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On Wednesday 27 May, Ritz-Carlton opened their 11th hotel in China with the Ritz-Carlton Macau.
According to the press release the new property is located in Galaxy Macau™ (Phase II) which is Macau’s newest “fully integrated world-class resort”. Galaxy Macau™ is already home to a number of elegant hotels (including a JW Marriott and a Banyan Tree) and features upscale shopping and dining, a water park and a casino.
Galaxy Macau – Image courtesy of Doun
The Ritz-Carlton is an all-suite hotel with 254 suites occupying the top floors of the integrated resort with each suite averaging 96 square meters (1,033 square feet). The hotel has been created to blend in with its local surroundings and looks to draw on Macau’s history for its design.
The outdoor pool has a view over Cotai (the area of Macau in which the resort sits) and, if the poolside cabanas aren’t relaxing enough there hotel’s spa offers ten treatment rooms to help you unwind.
The dining options include a “classic Cantonese” fine dining restaurant (Lai Heen), high-tea and cocktails at the Ritz-Carlton Bar & Lounge, a Ritz-Carlton Cafe for casual dining and a pool bar for relaxation.
What’s interesting me about this hotel is the price-point at which it’s being pitched. Picking a random date in July the cost of a night at the Ritz-Carlton was $527 while the JW Marriott was $179 for the same date.
I repeated the same experiment with a number of other dates over the next twelve months and the results were broadly the same (the JW was never more than 50% of the cost of the Ritz-Carlton). And that brings me to this question: If I can get a room at the JW Marriott (in itself a luxury hotel) for $179 just what would I have to expect from the Ritz-Carlton to make me consider paying that much more?
The basic “Deluxe” room at the JW Marriott is 45 square meters (484 square feet) so it’s considerably smaller than the suites at the Ritz-Carlton – but that’s hardly small.
A Deluxe Room at the JW Marriott Macau
The Ritz-Carlton may be nice and new, nice and shiny and may have some very impressive looking suites but with the JW Marriott being so much cheaper I don’t think I could ever bring myself to part with the money to spring for the Ritz-Carlton. They are, after all, within the same complex so it’s not like the Ritz-Carlton has a location advantage either.
Even from a points perspective it doesn’t get much better for the Ritz-Carlton. As a Tier 3 hotel a night will cost 50,000 points (40,000 on a PointSaver reward) while the Category 7 JW Marriott costs just 35,000 points (30,000 on a PointSaver reward). If you’re points rich then, perhaps, I can see why you may try out the more expensive option but I’d rather save the 15,000 points/night and put them towards another vacation.
How do you guys feel? Is anyone planning a trip to the Ritz-Carlton Macau anytime soon? Let me know in the comments section.
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