Las Vegas Sands to invest additional $750M to revamp Marina Bay Sands as post-pandemic demand surges

Las Vegas Sands is investing a further $750 million to revamp Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, owing to a surge in room rates amid a post-pandemic travel boom. The investment will bring the total cost of renovating the integrated casino, hotel, and convention center to $1.75 billion. 

This transformation is part of a multi-year program to strengthen the positioning of the integrated resort (IR) in the luxury hospitality industry. Marina Bay Sands has now entered the final stage of its $1 billion first-phase reinvestment, which was announced in February 2022.

Under Phase 1, Marina Bay Sands renovated 1,280 hotel rooms across towers 1 and 2, including 390 new suites. New dining offerings and luxury lifestyle amenities for high-value travelers are also being added in this phase.

The second phase of transformation, which is estimated at $750 million, will focus on Tower 3, the Hotel Lobby, and Sands SkyPark. It will include a reimagined VIP arrival experience, new premium dining and retail offerings, a lobby transformation, as well as a renewed focus on wellness experiences. More than 550 redesigned rooms, including approximately 380 suites, will be introduced in this phase, according to a press statement. Works are expected to be completed in phases through 2025.

Paul Town, Chief Operating Officer of MBS, in a statement, said: “Marina Bay Sands has made significant progress in delivering new world-leading luxury travel experiences over the past two years. This second phase of reinvestment will be critical as it propels the property to new heights and places us in a strong position to capture future growth opportunities.”

Las Vegas Sands says that the second phase of the reinvestment program will ensure that the integrated resort remains "a unique, exhilarating experience for local and international visitors, and meaningfully enhances the tourism appeal of Singapore in the decades ahead.”

The company is also planning additional investments in Singapore, where it is separately spending an additional $3 billion in the next few years to add a new luxury hotel tower with 1,000 hotel rooms at Marina Bay Sands, expand the convention center and the shopping mall to tap into the travel boom in the Lion City. Net revenue for Marina Bay Sands went up by 34.3% to $1 billion in the third quarter of 2023 as travel and tourism in Singapore continued to recover.

As per Forbes, Marina Bay Sands’ competitor Genting Singapore, which is controlled by Malaysian billionaire Lim Kok Thay, is also speeding up its investment plans. Earlier in November, the company said it would spend an additional S$2.3 billion ($1.7 billion) to revamp its Resorts World Sentosa, which will bring the total renovation budget for the casino resort and theme park to S$6.8 billion ($5 billion).

Las Vegas Sands is also investing $3.8 billion in Macau after renewing its gaming license in the former Portuguese enclave. A significant portion of the capital spending will be reserved for non-gaming projects, including meeting space and entertainment facilities.