Wynn Las Vegas
Wynn Las Vegas, often simply referred to as Wynn, is a luxury resort and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Wynn Resorts, and was built on the former site of the Desert Inn resort, which opened in 1950. Casino developer Steve Wynn purchased and closed the Desert Inn during 2000, with plans to build a new resort on the site. The design phase lasted two and a half years, and construction began on October 31, 2002, with Marnell Corrao Associates as general contractor. At a cost of $2.7 billion, Wynn Las Vegas was the most expensive resort ever built, beating Wynn's $1.6 billion Bellagio, which opened on the Strip in 1998.
Wynn Las Vegas opened on April 28, 2005, with 2,716 rooms and a casino. At the time, its 45-story hotel tower was the tallest building in Nevada. A sister property, Encore Las Vegas, was opened by Wynn Resorts in December 2008. Located directly north of the resort, Encore added a second hotel tower and additional gaming space, as well as several restaurants and clubs. In total, the Wynn complex contains 4,748 rooms and of gaming space. Wynn declared his $5.2 billion complex finished in May 2010, following additions made at Encore.
Unlike most Strip resorts, the Wynn does not feature a theme. In a break from Wynn's previous resorts, it also lacks a free attraction for pedestrians. Instead, an artificial mountain obscures most of the attractions, meant to evoke curiosity and lure people into the resort. A lake is surrounded by the mountain and several restaurants, and is the site of a show called Lake of Dreams, which features singing animatronics.
The Desert Inn's golf course was kept and redesigned to become the Wynn's course. Upon opening, the resort also included the state's only Ferrari and Maserati dealership, which later closed in 2015. The property has two shopping areas, Wynn Esplanade and Wynn Plaza, the latter replacing the dealership in 2018. Tryst, a popular nightclub by Victor Drai, opened in 2005 and operated for 10 years.
Since its opening, Wynn Las Vegas has received numerous accolades, including the AAA Five Diamond Award and the Five Star award from Forbes Travel Guide. The accolades also extend to its restaurants, including Alex, a French eatery by chef Alex Stratta which eventually closed in 2011. Another restaurant, Wing Lei, is the only Chinese restaurant in the U.S. to receive a Michelin Star. Other popular restaurants include The Buffet at Wynn, Mizumi, Pisces Bar & Seafare, and Delilah, among others.
The resort's main show was Le Rêve, which opened with the property in 2005. It had a successful run in the Wynn Theater before closing in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show was replaced by Awakening, after extensive renovations to the theater.
A second venue, the Broadway Theater, was also built with the resort. It was later renamed the Encore Theater, after the sister resort property, and is now situated between the two resorts. The Encore Theater has hosted numerous shows, including Avenue Q and Spamalot, as well as entertainers such as Beyoncé, Danny Gans, and Garth Brooks.
In 2006, table game dealers at the resort protested a new policy requiring them to share tips with their supervisors. The policy sparked years of litigation between Wynn and the dealers, with a $5.6 million settlement eventually reached in 2021.
History
Wynn Las Vegas was built on the former site of the Desert Inn, a casino resort which opened in 1950. Local developer Steve Wynn purchased the resort in 2000, as a birthday present for wife Elaine Wynn. Wynn had recently sold his company, Mirage Resorts, and used the money to buy the Desert Inn. The resort was closed later that year, with plans to build a new one in its place. Wynn partnered with businessman Kazuo Okada and his company Aruze, which would help finance the project. In August 2001, Wynn unveiled specific plans for the project, which would retain the Desert Inn's golf course. The resort was expected to open sometime in 2004. Wynn expected it to compete against his former Bellagio resort, which he had recently sold along with Mirage Resorts.Name
Wynn announced the resort's initial name, "Le Rêve", in October 2001. It was named after a 1932 Picasso painting that Wynn had purchased. Wynn trademarked the "Le Rêve" name earlier in 2001, and later purchased the rights from the Le Rêve hotel in West Hollywood, California.In June 2003, Wynn announced that he had renamed the resort after himself; market research showed that "Wynn" had better name recognition. According to Wynn: "No one knows what Le Reve is. No one knows how to pronounce it". "Wynn" was once considered as a name for his previous resorts, The Mirage and Bellagio. By the time of the name change, he was already planning to build the Wynn Macau resort in China, and said, "Others have finally convinced me that the Wynn name would allow us to cross-market and offer a consistency of branding for all our properties". Three individuals in particular helped convince him to change the name: businessmen Barry Diller, Donald Trump, and film director Steven Spielberg.
France was opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and this was also a reason for changing the resort's name. According to chief architect DeRuyter Butler: "The name Le Reve is very closely tied to France, which was an opponent to our political approach to Iraq. It wasn't anything derogatory toward France, but Mr. Wynn started to look at other potential names".
