This was published 13 years ago
Marina Bay Sands, reiview: Singapore's grand gamble pays off
Kerry-Anne Walsh scales the heights of a resort that follows one Las Vegas rule: if you want people to come, think big.
I FIRST fell in love with Australian country towns when I came across the Big Merino in Goulburn. The experience sparked a yearning to visit other quirky tourist delights such as the Big Banana, the Big Prawn, even the Big Gumboot.
Then I entered double digits in the age stakes and those big icons became, well, smaller.
But I never lost a tragic fascination with the big and brassy.
I haven't made it yet to super-sized Las Vegas, a beacon to all lovers of over-the-top hotels and casinos. But closer to home, just a hop, skip and jump by plane to the place formerly known as stuffy Singapore, a casino complex of staggering proportions, designed and run by one of the more flamboyant entrepreneurs of Las Vegas, Sheldon Adelson, beckons.
With my tragic addiction to oversized everything tucked neatly into my suitcase, a trip to Asia's largest "integrated resort" - fancy branding for a casino with lots of extravagant entertainment options attached to it - had me quivering on the British Airways flight over.
Even on the scale of huge, Marina Bay Sands is a doozy. It has smashed so many records on the bigger-than-Ben-Hur scale that it's hard to know where to start.
The cost is a pretty good entry point to the list.
The MBS, as it's known, is the most expensive IR, as casino complexes are now known, in the world. It cost a trifling $5 billion and took 10 years to dream up, design, redesign, overcome monumental engineering challenges, then finally build. And it's still a work in progress.
MBS tops the international hotel stakes with its number of rooms - 2600 - and, while no record was claimed by the complex, surely offering 18 room types plus 230 different luxury suites would be a record-breaker?
Then there's the record number of levels - 55 - in three separate towers comprising hotel rooms, gaming rooms, fine dining, up-market shopping and theatre. The three towers are capped, of course, by the world's biggest sky park incorporating - you guessed it - the largest rooftop infinity pool ever built.
Imagine paddling in a massive tub of water the length of three Olympic-size pools while looking out over the smog and buzz of Singapore, pretending you're not worried about the prospect of freestyling over the edge.
Since its opening in the middle of last year, MBS has added a few more firsts.
The opening of seven restaurants under the guidance of the best seven restaurateurs in the world, including Australia's Tetsuya Wakuda, is a mouth-watering first.
Just to prove its world-busting credentials, four of the restaurants earned a place in the best new restaurants list in the distinguished Singapore Tatler Best Restaurants Guide 2011, published in December.
Santi, a Spanish restaurant by international celebrity chef Santi Santamaria, took No. 1 spot on the Tatler list, which has been the foodies' guide to brilliant dining in Singapore for 26 years.
Last month, MBS added a synthetic ice-skating rink. It's not the first of its kind in Singapore but it is the biggest, at 600 square metres.
Next month, the complex will add another No. 1: the world's first ArtScience Museum, which the pre-publicity blurb says has been dubbed by Adelson as "the welcoming hand of Singapore".
Shaped like 10 fingers anchored by a round base in the middle, the design of each digit will host gallery spaces featuring skylights and curved interior walls. Twenty-one gallery spaces over 6000 square metres will hold art, science, media and technology exhibits - including a permanent exhibit representing Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine.
Back to the real world and hotel heaven, my room was one of the more modest - an Atrium room, which is the type offered to level 22 - but still far more generous than a standard hotel room in most Australian capital cities.
I confess to feeling beautifully spoilt when I have two queen beds to choose from when snooze time arrives, particularly in a big, comfortable room. It gives a whole new meaning to sleeping on the right or left side.
The room, with all cyber and electronic needs catered for, including buttons for control of blinds and lights (which always confound me), had a generous balcony extending its length. Although I was overlooking the frantic traffic of a criss-cross of highways, the heavy sliding glass doors cut out the noise.
That meant more peace in the big bath, where I sat in splendid isolation in one of the rooms in the stylish separate bathroom, accessed through a sliding door that was more an Asian work of art than a functional room divider. A separate shower recess and an impressive-sized vanity - which in some suites extends to mega-sized double vanities - completed the up-market ablutions block.
The sheer size and audacity of Adelson's vision has catapulted the Singaporean economy back into wildly good health following the tremors of the 2008 global financial crisis.
PricewaterhouseCoopers last month issued a report about the combined influence on the Singaporean economy of MBS and another entertainment complex, Resorts World. This year, the two IRs are expected to lift Singapore's tourist receipts by 50 per cent to between $17.5 billion and $18.5 billion. The Singapore Tourism Board expects the number of visitors to grow by 25 per cent to 12.5 million by the end of this year.
Who said gambling was a mug's game? The wily Singaporean government, with its long-standing disdain for the sins of human weakness, is reaping massive benefits by embracing gaming and its connected materialistic pleasures.
Flying back to Sydney from Singapore, it's hard to imagine what might surpass MBS in Asia. Odds on, though, another Las Vegas type is gambling he can build something bigger and bolder. I can hardly wait.
The writer was a guest of Marina Bay Sands and Singapore Tourism.
Trip notes
Getting there
British Airways flies Sydney-Singapore return from about $940 (low season). A free shuttle bus service is available from Changi Airport to Marina Bay Sands every 30 minutes from 6am-10pm. 1300 767 177, britishairways.com.
Staying there
Rooms cost from $S429 ($335) a night, suites from $S549. +65 6688 8868, marinabaysands.com.
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