Maven Meter: Grand Emperor Casino & Hotel
(Last updated: May 20, 2020)
INTRODUCTION
Grand Emperor is one of Macau Peninsula’s newer hotels, having commenced operations in 2006. Interestingly enough, Jackie Chan is said to hold a minority share in the venture.
Grand Emperor Photo Gallery
EMPEROR PALACE CASINO GAMES
Spanning 5 floors, the Emperor Palace casino offers 62 tables and 140 slots, along with some Live Gaming Baccarat. Unfortunately, Roulette and Pai Gow are no longer available.
Baccarat – $200 minimum bet.
Commission Free Baccarat – Minimum bet is $200.
Blackjack – Minimum bet is $200.
Sic Bo – 5 different bets available. Big/Small minimum bet is $200.
Slot machines – Slot lounge on 1st floor has 140 machines, with minimums between 0.05 and $1. It also has electronic versions of Roulette ($5) and Sic Bo ($30).
Live Gaming Baccarat is also available for $20 and $50.
Three Card Baccarat – Minimum bet of $200.
EMPEROR PALACE CASINO PROMOTIONS
The Emperor Palace casino has one program for slot players and another one for high rollers.
Slots program – Slots players have three different cards: a Red, Gold, and Black. The Red one is the introductory card, while the Gold card requires 888,000 points to attain and the Black 9,999,000. Slot points are earned on the following basis: every $100 bet results in 200 points. Most of the prizes available for redemption are smaller things like shopping coupons and hotel vouchers.
VIP program – Grand Emperor’s program returns 0.7% cash back monthly, or 0.7% in complimentary allowance, down from the 1.0% it had been for years. Comp allowance refers to money which can be used in the hotel to purchase rooms, F&B, or services in the Royal Thai Spa.
GRAND EMPEROR HOTEL
Two gold carriages parked outside, Buckingham Palace style guards in bearskin hats with fake machine guns, and a pathway in the lobby flaunting 78 bars of pure gold.
Is this Macau or the mainland?
Needless to say, I’m not very impressed.
The Grand Emperor website has quite a few special promotions related to room deals. Let’s start with the most basic one.
-14 days advanced purchase
-2 daily breakfasts
-Late check-out at 1 pm
-$100 MOP spa coupon
-Free mini bar
Family Room Deal
-3 buffet breakfasts
-Round trip ferry tickets
-Open top Macau bus sightseeing (3 pax)
-$200 dining coupon
-Two $100 spa coupons
Couple Getaway Package
-Round trip ferry tickets (2 pax)
-Breakfast buffet (2 pax)
-Two open top bus tickets
-$200 dining coupon
-Two $100 spa coupons
Birthday Rewards
One adult who has a birthday in the same month can qualify.
-Buffet for 2 pax
-1/2 pound chocolate brownie
-$200 dining coupon
-1 bottle of house wine
-Late check-out at 3 pm
If you’re not interested in any packages, I think it’s possible to snag Standard rooms for between $800 and $1000 Mops per night, if going through an Agoda or Trip.com.
GRAND EMPEROR DINING
The Grand Emperor has a trio of restaurants that each does a different kind of cuisine: Chinese, Western and Japanese. Prices across the board are all pretty decent.
Grand Emperor Court – Located on the 9th floor, Grand Emperor Court does Guangdong style meals. Appetizers run $98 to $288, while soup is $168 to $268 and vegetables $88 to $148. Pricier selections include abalone and bird’s nest ($298 to $550), Chaozhou favourites ($108 to $480), meat ($128 to $228) and seafood ($198 to $298.)
At lunch dim sum takes over with most selections between $33 and $48. The same menu also features barbecue dishes ($68 to $380), cold dishes ($48 to $188), congee ($42), and rice and noodle favourites ($108 to $168).
Hours are from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm daily. On Sundays it opens an hour earlier at 10:00 am.
The Royal Kitchen – Royal Kitchen is also located on the 9th floor, across the hallway from Grand Emperor Court. It offers three buffets daily composed of Asian and Western fare. Prices are as follows:
The Royal Kitchen also has an a la carte menu featuring appetizers and soups ($65 to $120), salads ($95 to $150), Chef’s Specialties ($110 to $260), pasta ($110 to $120), Asian favourites ($110 to $130) and different sandwiches ($95 to $110).
Hours daily are from 7:00 am to 10:30 am, 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm.
Royal Robatayaki – Located in the lobby, Grand Emperor’s Japanese restaurant is pretty reasonably priced too. Starters and salads are $38 to $98, rice and noodle staples $88 to $108, and soup $28 or $88. Sashimi runs between $68 and $580 while full platters are $488 or $988. Other selections include sushi ($48 to $100), robatayaki ($38 to $260) and teppanyaki ($78 to $188).
I didn’t see any information regarding the lunch and dinner buffets they’ve run for years; perhaps they’ve been discontinued.
Hours daily are from 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm.
GRAND EMPEROR SPA
The Royal Thai Spa – The Royal Thai Spa is completely legit and offers a good assortment of massage and beauty treatments. A little cheaper than most hotel spas, 1 hour massage only costs between $480 and $900, while 1.5 to 2 hour varieties top out at $1250. Facial treatments run $950 to $1250 and all manner of body work including scrubs, masks and wraps are $500 to $650.
2.5 hour long packages are the most expensive things on the menu costing $1500 or $1650. If you just want to use the sauna or steam room, the door pass is $200, but neither facility is very large.
Located at the 20th floor, hours daily are from 12:00 pm to 2:00 am.
The Excellent Sauna – This little beauty is a blast from the past, as all of the hot posters in the hallway have sadly been removed. Maybe people are right when they say Macau is only getting worse!
No real need to elaborate on what they’re selling here, but I’ll do it anyway. Door pass is $1368 while straight up massage is $1598, with full service running between $2688 and $4988.
Located on the 10th floor, Excellent Sauna is open 24 hours.
GRAND EMPEROR BARS
Lobby Lounge – Well appointed lobby bar offers snacks and sandwiches for $80 to $108 while a cake set is $85.
Alcoholic beverages are a touch pricy, with beers $66 to $90, spirits $75 to $185 and shots of whisky $75 to $185. Their wine of the month selection is limited to 4 bottles that range from $320 to $560, while one single solitary cocktail is $80.
The rest of the menu is composed of soft drinks ($56), coffee ($66 to $78), juice ($72) and tea ($72).
Lobby Lounge keeps hours between 11:00 am and 1:00 am.
Club Deluxe – I visited Club Deluxe about a decade ago and learned it was nothing more than a brothel masquerading as a KTV. The young Filipino Mama San laid it all out for me, explaining that the whole experience ran around $2500. Fast forward to the present day and I’d imagine it’d set you back $3500 at least.
The price of guilty pleasures is really getting out of hand.
THE LAST WORD
The Grand Emperor puts on one hell of a good show with its Buckingham Palace guards, fancy carriages, and gold bars, but don’t let appearances fool you.
The hotel is basically a pimped up version of the President or Fortuna built a decade later, with prices to match. I’ll gladly keep the extra $300 Mops in my pocket thank you very much, and stay at the Sintra instead.
With this Grand Emperor, all that glitters is certainly not gold!
LOCATION
At least it has a very good location, right beside New Yaohan shopping mall one block west of the Grand Lisboa.