Crown Sydney’s lavish celeb party had drones and G Flip performance amid company redundancies

Just weeks before the “Summer at Crown” party, the Barangaroo casino and hotel announced it was reducing the hours of it’s gaming floors due to decline in customers.

With an impressive drone show and an acoustic performance from the in-demand G Flip, Crown Sydney’s lavish party on November 30 was supposed to mark the start of summer. However it also coincided with a round of redundancies within the company.

Just weeks before the “Summer at Crown” party, the Barangaroo casino and hotel announced it was reducing the hours of it’s gaming floors due to a decline in customers.

Crown Resorts, which is owned by New York based investment giant Blackstone, was forced to cut 180 jobs, mainly on the gaming floor.

This came into effect on November 29.

However Confidential understands since then, the company has also wielded the redundancy axe on some marketing, management and client relations roles across the company.

Acclaimed Australian singer, songwriter, and producer, G Flip, was the headline at Crown Sydney’s “Summer at Crown” party. Picture: Supplied

A day later after the changes to Casino hours took effect and staff had lost their job, Crown Sydney threw a party for celebrities, influencers, international media and stakeholders on it’s Infinity pool terrace, rumoured to have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It’s understood Crown, who hosted the party to market the hotel to the world, split the cost of the event with major sponsor Patron.

Straight off the back of an ARIA win, singer G Flip was the surprise musical performance of the night. They are considered top tier talent and could charge up to $250,000 for a corporate performance, however it’s understood their performers fees were under $100,000 and were partially subsidised with stays at the hotel.

Rebecca Judd at the lavish Summer at Crown party. Picture: Supplied

Anna Heinrich at the lavish Summer at Crown party. Picture: Supplied

Today co-host Karl Stefanovic MC’d the VIP event. Picture: Supplied

The drone display at Crown Sydney’s Summer of Crown.

Other celebrities like Rebecca Judd were gifted stays at the hotel to attend the event, which included food from four of Crown’s famous restaurants including a’Mare, Woodcut, Nobu and Oncore by Clare Smyth.

As well as G Flip, guests were entertained by MC Karl Stefanovic, synchronised swimmers and the night finished with a drone show over Sydney Harbour.

One insider described the party as a huge slap in the face for the workers who had been made redundant, especially so close to Christmas.

A spokesperson for Crown said the party “was a unique opportunity to partner with brands that align with our target audience and key opinion leaders who have a strong following in one or more of our key markets.”  

 “We acknowledge it’s been a challenging year for our business, including for some of our team who have been impacted by the recent changes to our casino operations in Sydney. We are committed to continuing to grow and develop our business as we attract more visitors from across Australia and internationally.”