The boss for Melco Crown Entertainment Limited has reportedly announced that the long-anticipated fifth hotel tower being constructed for its City Of Dreams Macau property is to be christened “Morpheus” and will feature some gaming.

According to a report from GGRAsia, Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Melco Crown Entertainment Limited, stated that the $1 billion hotel tower is to offer approximately 780 rooms along with suites, duplex villas and “sky villas” while its high-speed elevator will transport visitors to an observation deck featuring views of the interior atrium.

“There’s one floor of “Morpheus” and I think it’s going to be a few VIP [gaming] tables or a few premium mass tables,” Ho told GGRAsia.““Morpheus” is really a hotel tower and the one floor of gaming [will just involve] the moving of some of the mass tables or whatever, to that area. So, it is not a separate casino and in terms of VIP business, I think Melco Crown [Entertainment Limited] has always been not very reliant on VIP [as] less than 5% of our earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization comes from VIP.

“As a company, we are focused on growing premium mass and that’s always been the case. I think we are the second-least reliant on VIP in the whole of Macau. I’m happy that it [Macau’s VIP business] has recovered but I think the driver for Macau and for Melco Crown [Entertainment Limited] for the years to come will be based on mass.”

Ho explained that the coming 525-feet hotel tower was designed by the late Zaha Hadid, who was also responsible for China’s Guangzhou Opera House and the London Aquatics Centre in the United Kingdom, and is expected to commence operations sometime next year.

“The cooperation with Zaha Hadid was an honor for us,” Ho told GGRAsia. “Unfortunately she passed away but this is one of her last works. So for us, in future, it is important for us to grow this hotel brand globally. Our investment for this hotel tower is $1 billion [and will be] positioned for sophisticated international travelers.”

Melco Crown Entertainment Limited, which is owned by Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development Limited and Australian firm Crown Resorts Limited, is moreover responsible for the Studio City Casino Macau on the western side of the Cotai Strip with Ho reportedly declaring that this property has experienced increased visitor traffic since The Parisian Macao opened nearby on September 13.

“After The Parisian Macao opened, we have seen bigger traffic,” Ho told GGRAsia. “The flow of visitors has got better because the blockage on the road was removed.”

Despite the number of hotel rooms of all categories in Macau growing by 20.7% year-on-year in 2016 to stand at some 36,200, Ho additionally reportedly stated that he was not concerned that there may now be an over-supply of luxury accommodation in the former Portuguese enclave.

“In future, there will still be demand for hotel rooms here,” Ho told GGRAsia. Now, even after [Wynn Palace Cotai and The Parisian Macao] have opened, which brought additionally nearly 5,000 hotel rooms, our City Of Dreams Macau, Studio City Casino Macau and Altira Macau still see an occupancy rate of over 95%. We don’t have that much growth [in visitor arrivals] now because of a bottleneck in infrastructure. So in future when the infrastructure improves, especially when the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is opened, Macau can see a greater flow of visitors brought in by the Hong Kong International Airport. This I think will be positive for our company and for the city’s economy.”