MELCO Resorts and Entertainment Ltd., which owns half of City of Dreams Manila, is replacing its Crown Hotel brand and replacing it with a new one.
The company said it will introduce the Nuwa, its new luxury hotel brand starting next week. Nuwa will debut in Melco’s integrated gambling facilities in Macau and in Manila on January 16. It will replace the current Crown Towers Hotels in City of Dreams.
“Inspired by the eponymous heroine from Chinese mythology, Nuwa represents classic Asian refinement,” the company said.
It is the first step in the preparation of the launch of Phase 3 of City of Dreams Macau in the second quarter of 2018, the company added.
“We are excited to introduce Nuwa. The new hotel brand embodies the very essence of Melco’s pursuit to provide our guests the very best in sophistication, quality and innovation,” Lawrence Ho, chairman and CEO of Melco Resorts said in a statement.
The rebranding was a result of the fall out between principal owners, of what was then called Melco Crown Resorts, Ho and Australian James Packer, who owns Crown Resorts Ltd.
The two parted ways in May last year with Packer selling all his shareholdings in Melco Crown.
For the three quarters of 2017, the Philippine unit of Melco reported a net profit of P469.6 million, a turn-around from a net loss of P1.6 billion las year.
The turn-around was due to improved operating revenues generated during the current period, higher net foreign exchange gains and higher interest income for the period, partially offset by the associated increase in operating costs, employee benefit expenses, among others.
Total net operating revenues were P24.21 billion, an increase of almost half from the previous P16.29 billion.
Some P22.55 billion of the revenues came from casino revenues, or 93 percent of total net operating revenues, and P1.65 billion from its casino revenues for the nine months of 2017 was an increase of 53 percent from the previous year’s P14.78 billion.
Rolling chip volume for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was P434.6 billion, as compared to P224.6 billion in 2016. Rolling chip win rate—calculated before discounts and commissions—was 3.1 percent, as compared to 3.4 percent for the nine months in 2016.