Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

What a story! I appreciated every word. I got a laugh out of a few things, mainly you standing in the doorway in your robe with the entire hotel looking at you...quite a visual!

Isn't Pai Gow a great game?!

When I gambled at Wynn last August, I noticed that the waitresses were quite striking. While the outfits aren't quite as provocative or trashy as some of the other resorts, there is something to be said about a classy look. I enjoyed them!

I'm hoping to stay at Wynn in December, but I don't think I'll be staying at the Villas! Thanks for the pics.

Sean

Thanks for the comments, Sean! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Have fun on your trip in December--I'm sure you'll have a great time!

Mike E, I had dinner with Detroit1051 at Green Valley Ranch the night after your tour, and I berated him for not taking any pictures of the Villa, but he assured me that Hunter had taken several, and I'm happy to see he did! Thanks for a thorough and most interesting report.

When I made a reservation last February for my stay in September, the agent quoted a rate of $800 for a villa. In retrospect, I wish I had taken it. The balcony alone is worth most of the extra dough.

I received a three-night complimentary resort room offer last week good through 1/9/06 (Sunday through Thursday). This is a pretty strong offer considering the small amount of play I gave them on the last visit. Of course, if they have individual players dropping $16 million in one trip, things can't be all bad.

Hey do you know how much the villas usually cost?

Anywhere from $800 for the slowest time to over $3000 for a two bedroom Fairway during the busiest times. They may be even cheaper when they're renovating the golf course and the whole thing is yellow-orange, but then you sacrifice one of the main reasons of getting a villa in the first place.

The top Villas (called "The Villas") are "not for sale", which typically means you can arrange a stay there at the last minute through a host if they're not expecting any big players into town. I'd imagine those are on par with Bellagio's villas at $5000 a night or more.

Posted by marc db levin

The pics aren't loading. We're booking a couple villa suites for a work function, but would love to see the pics.

Posted by Hunter

Should be working again in about 2 hours.

Just reading about and taking in the pictures of the "new" fairway villas in the Fall issue of WYNN. Mike E, it looks like its time for another trip as these rooms look nothing like the one you stayed at. Completely revamped interior design on all elements - flooring, wall covering, furniture. Do not share any of the current design elements at Wynn. Much more modern, much less fanciful (or in Wynn terms "imaginative")

Could these be the full scale mock-ups for Encore? If so, we are in for a treat come 2008.

Hell King Leonard you might even like them.

FYI L.S....Demanding to be addressed as King Leonard made me laugh out loud. That's good progress.

Charlie,

Any chance you can scan these and send them to me?

Hunter

Charlie, thanks for the update. Are you at Wynn now or did you get the magazine somehow? Unfortunately, they'll have their winter issue circulating by the time I check in three weeks from today. Hopefully the concierge will have past issues.

Interesting that they're advertising these rooms. I called and they're still not reservable.

I did see a photo of a living room in Forbes. It is the exact same furnishing as Wynn Macau's Sky Suites which I also believe will be predecessors to Encore's duplex suites, so who knows.

Charlie: I really do indeed appreciate your having at least chosen to correctly address me in the appropriate manner :-) I am waiting with baited breath to see the newly revised Fairway Villas @ WLV myself.

Mike,

I keep wondering, if Wynn is going to take the Sky Suites concept, that I was included in that PDF I sent, to Encore. If they do, I'm really expecting those duplex suites to blow my mind. The one thing that I have noticed in construction pics, and maybe Hunter could further explain this, but it doens't look like Encore will have a "Tower Suites" section, based on the fact that I have only seen one elevator core. I don't know if they will separate the core, with a partition, but I have only seen one major core going up in the tower, which looks to be approaching six stories!!

However, I am in complete and total anticipation to see what the rooms and suites at Encore will look like, eventhough I probably won't see any renderings of the resort, until after it opens its doors.

Also, I was wondering, and I think they will, but maybe someone could clarify. Will Encore have its own villa section? I know they will have an extension of the fairway villas, but I continue to wonder if Encore will have its own apartment villas. If so, i can't wait to see what Steve can cook up to further the epitome of luxury that he has created in the past.

I'm hoping some of these new fairway villa design ideas find their way into the casino and public areas as well, including:
- neutral colors
- simpler patterns
- emphasis on right angles and linear elements
- onyx

My recent visit left me with the following impression and thoughts about the Wynn public and casino area:
- it gets busier generally moving from the floor to the ceiling.
- I generally like the flooring and carpet
- the walls are ok, but the novelty of the color scheme is wearing off fast. would you decorate your own home or office in chocolate brown and red?
- the ceilings, light fixures (expecially their moldings) are atrocious, particularly over the walkways. i definitely think there was an opportunity missed in creating ceilings that used natural light, even if it was indirect, and more advanced lighting within the ceiling itself.
- I also do not favor the "antler" light fixtures over the gaming tables, not because of the antlers, they kick ass in Aspen, but when you look up from the tables you see right into the fixture, including the light bulbs.

Final thought, the best elements in Wynn are the accents - certain pieces of art, flower arrangements, etc. But many times they just get overpowered by the busyness of all the design elements and the intensity of the color scheme. I think we all agree that the Tower Suites Lobby and the Meeting/Convention areas are superior. They are just more subtle.

