Wynn hotel-casino raises bar in a town already over the top
LAS VEGAS.- The casino mogul who altered this city with such world-famous brands as the Mirage and Bellagio yesterday kicked up the competition a notch by opening the world's most expensive hotel-casino, the Wynn Las Vegas, a $2.7 billion extravaganza that includes a manmade mountain, a 70-foot waterfall, and multiple flat-screen televisions in almost every room.
''Oh, my god!" gasped Georgina Fields, 34, of Manchester, N.H., who after a four-hour wait was rewarded with one of the first glimpses of the new hotel, which opened at the stroke of midnight. ''Just look at the molding, the tile, everything. It's just brilliant."
Hotel owner Steve Wynn stood in the entrance posing for pictures, shaking hands, and thanking those who gathered to see his much-anticipated exclamation point at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.
Even for this notoriously over-the-top desert travel destination, the scale of the curved, copper-colored 49-story Wynn Las Vegas is groundbreaking and lush. The 180-foot, man-made mountain, covered with full-grown Aleppo pine trees, stands guard out front to block the view of the property's entrance from the street, forcing visitors to come inside to see the 100 colorful parasol light fixtures that hang from the ceiling and dance to music on occasion.
The 217-acre property cost $1 billion more than the budget for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower that New York plans to build on the site of the former Trade Center. With 2,716 oversized rooms on 49 floors, Wynn spent an average of $1 million per room. That eclipses the prior world record of $775,000 for the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii.
The hotel boasts several features not available at other properties on the Strip, including an 18-hole golf course designed by Wynn and golfer Tom Fazio, the only Manolo Blahnik shoe shop outside of Manhattan, and a Ferrari-Maserati dealership.
''The idea of this building was to create extended spaces, to bring the outdoors inside, and to transport the guest into another realm," said spokeswoman Denise Randazzo. ''The real difference here is that we save all the really amazing features for the resort guests."
Wynn in 1989 opened the Mirage, at the time the most expensive resort in history, with a waterfall that transforms into a volcano every 15 minutes along the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Four years later, Wynn opened the Treasure Island, with a fiery live-action pirate show out front every 90 minutes. In 1998 he created the Bellagio with a mammoth dancing fountain show on the nine-acre lake.
What's different for Wynn Las Vegas, though, is that Wynn turned his own concept inside out, hiding the sensory goodies deep within the new hotel and making it less accessible to the masses. That's led to some wondering if a Las Vegas property can thrive with little walk-by traffic and not a lot for people to do if they don't spend money.
Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Adviser newsletter, says Wynn's newest property will succeed, but it will have relatively limited appeal. ''Mr. and Mrs. Omaha will walk in and say 'OK, fine.' Then they're going to say, 'I can't afford the $7 ice cream.' And they'll leave."
Perhaps, but not yesterday. With all the mystery surrounding the opening, most of those who came in were determined to be enthralled.
''I come to every casino opening," says Debra York, 40, of San Mateo, Calif. ''I just love Vegas and I come here all the time. All I can say is that I want to stay at the Wynn now. I'll save up some money or maybe I'll win some!"
The opening marks Wynn's flamboyant return to the scene of some of his greatest successes. His publicly traded Mirage Resorts Inc. was bought by then-MGM Grand in 2000, leaving him without a property in Las Vegas for the first time in three decades. Wynn, 63, began his comeback by forming Wynn Resorts Inc., buying the Desert Inn Hotel-Casino and knocking it down.
Shares in Wynn Resorts rose from $35 when it went public in 2002 to $75 by last month without Wynn turning on a single slot machine. They closed yesterday at $53.50.
Wynn, who managed the design of the property, is part of the draw. His name is on a jewelry store, the car dealership, and a steakhouse; he narrates the audio tour of his personal art collection of Picassos and Renoirs at the property, and he appeared standing atop the resort in TV commercials. He scrapped plans to call the hotel ''Le Reve," French for ''The Dream" after director Steven Spielberg told him the Wynn name had a better ring.
Prior to the opening, Wynn made bold comments about the hotel, comparing it to the pyramids of Egypt.
That sort of bravado comes with risks. Some of those who entered yesterday were less than overwhelmed. Vegas4Visitors.com owner Rick Garman waited with the crowd outside for hours to get in, only to wonder what Wynn spent $2.7 billion on.
''It's nice. It's pretty. But it's not something really wow and different," said Garman. ''I'm a little disappointed. I was not blown away. Everybody I spoke to, almost universally, would say, 'It's nice' but that was it. If my expectations were too high, then Steve Wynn set them too high."
