Does Vegas really need another pool? Steve Wynn thinks so - thestar.com
Back to Does Vegas really need another pool? Steve Wynn thinks so Does Vegas really need another pool? Steve Wynn thinks so
September 22, 2010
Kathleen Kenna
The Wynn Las Vegas is seen on the Las Vegas Boulevard "strip," looking north. It's one of billionaire developer Steve Wynn's many successes in Las Vegas.
JOE CAVARETTA file photo/Associated Press
LAS VEGAS?Old is new again in neon city, where builders of multi-billion-dollar hotel-casinos are doing ultra-makeovers.
Despite a recession that has bruised the global hospitality industry, top hotel-casinos in Las Vegas are using the downturn to focus on what they do best?spending money to make more money.
Casino mogul Steve Wynn, credited with remaking Las Vegas into a centre of mega-resorts with spectacles of water (Bellagio), fire (Mirage) and pirate ships (Treasure Island), spent $70 million this summer for even more water.
His new Encore beach club packs a different kind of heat?dance poles poolside, and more inside his new nightclub, ?Surrender.?
When the pools close at dark, the club opens, literally: Glass walls slide back for an open-air view of water with soft lighting. Guests can rent private cabanas poolside, or luxury, ?beach? bungalows. They?re the only rooms in Las Vegas facing pools on one side, and with balconies along The Strip.
Wynn hasn?t finished.
He?s spending another $100 million redoing all of the 2,700 rooms at the sleek hotel bearing his name. (Some are complete; all are to be redone by early 2011.)
More money is being spent on renovating Wynn?s 36 villas and apartments that are so exclusive they?re not for rent or public view.
More still will be spent for makeovers of already-swank, private salons and exclusive baccarat tables for high rollers.
?Tens of millions,? Wynn president Andrew Pascal says, during an exclusive tour of newly renovated rooms and salons-to-be-redone. ?It?s 10 per cent of our gambling space, but a significant portion of our revenue.?
While expansive about the Encore-Surrender package, Pascal is discreet about other expenditures.
?We are constantly looking at every aspect of our resort that needs to be refinished,? he says. ?If I could tell you about all the things we?ve redone since we opened, you?d be shocked.?
Wynn is famously detail-oriented: He closed a Wynn restaurant only months after opening and completely redid it, after concluding the original wasn?t exactly what the hotel-casino needed.
Says Pascal: ?Mr. Wynn sees that as a lost opportunity, not to have gotten it right. The investments we?re making today are enhancements to investments we?ve already made.?
Five years after opening, Wynn is polishing high-end restaurants next to a manmade lake, called Lake of Dreams. The oasis is hidden from public view by a manmade ?mountain? and forest alongside The Strip.
La Cave will be the first independently owned restaurant at Wynn?s luxury resort.
A wine bar in a city bereft of good wine clubs, the $5.5 million La Cave is the brainchild of Michael Morton, managing partner of N9NE Group and son of the Morton Steakhouse chain owner.
N9NE Group draws more celebrities to its ghostbar, Rain nightclub, and N9NE Steakhouse?all at The Palms?than any other spot in Las Vegas.
?It will be an escape within an escape,? Morton says of the wine bar, which is under construction for a December opening, yet is hidden from the casino floor.
La Cave will feature 12 micro-brewed draft beers, about 150 ?handcrafted? wines from around the world and tapas (farmhouse cheeses, ?artisanal charcuterie and hand-cut crudo?).
?Americans are a little late to the game, but when we get there, we go bigger than the rest,? Morton says. ?Wine (consumption) is going up in this recession, and the prices are coming down.?
La Cave will combine the laid-back atmosphere of a California wine bar, but lack the snob factor of Manhattan restaurants that intimidate wine novices, Morton says. But it won?t lack sophistication: La Cave?s decor will include hammered gold.
Caesars Palace spent $100 million revamping its Garden of the Gods this summer to expand to eight pools, including the secluded, topless ?Venus?.
More was spent expanding Caesars? convention centre to eight pools (not including private villa pools), meeting demand for beach life in the desert, president Gary Selesner says during a cabana interview.
The hotel-casino now has more pools than any other property, and is the only one in Vegas with a two-storey waterfall framing its wrap-around pool/gaming bar.
?These decisions were made before the recession ... (based on) really good forecasting tools,? Selesner says. ?We believe in the future of Las Vegas, and we?re confident occupancy rates will recover.?
Another $45 million was spent last year revamping just three luxury villas at Caesars, which is one of the largest Vegas hotels, at 3,403 rooms and villas.
Selesner concedes that ?$45 million might seem risky? in a recession. ?They opened last September and we are rapidly approaching a 100 per cent return on our investment. The luxury travel market is very strong.?
Caesars Palace has been marketing high-end suites to the international market for 35 years, and watched its customer base expand from Europe to Asia.
Asian high-rollers are followed by patrons from the Middle East, Europe and South America, particularly Brazil. (Canadians, incidently, top the main guest list.)
?These guests want the best, the newest, the most spectacular, the most luxurious and superior service in all areas,? Selesner says.
Caesars? celebrity list remains private (?well-heeled, international? visitors and entertainers is all Selesner says). But President Barack Obama stayed at Caesars during a fund-raising trip to Vegas earlier this year.
