Review: The Venetian Macao

If Macau is Asia’s Sin City, the $2.4 billion Venetian Macao resort is the ultimate ode to China’s consumer culture. Like its Las Vegas counterpart, the 3,000-suite Venice–themed hotel complex has three indoor canals (complete with singing gondoliers), no fewer than 30 restaurants, and a million square feet of shopping. The cavernous lobby is packed with day-trippers, who stroll in awe along the vaulted mall under a ceiling of faux Renaissance paintings, and through the Grand Canal arcade, lined with Venetian-style shops. Despite the hotel’s over-the-top antics, the suites are quite elegant and comfortable, incorporating antique-look Chinese furniture and wood carvings, canopied beds, and a sunken sitting area. The 550,000-square-foot casino—the world’s largest—is the real highlight, filled night and day with serious-minded gamblers. The hotel stands out not so much for its elegance and pampering as for its embodiment of Macau in all its kitschy, surreal fun.