Some hotel owners are superstitious and ready to resort to some actions when launching the business that many would consider ridiculous. Such actions sometimes include certain room number exclusions to make guests wander down the corridors looking for the room No.13 not knowing that the superstitious owner has instead included the room number 12A since the beginning of operations to avoid bad luck and the lack of customers.
$307 Million Sales Price:
Such an owner would therefore consider it natural that the Macau hotel THE 13 has gone bankrupt and is calling for the best bid to sell the troubled property at the offered price of $307 million, according to Inside Asian Gaming (IAG). The tender is reportedly supervised by the real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle and more than twenty parties that expressed interest in the property will be able to submit their bids until 5 April 2024.
The source reports that the tender price will surely be a part of the required investment in the resort accommodation facilities as many of the 196 rooms were not complete when the hotel owners declared bankruptcy last year. As reported, the insolvency of THE 13 was a direct consequence of its sole beneficial owner New Concordia Hotel Limited liquidation. According to IAG, the Concordia had been subject to creditors’ pressure to compel its parent South Shore Holdings to file a voluntary liquidation request before the Macau court.
Delayed Resort Launch:
Such a stream of events has reportedly originated from the resort development to result in a poor timing for the launch of THE 13. As reported by IAG, THE13 Chairman Stephen Hung envisioned the luxury resort in early 2010’s to include 66 VIP gaming tables anticipated to render the top-quality service for the Macau’s booming VIP sector of the time. But the times were changing as the property was facing investment and construction delays to reportedly open only in 2018. As reported, the hotel spent $1.6 billion to witness the VIP gaming tables handled by the competition and the mass gaming segment‘s rapid development.
Such an expensive failure reportedly forced the owner South Shore to suspend all operations and declare insolvency in October 2021. The creditor that issued a statutory demand for payment of the $423 million outstanding debt under the threat of court petition stamped the destiny of both the Concordia and THE 13. According to the source, Chairman Peter Coker Jr resigned from the position in the company in October 2022 to wind up the story of failure.
Waiting for the Best Bid:
The imaginary hotel owner from the beginning of the article would blame the resort’s name and stick to its room numbering pattern. But the US Department of Justice seems to have been less superstitious: they blamed the resigned Chairman Peter Coker Jr for stock market manipulation and arrested him in Thailand in January 2023, according to the source. THE 13 is currently waiting for the best bid to start all over again, hoping for the best of luck.