MGM Macau

MGM Macau stands on the Nam Van waterfront of the Macau peninsula, facing the Praia Grande bay and the Macau Tower. It opened on 18 December 2007 as MGM Grand Macau, the first property of the joint venture between MGM Mirage and Pansy Ho, daughter of the Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho. Its wave-shaped facade of gold, silver and rose glass and its glass-roofed Lisbon square made it one of the landmarks of the peninsula, and it is still the group's city-centre luxury hotel in Macau, the group having opened the larger MGM Cotai in 2018.

History

Macau opened its casino market to foreign operators in 2002, and MGM Mirage obtained its entry through a partnership with Pansy Ho in 2004. The hotel opened in December 2007 after three years of construction, in the NAPE district reclaimed from the bay. It was renamed MGM Macau in 2010, and MGM China Holdings, the joint venture, listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2011. The company's second resort, MGM Cotai, opened in February 2018 on the Cotai Strip, and MGM China's concession was renewed by the Macau government for ten years from 2023.

Architecture and design

The building, by the Hong Kong practice Wong Tung & Partners, is a slab of 35 storeys whose facade is divided into three stacked waves, each in a different tint of reflective glass: gold at the base, silver in the middle and rose at the top, a reference to the bay it faces. At its heart lies the Grande Praça, an atrium of some 1,100 square metres under a glass roof, with facades modelled on the squares of old Lisbon, a stone-paved floor and seasonal installations. The hotel has shown works by Dale Chihuly, Fernando Botero and other artists in its public spaces and in a dedicated art space.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has about 580 rooms and suites, a small count for a Macau resort, on the upper floors of the tower with views over the Praia Grande bay, the Macau Tower and the Sai Van bridge or towards the old city. The suites on the top floors and the villas are reserved for the hotel's private guests.

Dining

The restaurants include Imperial Court for Cantonese cuisine, Aux Beaux Arts, a French brasserie in a 1930s Paris manner opening onto the Grande Praça, and Rossio, the all-day restaurant named after the Lisbon square, with Portuguese and international dishes. Bars and a tea lounge open onto the atrium.

Wellness

The spa occupies its own floor with treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy area and a fitness centre, and the hotel has an outdoor pool on a terrace facing the bay.

Weddings and events

The Grand Ballroom and a series of function rooms host banquets, product launches and conferences, and the Grande Praça itself is used for receptions, exhibitions and fashion shows under its glass roof. Chinese wedding banquets of several hundred guests are a speciality of the ballroom, and Western ceremonies take place in the atrium or on the pool terrace.

Location

The hotel is on Avenida Dr. Sun Yat Sen in the NAPE district, on the peninsula side of Macau, next to the One Central shopping centre and Mandarin Oriental and a short walk from the Wynn Macau. A taxi to the historic centre, with the Ruins of St Paul's and Senado Square, takes about ten minutes. Macau International Airport on Taipa lies about 8 kilometres away; the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal, with sailings to Hong Kong, about 3 kilometres. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge port is on the peninsula's north-east.