Description
According to the letter sent by hotel management to the labor union and what GGRAsia saw, the operator of Jeju KAL Hotel (pictured) in Jeju, Korea, plans to dispose of the property.
It is a move that raises questions about the future location of Mega Luck Casino, a foreign-only game venue in the hotel.
MegaLuck is run by Hong Kong-listed New Silkroad Culture Ltd, which refers to casinos as "entertainment businesses." An interim report from the operator filed in September showed the sector had not posted any revenue in the six months to June 30 last year. That's the latest published result.
Jeju Island, which has many foreigner-only casinos, like other Asian tourist destinations, has seen its inbound foreign tourism business severely affected by travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For all 2020, New Silkroad booked only HK$391,000 ($50,148) in revenue from outside customers for its entertainment business and suffered a partial loss of HK$64.8 million.
GGRAsia provided information about the hotel's disposal to management at MegaLuck and New Silkroad, but declined to comment.
Hotel operator KAL Hotel Network Ltd (KHN) said in a Jan. 4 letter to the KAL Hotel chapter of the Jeju Tourism Service Workers Union that the decision to dispose of the hotel was made by the KHN's board of directors on Dec. 23 "to overcome economic difficulties." The letter does not detail the timing of the disposal, the name of the acquisition entity, and related considerations.
As of Tuesday, the hotel's room reservation website is only accepting reservations until March 31.
A union representative at GGRAsia said the leases at Megaluck and Jeju Kal Hotel are renewed once a year and must be notified six months in advance of their termination. The hotel's current operator notified casino management of the possibility of disposing of the property in September last year, according to the union.
The leader of the union's branch told GGRAsia that about 60 Megaluck casino workers, who were not actual union members, had approached GGRAsia expressing concern about the future of their jobs.
A representative of KHN's parent Korean Air said in a phone call with GGRAsia that the timeline for the disposal process