Hotel and Inn Review: Venetian Resort Macau

Date of Stay: November 1 - 5, 2009

RATING (Scale of 1 to 10)

Location: *******

Rooms: ********

Condition and Cleanliness: *********

Staff Performance: *******

Room Comfort: *********

Food and Beverage: ********

Other Amenities: ********

Value for Money: *******

Venetian Resort Macau

For my first extended visit to Macau with my family (my first visit, with my wife Grace, was only a day tour from Hongkong), we all stayed at the 40-storey, US$2.4 billion Venetian Resort Macau, at the Cotai Strip, a luxury hotel and casino resort owned by the American Las Vegas Sands Casino company.  

Here, we stayed at two of the hotels 3,000 suites (Levels 7-38). The high-end and spacious interconnected airconditioned suites were furnished with a flat-screen TV, wardrobe, minibar and a seating area with sofa.  The ensuite bathroom had a bathtub, bathrobes, slippers and hair dryer.

Facilities include a 24-hour Front Desk, business center, restaurants, bars, outdoor swimming pool, spa, fitness center, children's playground and barber shop/beauty salon.  Activities include minigolf courses and gondola rides.The hotel also offers car rental, currency exchange, laundry and dry cleaning, concierge, ticketing service, room service and free luggage storage.  A free shuttle service is available from Macao Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal and Macau Taipa Ferry Terminal to the property. 

The Venetian Macao is a 5-min. walk from The Shoppes at Four Seasons, an 8-min. drive from Taipa Ferry Terminal and a 14-min. drive from the Macau Ferry Terminal.  

It is also located 500 m. from the Eiffel Tower at the Parisian Macau; 600 m. from House of Dancing Water and Taipa Houses Museum; 700 m. from the  Museum of Taipa and Coloane History and Rua do Cunha; 1 km. from Macau Stadium; 1.2 kms. from the Lotus Bridge; 1.3 kms. from the Macau East Asian Games Dome; 1.9 kms. from Macau International Airport; 5.2 kms. from Lilau Square, Mandarin’s House and Moorish Barracks; 5.4 kms. from Dom Pedro V Theater and Hongkong-Macau Ferry Terminal; 5.5 kms. from Leal Senado Square; 5.7 kms. from Monte Forte and 5.9 kms. from the Ruins of St. Paul. 

Officially opened on August 28, 2007, the Venetian’s casino space is the largest in the world at 550,000 sq. ft. (51,000 sq. m.) with over with 3,400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables.  

Also the largest single structure hotel building in Asia and the 4th largest building in the world (by area), it also has 3,000 suites (Level 7-38) served by 250 guest lifts, 111,000 sq. m. of convention space, 149,000 sq. m. of retail (330 shops), and a 15,000-seat entertainment/sports arena.

Its foremost attractions are Cirque du Soleil’s Zaia, an aerial ballet that takes place above the audience’s heads, and the gondola rides where visitors are rowed, by a gondolier serenading you in Italian, through the romantic indoor Grand Canal, the next best thing to Venice.

The Venetian Resort Macau – Interior

The campanille

We tried dining at the 1,000-seat Festivita Foodcourt, located on the 3rd level of The Grand Canal Shoppes.  

It offers 21 big brand names in fast, mid-priced food offering almost every international cuisine (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican and American). 

When we looked up, we found ourselves under the perfect blue sky although we were actually indoors. The ceiling was done in a way so as to create an impression of a clear blue sky (even at night) which is Pantone 14-4318 (Sky Blue). Some say it was done to lull shoppers into thinking that it’s not yet time to go and that there’s still more time to shop.

Festivita Foodcourt

Venetian Resort Macau: Estrada Da Baia De N., Senhora Da Esperança, s/n, Taipa, Macao. Tel: (0)2882 8888.  Website: www.venetianmacao.com.