Wynn's surname signature is used as the resort's logo, and is present in illuminated lettering along the top of the hotel tower. The logo ends with a period punctuation mark. According to longtime local reporter Steve Friess, the resort "screamed Wynn Period as if to say, 'This is the Wynn. Period.' Wynn once told me as much, explaining it was a subtle way of saying that this is the definition of his embodiment as a resort, the ultimate". In a 2005 commercial, Wynn himself promoted the resort as "the only one I've ever signed my name to".
Financing and construction
The Desert Inn's Augusta Tower was imploded in October 2001, and construction on the new resort was scheduled to begin two months later. However, this was delayed by complications in excavating the former site of the Augusta Tower. The resort was expected to cost $1.6 billion, and the start of construction was further delayed by difficulty acquiring funds.By June 2002, the project cost had increased to $1.8 billion. This would make it the most expensive casino resort in the world, topping Wynn's $1.6 billion Bellagio. Wynn announced that the project would be partly financed by bank loans and Aruze, in addition to an initial public offering in Wynn Resorts. Wynn had previously wanted to retain private ownership and dismissed the idea of selling stock to raise financing. Wynn Resorts hoped to raise $470 million through the IPO, selling one-third of its shares; the remainder would be held by Wynn himself and Aruze. Ahead of the IPO launch, Wynn traveled around the U.S. to pitch his plans, spending three weeks on the road. Investors were apprehensive about the project because of the lengthy construction schedule ahead. In response, Wynn Resorts reduced the share price to attract investors.
Marnell Corrao Associates, which built Wynn's previous resorts, was hired as general contractor. Groundbreaking took place on October 31, 2002, with a ceremony attended by hundreds of people, including Nevada senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, and former governor Bob Miller. As of June 2003, construction proceeded on a 24-hour schedule, with rebar installation during the day and concrete pours at night. The tower was topped off in February 2004. As project costs increased, another stock offering in Wynn Resorts took place later that year to raise additional financing. Hiring began on November 1, 2004. Within three months, more than 80,000 people applied for jobs at the resort, which would employ 9,000. In total, the resort received 105,000 applications.
As of January 2005, construction crews were working on a 20-hour schedule each day to get the resort finished on time. At a final cost of $2.7 billion, it was the most expensive resort ever built. Analysts anticipated that Wynn Las Vegas would launch a new wave of resort construction on the Strip. The resort was also expected to help transform the northern Strip and attract an upper-class clientele to the area. Several new Strip projects were announced during Wynn's construction, including The Palazzo, CityCenter, Fontainebleau, and Echelon Place.
Opening and operation
Wynn kept many details about the project secretive until its opening, granting few interviews prior to that point. He said the resort's features were difficult to describe: "That's the reason there hasn't been a lot of chatter about the hotel. It's not because we're trying to keep a secret. This is a place that does not lend itself to verbalization. So, when you start to describe them, you resort to strained attempts to communicate something no one has seen". As the opening approached, Wynn appeared in a commercial promoting the new resort, in which he is shown on the roof of the hotel tower. The advertisement aired during Super Bowl XXXIX in February 2005, and was subsequently broadcast in Phoenix, San Diego, and Los Angeles.Wynn Las Vegas opened at 12:01 a.m. on April 28, 2005, Elaine's birthday. It was the first new resort to open on the Strip since the Aladdin in 2000. The public opening was preceded by a private charity fundraiser reception for approximately 2,000 guests. An estimated 10,000 people attended the public opening. The resort marked Wynn's return to the Nevada gaming industry, five years after selling Mirage Resorts.
Within the first year, changes were made to several resort amenities as part of a fine-tuning effort. A second hotel resort, Encore Las Vegas, was built as a sister property. It opened directly north of Wynn Las Vegas in December 2008, occupying the remainder of the Desert Inn site. Additions were made to Encore in May 2010, at which point Wynn declared the completion of the $5.2 billion Wynn complex. A $99 million renovation of the Wynn hotel was completed in 2011.
In 2013, Wynn tapped Sean Christie to attract film productions to the resort. Christie, who oversaw several nightclubs on the property, put together a team and spent six months promoting the resort for film purposes. Wynn Las Vegas made its feature debut in 2015, with the release of two films: Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 was shot throughout the resort, while The Squeeze filmed on the golf course. The resort made subsequent appearances in the films Frank & Lola and The House. By 2017, Wynn Las Vegas had become one of the world's most photographed hotels among the general public.
In March 2020, the Wynn properties were among the first Las Vegas resorts to close as the COVID-19 pandemic reached Nevada. The Wynn complex, along with other local resorts, reopened three months later. In contrast to most other resorts, the Wynn properties reopened with all amenities allowed under state health guidelines. Air travel saw a reduction in the early months of the pandemic, and the Wynn resorts relied largely on drive-in tourists from Arizona and California. However, visitation soon declined after both states endured a surge in COVID-19 cases. Wynn Resorts reduced its work force, and Encore temporarily shifted to a four-day weekly operating schedule. As revenue improved in 2021, a $200 million renovation of the two hotel towers was announced.
In 2022, a stabbing spree occurred in front of the resort.
In 2023, a tunnel was drilled to the Wynn for a future station of the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, an underground car shuttle service.