Sands’ huge Sheraton Grand hotel in Macau’s Cotai gaming precinct has become the city’s 12th “quarantine hotel”, the government announced yesterday. According to a statement by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the mega-hotel will be temporarily used as a “designated hotel for quarantine and medical observation” starting yesterday.
The statement notes that the Sheraton Grand “is a mega-hotel complex connected to a shopping mall, restaurants as well as other hotels and facilities,” adding that all passageways which connect the hotel’s “special isolated area” to the mall and other facilities in the sprawling complex “are completely blocked.”
According to the statement, those sent to the “special isolated area” for 14 days of quarantine and medical observation will enter it through an “independent entrance.” The statement pointed out that the hotel’s “special isolated area” currently consists of 2,000 rooms, 500 of which will initially be used for quarantine and medical observation, adding that in line with possibly growing demand, “subsequent adjustments may be made eventually.”
Including the Sheraton, the 12 hotels comprise 4,535 rooms, 44 percent of them at the Sheraton. The Sheraton has about 4, 000 rooms in two separate blocks. It is part of Sands’ various connected integrated hotel-casino resort properties in Cotai.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng urged Macau’s gaming operators last Tuesday to shoulder their social responsibility by providing the government, if needed, with hotel rooms for quarantine purposes as part of its anti-COVID-19 measures.
This photo taken at the weekend received from a reader yesterday shows the Sheraton Grand’s welcome message and gifts for its “quarantine hotel” guests. Photo: MPDG
