14.
Marina Bay Sands was originally set to open at the end of 2009 but faced repeated delays caused by a number of factors, including material and labour shortages and financial problems due to the downturn. It managed to clinch the casino licence only on Monday.
Tuesday's opening includes the casino and 963 out of 2,560 hotel rooms, a portion of the shopping mall, some restaurants, an exhibition and convention centre and the events plaza. The remaining hotel rooms and suites, a skypark and more shops will open on June 23, while a museum, theatres and other stores will start operations later in the year, the management said.
-- ST
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80,000 visitors a day
SINGAPORE'S second integrated resort (IR) opened on the dot at 3.18pm yesterday, and almost immediately, its Singapore chief made the bold prediction that it would attract 70,000 to 80,000 visitors daily.
The US$5.5 billion (S$7.5 billion) Marina Bay Sands (MBS) opened for business after a simple ribbon-cutting ceremony at the hotel lobby by top executives from its parent company Las Vegas Sands (LVS), and the traditional lion dance for good luck.
The waiting punters, some of whom had been there since early morning, were quickly and efficiently ushered into the casino in small groups.
There was none of the confusion seen at Resorts World Sentosa's (RWS) casino opening in February when queues stretched around the block and frustrated punters complained about shortages of food, drinks and toilets.
Mr Thomas Arasi, president and chief executive officer of MBS, made the bullish prediction that the IR would attract 70,000 to 80,000 visitors daily once it is fully open in June - outstripping RWS' estimation of 13 million visitors in its first year, or 35,000 people daily.
LVS chairman and chief executive officer Sheldon Adelson, describing the Singapore casino as the company's most valuable property with earnings forecast for US$1 billion in 12 months, predicted yesterday: 'This is the future of gaming... This is a new model of entertainment.'
-- ST
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Marina Bay Sands welcomed over 36,000 visitors in 24 hours of opening
SINGAPORE: More than 36,000 people visited Marina Bay Sands in the 24 hours after its auspicious opening at 3.18pm on Tuesday.
The integrated resort saw 4,000 visitors in the first hour alone, and it has been a steady flow of visitors since then.
Cabbies said that going to the integrated resort simply to pick up passengers is not lucrative due to ERP charges and not being able to collect the city area surcharge.
Food wise, two high-end Chinese restaurants - Imperial Treasure and Jin Shan - are enjoying good business.
One was even patronised by Las Vegas Sands CEO, Sheldon Adelson.
- CNA/yb -
Marina Bay Sands sees crowds on first weekend
SINGAPORE: It's the first weekend for Singapore's second integrated resort Marina Bay Sands.
As it gears up for the crowds, it's also getting ready to play host to former US Vice President Al Gore and delegates attending the Inter-Pacific Bar Association 20th annual conference.
The organisers said they wanted to bid for the event to be held in Singapore last year.
But due to construction delays at Marina Bay Sands, they decided to wait till this year to host the conference.
They said there were some issues at the start of the this year's conference.
They include taking some time registering the some 1,000 delegates but these issues have been ironed out.
Yap Wai Ming, chairman, IPBA 2010 Organising Committee, said: “Everybody's getting the hang of what's happening in this place. I think the MBS has stood by their people to help address a lot of these issues, to the extent that I think we can all manage it carefully for the benefit of our delegates and give them a good experience."
Meanwhile, thousands of people took time out to check the new attraction.
Many curious to find out what's the buzz all about.
And although certain parts of the resort are rather crowded, most people said it doesn't feel congested or uncomfortable.
The rest of Marina Bay Sands will open in phases with the grand opening on June 23.- CNA/vm
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Marina Bay Sands experiences blackout among other teething problems
SINGAPORE: The recently opened Marina Bay Sands integrated resort experienced an embarrassing hiccup Tuesday.
While the Chief Justice of New South Wales was speaking at a legal conference, stage lights went out and the sound system went dead.
It was a blackout which did not amuse the audience.
MediaCorp learnt several members left while those who stayed were moved to a smaller conference hall.
Tuesday's fiasco is not the first to plague the integrated resort.
A number of delegates who'd checked into the hotel last week complained of air conditioners not working, luggage delivered to rooms two hours after check-in, and toilets that did not flush.
Some delegates were even trapped in lifts for up to 20 minutes.
An organiser of the legal conference said the facilities have not been up to expectations.
A spokesperson said they've been working with the organisers to ensure the success of the legal conference.
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MBS failed on promise
ORGANISERS of the first conference held at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) are looking into taking action against the integrated (IR) resort for the problems which plagued the event from the word go.
