Jackpot seekers boost Grand Hyatt Jeju's Aug sales to record high

Grand Hyatt Jeju within Jeju Dream Tower Integrated Resort posted its highest-ever revenue of 14.3 billion won ($10.8 million) in August, Lotte Tour Development Co. said on Tuesday.

Its record-breaking casino operations led the revenue growth with the expansion of direct flights between the South Korean tourist island and neighboring countries.

In August, the luxury hotel’s casino operations set a new record high in terms of the drop, or the money casino players exchanged for chips.

Jeju Dream Tower Casino, which admits foreign nationals only, brought in 28,734 visitors last month, surpassing its previous record of 27,005 hit in July.

Its table drop spiked to a record 132.7 billion won in August versus 130.2 billion won in July, with the number of casino users and drop amount surging to their highest levels.

Net sales from casino operations, subtracting agent fees and other expenses from gross sales, more than quadrupled on-year to 17.9 billion won in August.

Month on month, however, its net sales decreased from 20.1 billion won in July, which was blamed on the decline in the hold rate, or the ratio of the casino’s winnings to the table drop, Lotte Tour said.

Grand Hyatt Jeju’s hold rate dropped to 12% in August, lower than its average rate and the 13.4% posted in July.

The rate of foreigners staying at the hotel leapt to 58% last month, a nearly sixfold increase in one year, compared to the previous year’s 10%.

In total, it sold 39,663 guest rooms last month, surpassing its previous record of 36,103 reached in July.

The first-half performance of the hotel, which opened in December 2020, was led primarily by individual visitors given no significant rebound in the number of Chinese tourists. China had banned its citizens' group tours to South Korea amid chilled relations between the two countries.

But since China lifted such restrictions last month, Grant Hyatt Jeju is expected to continue to post record-breaking revenue in the months to come.

Fanning such expectations, the number of weekly direct flights between Jeju and Hangzhou in China will increase to seven from four, starting on Sept. 16.

The Jeju-Beijing route will double to six, starting on Sept. 20.

Write to Mi-Kyoung Lee at capital@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.