Wynn Las Vegas

Wynn Las Vegas Resort and Country Club is a AAA five diamond/Mobil five-star casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada; a southern suburb of Las Vegas. The US$2.7 billion resort is named after casino developer Steve Wynn and is the flagship property of Wynn Resorts Limited. The resort covers 215 acres.

Wynn Las Vegas is currently the tallest completed building in the Las Vegas area, towering 48 stories over the Strip. It is located at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Sands Avenue (on the N.E. corner), directly across The Strip from the Fashion Show Mall.

The 2,716 rooms range in size from 640 square feet (58 m²) to the villas at 7,000 square feet (650 m²) with a 111,000 ft² (10,200 m²) casino, a convention center with 223,000 ft² (20,700 m²) of space, 76,000 square feet (7,000 m²) of retail space.

History

The site was assembled by buying the Desert Inn Hotel and golf course for most of the land. The remainder was acquired by purchasing private residences that were generally located along Paradise Avenue. While some owners sold early on, others held out. This resulted in numerous legal actions between the various parties. In the end, the site acquired totaled 215 acres (870,000 m²).

Wynn Las Vegas LLC contracted with Marnell Corrao Associates on June 4, 2002 to design and build the resort. The original name for the project was “Le Rêve” but was changed to “Wynn Las Vegas” well before the project was complete. The original name lives on in the stage production. Built at a cost of US$2.7 billion, it was the largest privately-funded construction project in the nation. This compares with the budget for reconstruction with the World Trade Center site which at that time was projected to be $1.7 billion.

The historic Desert Inn Golf Course was rebuilt while the hotel was being constructed. The course is now known as Wynn Golf and Country Club.

Early advertising for the resort featured exterior images of the hotel tower, with Steve Wynn standing on the roof, just above his signature logo. The initial commercial aired in some local spots during the 2005 Super Bowl, and eventually national spots as opening drew near. A “teaser” website for the resort included both the commercial and a “making-of” video.

The resort was featured on an episode of the Fine Living network’s What Makes it Tick, which was produced by NorthSouth Productions.

Wynn Las Vegas, designed by Jon Jerde, opened on April 28, 2005, Wynn’s wife’s birthday, the 55th Anniversary of the opening of the original Desert Inn, and five years from the day Steve Wynn purchased the site. When it opened, the Wynn had many firsts and notable features, including:

* The first casino to combine the room key and the casino frequent-player card in one card
* The first casino to include a car (Ferrari-Maserati) dealership.
* The world’s largest distribution of HDTV, into hotel rooms using high-speed Cat-6 Ethernet cables
* The largest installation of Voice over IP technology for hotel phones

It was also among the first casinos to install RFID tags inside chips to better detect counterfeiting.

Inspiration and vision

Wynn purchased the Desert Inn hotel and casino to obtain property for his future dreams. The Desert Inn was imploded to make room for his new hotel project. Along the way, Wynn Resorts Limited was formed and continued development with Wynn being the controlling stock holder.

Wynn has stated that the major shift with this new resort is the concept of designing from the “inside out.” In contrast to his previous hotels Bellagio, The Mirage, and Treasure Island, there is no Las Vegas Strip attraction to draw in passers-by. Instead, visitors must venture inside to see what the hotel is all about. Wynn has said that “there is no franchise in a casual observer, there is a franchise in a guest.”

Wynn Dealers Controversy

On May 12 and 13, 2007, Wynn dealers voted 444-149 in favor of representation by the Transportation Workers Union. The vote is a result of controversial policy changes made by Wynn to share tips with floor staff.

Attractions

Penske-Wynn Ferrari-Maserati dealership

Wynn Las Vegas is the first casino to include a luxury car dealership. Brand new factory-authorized cars include the Ferrari and Maserati brands. Used cars are sold “as-is” and include other luxury car brands, with some cars on display ranging in price from little more than $100,000 to $1.6 million. The dealership also includes parts and other car-wares.