They say MBS failed to deliver the 'unmatched guest experience' it promised when it first signed the deal early last year .
Mr Yap Wai Ming, chairman of this year's organising committee for the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) Conference, said they will take stock of all the things that went wrong before meeting MBS to discuss the issue. He did not give a date for the meeting.
The IPBA conference, a prestigious meeting of lawyers now into its 20th year, was the first event hosted at the IR, which threw open its doors last Tuesday after months of delay.
More than 1,000 lawyers and judges from all over the world, including the United States, Japan and Chile, attended the meet, which started on Sunday and ended on Wednesday.
By the time it was over, delegates had compiled a long list of complaints about MBS, ranging from minor irritations to major flaws.
-- ST
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Originally posted by QX179R:
MBS failed on promise
ORGANISERS of the first conference held at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) are looking into taking action against the integrated (IR) resort for the problems which plagued the event from the word go.
They say MBS failed to deliver the 'unmatched guest experience' it promised when it first signed the deal early last year .
Mr Yap Wai Ming, chairman of this year's organising committee for the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) Conference, said they will take stock of all the things that went wrong before meeting MBS to discuss the issue. He did not give a date for the meeting.
The IPBA conference, a prestigious meeting of lawyers now into its 20th year, was the first event hosted at the IR, which threw open its doors last Tuesday after months of delay.
More than 1,000 lawyers and judges from all over the world, including the United States, Japan and Chile, attended the meet, which started on Sunday and ended on Wednesday.
By the time it was over, delegates had compiled a long list of complaints about MBS, ranging from minor irritations to major flaws.
-- ST
delivered.
so bad its unmatched.
hahaha.
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Aiyo, really bad omen.
After so much hype, the first conference created such a big boo boo.
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But on the flip side, I don't think the casino had any major issues.
Maybe the casino business was the main target and the focus of all the management attention instead of some pfftt lawyer conference.
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MBS says it has sealed at least 180 contracts for events
SINGAPORE : Marina Bay Sands (MBS) said it has sealed at least 180 contracts for events at its Expo and Convention Centre over the next three years.
At least 270,000 delegates and participants will make use of the conference facilities.
This comes amid a spate of teething problems since it opened late last month.
The integrated resort opened with a bang, but it was not long before negative publicity hit - starting with complaints from the delegates of its first conference.
MBS faced several problems when it hosted its first conference with the Inter Pacific Bar Association. There were complaints of a power failure and a lack of air conditioning, amongst other problems.
Other event organisers who have events lined up in MBS were concerned if the same would happen to them, but those MediaCorp spoke to said MBS has since taken measures to ensure that such problems do not happen again, such as having their heads of department come down to the conference venue to oversee the preparation process.
In a statement, MBS described these as "operational issues" typical of new property openings.
It said it has received positive feedback on its services, food and facilities.
It recently hosted its first trade show - the Hospital Build Asia Exhibition and Congress - with about 4,000 delegates and visitors over three days. The event was held from May 11 to 13.
Andrew Keable, divisional director, IIR Exhibitions Pte Ltd, said: "The first thing I did was to pick up the phone to speak to the guys whom I have been dealing with at MBS and talked to them about what the issues were, come in to do some site inspections and to check that there were no issues with the space that I was using.
"We had no issues to what had gone on the week before and we had a very open dialogue on my expectations and that was what was delivered. We had very positive feedback.
"We just spent three days running the exhibition and we have run several conferences at the venue here as well...The international customers were really impressed with the new venue, and I think the feeling from them is that they are all very positive about coming back here next year."
MBS said it is working on more than 500 additional prospective exhibitions, meetings, incentives and conventions over the next four years. - CNA/ms -
MBS goes to court
IN A twist to the saga in which system breakdowns at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) marred a law group's conference, the integrated resort (IR) is now suing the organisers of the meeting for payments owed.
It is asking for $300,000 from IPBA 2010 Pte Ltd, which organised the annual conference of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) at its premises from May 2 to May 5.
An MBS spokesman confirmed that a writ of summons was served on Tuesday evening.
The Straits Times understands that the amount MBS is pursuing is part of the $660,000 deposit IPBA was to have put down for the conference, but which it did not pay.
Yesterday, the IPBA reacted with indignation to MBS' move.
In a statement, it said: 'The failures and breaches of MBS with respect to our conference are now well-known and undeniable. It adds to our indignation that the party in breach should choose to sue in such a hurry.'
-- ST