Wynn Las Vegas
3131 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Opening date April 28, 2005
Previous names Desert Inn (which includes Wilbur Clark’s Desert Inn, ITT Sheraton Desert Inn, and MGM Desert Inn)
No.of rooms 2,716
Permanent shows Le Rêve
Danny Gans (starting Feb. 2009)
Wynn Las Vegas Resort and Country Club (often just called “Wynn”) is a AAA five diamond/Mobil four-star and Mobil five-star (for The Tower Suites at Wynn Las Vegas) casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. 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 (0.87 km2).
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 2,715 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.
The Wynn does not have any floors that start with the number 4, since it is an unlucky number in Chinese culture.
History
View north from Las Vegas Boulevard. 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.[citation needed]
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.
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 Vegas 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
The tallest hotel building on the strip
It was also among the first casinos to install RFID tags inside chips to better detect counterfeiting.
Inspiration and vision
Wynn taken from the freeway in Las VegasWynn 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.”
Restaurants
Alex
Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare
Stratta
The Country Club – an American Steakhouse
Daniel Boulud Brasserie
Okada
Red 8 – Asian Bistro
Sugar & Ice (in the Wynn Esplanade)
SW Steakhouse
Tableau
Terrace Point Café
The Buffet
The Drugstore Café
Wing Lei
Zoozacrackers
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;[5] 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 wear 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 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.
According to Steve Wynn Avenue Q was shut down due to the lack of real estate and the exorbitant costs of constructing a new venue. Wynn had a contract with Spamalot to perform at Wynn Las Vegas, but this required a third theater to be built. Potential sites for the theater included the skirts of the golf course or a portion of the convention space in the planned Encore expansion tower. Since Wynn did not want to build on 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.”
Monty Python’s Spamalot
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 was the lead as Mr. O’Hurley was on sabbatical until January 28, 2008. The show closed on July 13, 2008.
Danny Gans
On April 17, 2008 Wynn Resorts announced that current Mirage headliner Danny Gans will move to the resort in February 2009.[7] Gans will move into the theater formerly used by both Avenue Q and Spamalot, which will be renamed Encore Theater and be marketed as part of the Encore expansion.
Nightclubs
Tryst
Tryst is now the flagship of the Wynn’s nightlife scene.
Blush
Blush opened on Labor Day 2007.
Restaurants
Alex
Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare
Stratta
The Country Club – an American Steakhouse
Daniel Boulud Brasserie
Okada
Red 8 – Asian Bistro
Sugar & Ice (in the Wynn Esplanade)
SW Steakhouse
Tableau
Terrace Point Café
The Buffet
The Drugstore Café
Wing Lei
Zoozacrackers
Shops and boutiques
Wynn Esplanade Shoppes
Black Satin Intimates
Brioni
Chanel
Christian Dior
Manolo Blahnik
Cartier
Oscar de la Renta
Louis Vuitton
Vertu
Alexander McQueen
Jo Malone
Graff Jewelers
Judith Leiber
Black Satin
Wynn Signature Shop
Shoe-In
OutFit
Wynn & Company – Jewelry
Wynn LVNV
San Giorgio
In Wynn Las Vegas
Decorazzi
Bags, Belts & Baubles
Tiny Baubles
Cabana Shop (on Pool Deck)
The Drugstore
Mojitos Resort Wear
The Pro Shop
W.Ink
Ferrari Store
The Show Shop
Amenities
Wynn Golf and Country Club
18th green
The Wynn Golf and Country Club is the only golf course on the Las Vegas Strip. It was designed by Steve Wynn and Tom Fazio, who previously worked together on the Shadow Creek Golf Club, in neighboring North Las Vegas. Use of the course is restricted to hotel guests at a cost of $500 per round.
The Tower Suites at Wynn Las Vegas
The Tower Suites at Wynn Las Vegas consists of all rooms and suites in the separated southernmost section of the main tower. These rooms and suites have a private driveway and entrance, a separate check-in area and elevators, and a private pool area. In 2006, The Tower Suites at Wynn Las Vegas was evaluated independently from the rest of the property by Mobil Travel Guide for their 2007 ratings. It was awarded the first and only Mobil Five-Star rating ever awarded to a hotel in Las Vegas. Wynn Las Vegas itself received the Mobil Four-Star rating for 2007.
Villa Suites
In addition to the Fairway Villas, Wynn Las Vegas contains six Villa Suites which are not available to the general public. One of these villas is the private residence of Steve Wynn.[9] Three of these villas are along the West side of the hotel, between the tower and the Lake of Dreams. The other three are located along the Western edge of the pool area, South of the tower. In February of 2007, Wynn requested approval to build four additional villa suites on the South edge of the property.
The Villas by the Golf Course cost an average $5,000 a night.
Future development
Encore
On 28 April 2006, the resort celebrated its one year anniversary by breaking ground on a second hotel tower.[10] Called Encore, the tower will be a $2.1 billion, 2,034 room hotel project adjacent to the existing resort and on the remaining frontage of Las Vegas Blvd.
Wynn Golf Course redevelopment
Wynn Resorts are developing a long-range master plan for the 142-acre (0.57 km2) golf course that will include a large mixed-use hotel, casino entertainment resort complex. The complex may include multiple waterfront hotels built around a lake offering water sports and other entertainment. The complex also may include multiple restaurants, retail offerings and entertainment venues. Wynn Resorts have not yet developed specific plans for such a complex, and there can be no assurance that such plans will be developed. Wynn Resorts cannot predict the cost of such a development or whether Wynn Resorts will be able to obtain the necessary financing for the development on suitable terms, if at all. It is not expected that any construction on the golf course land would begin before 2009.
Additional villas
In February of 2007, Wynn Las Vegas submitted a request for approval to construct four additional villas on the South side of the property, which would bring the total number of villas to ten. The description of the new villas closely matches that of the six existing villas on the property.
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