Non-buying guests of the resort can go into the dealership to take a look around. When the resort opened, there was no fee to enter, but the dealership became so crowded that management began charging $10 for admission; registered Ferrari-Maserati owners are exempted from this fee, as well as children accompanying paying adults. The Penske-Wynn is one of the few casino car exhibits in Las Vegas metropolitan area. Other exhibits can be found at the Imperial Palace and Caesars Palace. However, the Penske-Wynn Ferrari-Maserati dealership is the only casino/dealership in the Las Vegas area.

The dealership is placed near the valet parking of the resort, so that people can look at the model cars while waiting for their own cars to arrive.

The cars are not the only thing that the resort offers with the Ferrari name. A Ferrari Store accompanies the dealership, Offering such goods as apparel, racing merchandise, electronics, and even a home gym all branded with the Ferrari logo. This is the first ever factory authorized Ferrari Store in North America and only the seventh in the world. The staff wears Ferrari pit crew outfits and a sound system blasts engine noises as would be heard on a race track.

The Wynn Art Collection

The Wynn Gallery, which had charged an entrance fee, closed shortly after the start of 2006 as a result of poor ticket sales. The artwork from the former gallery is now scattered around the resort.

Lake of Dreams

In a departure from the trend established when The Mirage opened of providing free sidewalk attractions to draw in customers, Wynn Las Vegas is constructed so that visitors must enter the building to view the free attractions. The main attraction is a large, curtain waterfall behind a mountain that faces the strip. The waterfall falls into a 3 acre (12,000 m²) lake. Both the waterfall and lake have images displayed on them to produce a show called “Lake of Dreams”. This show starts on the hour beginning in the afternoon. When the show is inactive, the waterfall creates an animated color sequence on the screen.

The show can be viewed from the Parasol Up (a bar and viewing area), and can be viewed through a glass window with no audio. Or, the show can be viewed from Parasol Down, with a larger view. Visitors can go to the platform at the Parasol Down bar to view the show with full-volume audio. Those dining at SW Steakhouse or Daniel Boulud Brasserie may also have a full view of the show while dining. Children under 18 are prohibited from going to Parasol Down.

Shows

Le Rêve

The first production show to open was Le Rêve. Le Rêve is set in a 1 million gallon water-oriented theatre where no seat is more than 40 feet (12 m) from the stage. The production was created by Franco Dragone and is similar to the shows produced by Cirque du Soleil.

Le Rêve was the working name of the resort before it was changed to Wynn Las Vegas. “Le Rêve” means “The Dream” in French, and the name of the centerpiece painting that Steve Wynn owns, Le Rêve by Picasso.

Most recently, Wynn Las Vegas bought the rights to the show from Dragone to make some changes, including the logo. Wynn now owns all rights to the show, with Dragone still in the label.

Avenue Q

Avenue Q, a puppet and people musical which enjoyed considerable success on Broadway was the second production show to open at Wynn. It debuted on September 8, 2005 in the 1,200 seat Broadway Theatre and closed on May 28, 2006.

One of the main reasons why Avenue Q closed was, according to Steve Wynn, real estate land and money. Wynn contracted with Spamalot to perform at Wynn Las Vegas. However, in order to house Spamalot, a third theater needs to be built. The only room left for the theater was on the skirts of the golf course or in the middle of the convention spaces for the planned Encore expansion tower. Since Wynn did not want to invade the golf course or cut between the convention spaces of Encore and Wynn Las Vegas, he was forced to terminate the Avenue Q contract. Wynn was quoted as saying “Avenue Q was making money, but not enough money.”

Spamalot Las Vegas

Spamalot, a Tony Award-winning comedic musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, opened for previews on March 8, 2007 at Grail Theater (formerly, The Broadway Theater). The official run began on March 31, 2007 and starred John O’Hurley as King Arthur through September 26, 2007. An understudy is now the lead as Mr. O’Hurley is on sabbatical until further notice.

Nightclubs

Tryst

Tryst is now the flagship of the Wynn’s nightlife scene.