Kathleen Kenna is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer.
Back to Does Vegas really need another pool? Steve Wynn thinks so Does Vegas really need another pool? Steve Wynn thinks so
September 22, 2010
Kathleen Kenna
The Wynn Las Vegas is seen on the Las Vegas Boulevard "strip," looking north. It's one of billionaire developer Steve Wynn's many successes in Las Vegas.JOE CAVARETTA file photo/Associated Press
LAS VEGAS?Old is new again in neon city, where builders of multi-billion-dollar hotel-casinos are doing ultra-makeovers.
Despite a recession that has bruised the global hospitality industry, top hotel-casinos in Las Vegas are using the downturn to focus on what they do best?spending money to make more money.
Casino mogul Steve Wynn, credited with remaking Las Vegas into a centre of mega-resorts with spectacles of water (Bellagio), fire (Mirage) and pirate ships (Treasure Island), spent $70 million this summer for even more water.
His new Encore beach club packs a different kind of heat?dance poles poolside, and more inside his new nightclub, ?Surrender.?
When the pools close at dark, the club opens, literally: Glass walls slide back for an open-air view of water with soft lighting. Guests can rent private cabanas poolside, or luxury, ?beach? bungalows. They?re the only rooms in Las Vegas facing pools on one side, and with balconies along The Strip.
Wynn hasn?t finished.
He?s spending another $100 million redoing all of the 2,700 rooms at the sleek hotel bearing his name. (Some are complete; all are to be redone by early 2011.)
More money is being spent on renovating Wynn?s 36 villas and apartments that are so exclusive they?re not for rent or public view.
More still will be spent for makeovers of already-swank, private salons and exclusive baccarat tables for high rollers.
?Tens of millions,? Wynn president Andrew Pascal says, during an exclusive tour of newly renovated rooms and salons-to-be-redone. ?It?s 10 per cent of our gambling space, but a significant portion of our revenue.?
While expansive about the Encore-Surrender package, Pascal is discreet about other expenditures.
?We are constantly looking at every aspect of our resort that needs to be refinished,? he says. ?If I could tell you about all the things we?ve redone since we opened, you?d be shocked.?
Wynn is famously detail-oriented: He closed a Wynn restaurant only months after opening and completely redid it, after concluding the original wasn?t exactly what the hotel-casino needed.
Says Pascal: ?Mr. Wynn sees that as a lost opportunity, not to have gotten it right. The investments we?re making today are enhancements to investments we?ve already made.?
Five years after opening, Wynn is polishing high-end restaurants next to a manmade lake, called Lake of Dreams. The oasis is hidden from public view by a manmade ?mountain? and forest alongside The Strip.
La Cave will be the first independently owned restaurant at Wynn?s luxury resort.
A wine bar in a city bereft of good wine clubs, the $5.5 million La Cave is the brainchild of Michael Morton, managing partner of N9NE Group and son of the Morton Steakhouse chain owner.
N9NE Group draws more celebrities to its ghostbar, Rain nightclub, and N9NE Steakhouse?all at The Palms?than any other spot in Las Vegas.
?It will be an escape within an escape,? Morton says of the wine bar, which is under construction for a December opening, yet is hidden from the casino floor.
La Cave will feature 12 micro-brewed draft beers, about 150 ?handcrafted? wines from around the world and tapas (farmhouse cheeses, ?artisanal charcuterie and hand-cut crudo?).
?Americans are a little late to the game, but when we get there, we go bigger than the rest,? Morton says. ?Wine (consumption) is going up in this recession, and the prices are coming down.?
La Cave will combine the laid-back atmosphere of a California wine bar, but lack the snob factor of Manhattan restaurants that intimidate wine novices, Morton says. But it won?t lack sophistication: La Cave?s decor will include hammered gold.
Caesars Palace spent $100 million revamping its Garden of the Gods this summer to expand to eight pools, including the secluded, topless ?Venus?.
More was spent expanding Caesars? convention centre to eight pools (not including private villa pools), meeting demand for beach life in the desert, president Gary Selesner says during a cabana interview.
The hotel-casino now has more pools than any other property, and is the only one in Vegas with a two-storey waterfall framing its wrap-around pool/gaming bar.
?These decisions were made before the recession ... (based on) really good forecasting tools,? Selesner says. ?We believe in the future of Las Vegas, and we?re confident occupancy rates will recover.?
Another $45 million was spent last year revamping just three luxury villas at Caesars, which is one of the largest Vegas hotels, at 3,403 rooms and villas.
Selesner concedes that ?$45 million might seem risky? in a recession. ?They opened last September and we are rapidly approaching a 100 per cent return on our investment. The luxury travel market is very strong.?
Caesars Palace has been marketing high-end suites to the international market for 35 years, and watched its customer base expand from Europe to Asia.
Asian high-rollers are followed by patrons from the Middle East, Europe and South America, particularly Brazil. (Canadians, incidently, top the main guest list.)
?These guests want the best, the newest, the most spectacular, the most luxurious and superior service in all areas,? Selesner says.
Caesars? celebrity list remains private (?well-heeled, international? visitors and entertainers is all Selesner says). But President Barack Obama stayed at Caesars during a fund-raising trip to Vegas earlier this year.
Kathleen Kenna is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer.