The debt-saddled 13 Hotel in Seac Pai Van, Coloane, has finally been sold after various failed attempts to offload it in the wake of its owner’s bankruptcy in 2023.
According to multiple media reports, details regarding the buyer and the selling price have not been revealed, as the deal – carried out by the real estate firm, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) – involved the signing of a non-disclosure agreement.
However, Chinese language news outlet Allin Media claimed on Saturday that the troubled luxury property went for only HK$400 million (US$50.95 million). If verified, this figure would mark a drop of 83.3 percent in comparison to the HK$2.4 billion (US$307 million) price tag that has been attached to the troubled hotel since it was first put up for auction in March 2024.
In July of that year, the hotel began limited operations, with bookings available only for some of its 199 rooms and both of its restaurants remaining shuttered. Earlier this year, the five-star property received a new licence from the Macao government to operate until the end of 2025. This was followed by the holding of another unsuccessful auction in April.
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Established by Hong Kong entrepreneur Stephen Hung, 13 Hotel was plagued by numerous issues even before it was inaugurated. The project, which cost more than US$1.4 billion, faced multiple delays when it began construction in 2013, resulting in its opening being pushed back to September 2018.
Once dubbed the “world’s most luxurious hotel,” the property was unable to strike a deal with any of the six local gaming concessionaires to allow it to operate a satellite casino and acquire the gaming tables that it needed to capitalise on Macao’s once prosperous VIP casino sector.
Coupled with its location away from the rest of the Cotai Strip, as well as its gaudy design – excessive even by Macao standards – the hotel failed to lure enough business to stay afloat.
By February 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic got underway, the hotel had terminated operations, with its parent company, South Shore, declaring insolvency and becoming delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2023.
