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‘Interest but no offers on sale of Tinian Dynasty’
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Posted on Sep 14 2008
Korean investors are eying the prospect of buying the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino but have yet to give any concrete offer for the multi-million dollar property, its management said Sunday.
In an email, Tinian Dynasty managing director Alfred Yue said some Korean firms have shown interest in building new hotels on Tinian and “of course, some of them talk to us also.” But despite persistent rumors circulating on the island about the pending sale of the sprawling resort complex, he added, an offer has yet to emerge.
“There are people knocking at the door but no one has come in yet,” Yue said. “There is lots of speculation but most of it is out of proportion.”
Yue stopped short of revealing whether the Dynasty’s owners would sell the casino if a prospective buyer made a fitting offer.
Opened in 1998, the Tinian Dynasty is the largest and most extravagant hotel on the island, complete with a hundreds of rooms, several restaurants and a shopping wing. The resort has hosted major poker tournaments and developed a reputation as a popular destination for Chinese tourists.
However, staff at the Dynasty report it has fallen on tough financial times recently, like many major hotels in the CNMI, due to the rising cost of electricity and a diminished tourism market.
The Dynasty’s casino, for example, now has a black curtain blocking patrons’ access to most of it in a bid to curtail utility costs.
Yet on a brighter note, the Dynasty’s business could pick up in the near future with the anticipated return of direct Shanghai-to-Saipan airline service. In a statement, the Dynasty, Century Tours, and the Marianas Visitors Authority last week said flights along that route will recommence Sept. 29 on a twice weekly schedule.