John,

Encore will have the two story duplex suites in the tower, with the bulge that is the fire escape in the WLV tower acting as a windowed staircase between the two areas.

There is only one elevator core for guests in Encore. From the documents and plans that I have seen it is difficult to determine precisely if they plan to do something like Tower Suites in the new building... It was obvious with WLV as there was a separate core and lobby. I don't see that in the Encore plans so if they do do something like that, the organization of the facilities will be different.

If anyone else has inside info on this topic, feel free to chime in or email me privately at editor@ratevegas.com if you want to do it anonymously.

As far as 'apartment' villas, again, nothing like this was in the plans that I saw.

And as to Charlie's question regarding design elements, from what I have heard, yes, they are going to be extending these designs into the casino with more muted tones (more earth tones instead of reds and purples).

The WLV Tower Suites lobby and the villa atrium are two of my favorite spaces - they are great. The inlay in the walls on the way into the lobby is probably my fave piece in the whole hotel. I tried to find a photo but the best I could get was this:

http://www.ratevegas.com/photo/show/1209

The inlay I'm talking about is at the far right of the photo with the light fixture in it. They have several of these. They came from India and I love them.

I know that many others do not, but I am a fan of Wynn's carpet. Would I want to see it every day in my house or office? Maybe not but this is a casino I visit semi-regularly and in that capacity, the novelty has not worn off for me.

Supposedly the 'antler' light fixtures are a bit unique in that they have embedded security cameras. They were designed for the hotel with that in mind.

Cheers!

Charlie, I have always loved the "antler" light fixtures, they are a very European design that I believe I have seen before.

I agree with you on the wall coverings, the fabric loses its pizaaz, after a little while. However, I do still love the carpet, in every casino that I have ever been in, I have always seen repetitive patterns. At Wynn, I don't know if it is the fact that the overall design is very lengthy, but I have never been able to notice a large amount of repetition in the carpet forms. That is one strength I have always noticed in the carpet, by the way.

The one thing that I don't think has been pointed out much, on the site, and I don't know if many people will agree with me, but I really dislike the Resort Tower hallways. They seem to bland compared with that of Bellagio, which are filled with multiple wall coverings, light fixtures, and seating. At Wynn, however, the hallways seem overly plain aside from the etched mirrors that periodically adorn the walls. In addition to that, the carpet is just way too much for me. The Resort hallways are also a stark contrast to the hallways you find in the Tower Suites, which use a much more "elevated luxury" design. The use of simple black and white pictures and chocolate brown really add to the hallways, in addition to the very interesting protozoa carpet formation. In addition to this, it is interesting to see that Wynn, himself probably wasn't happy with the resort hallways, as evidenced by the fact that they hallways at Wynn Macau, make use of the Tower Suites design, while no similarities can be found to their sister accomodations in Las Vegas (in terms of hallway design). Obviously, everyone know that Wynn Macau's guest rooms are virtually identical to its sister's accomodations in Las Vegas.

I agree about the resort hallways, the coral on coral is just too plain and too much coral. As far as I know, its the same on each floor. I need some variety, gets old after a few visits.

The tower hallways are beautiful...actually nicer than the standard tower rooms. they really should have went with a more upgraded design over the resort rooms for the tower rooms...just to give you a little bit more for the extra $90.

Palazzo is widely expected + reported to SURPASS Encore in just about EVERY respect from what I have been told thus far in terms of typical suite square footage, ceiling height, standard amenities, overall opulent luxurious finishes + state-of-the-art tech features that heretofore were never previously offered in ANY of the existing luxury properties. This is one of the few projects that I cannot personally confirm nor deny any of these claims, however, it is common knowledge that the specific intent behind Adelson's building of Palazzo was to effectively blow Encore + WLV out of the water, even though it is essentially an expansion to the existing Venetian property. I also understand that Adelson intends to make Palazzo a superior guest experience from the existing Venetian at 'any cost' in order to put Steve's new joint in its proper place. The industry as a whole was absolutely aghast when Wynn made the utterly stupid decision to sue Adelson (Las Vegas Sands) over the "required" so-called designated parking spaces per code + other supposed/alleged violations connected to the parking situation at the existing Venetian. What kind of complete idiot would initiate litigation against his biggest competitor and nemesis (across the street) whereby turning Adelson into a FOE as opposed to a potential 'strategic business partner' where both would be able to share the mutual + common goal of achieving commingled success, especially when considering the mutual benefit that would otherwise be fostered as a result of an amicable competitive relationship in Macau. Adelson has a personal net worth that is currently valued at over TEN TIMES that of Steve Wynn's, Steve really needs to either get a clue, or seek professional help, before Adelson has had enough of his [Wynn's] antics and simply decides to launch a campaign to take him out of the game for good! At least Sheldon Adelson is proud of his Jewish heritage, while Steve Wynn has chosen to live a complete lie. Wynn's actual given surname is WEINBERG and reportedly his gambling-addicted father, who supposedly died penniless, changed the family name from "Weinberg" to "Wynn" for reasons that are still a subject of much speculation. I, and many other prominent Jews, view the fact that Steve pretends to be someone who he is not in order to achieve success at any cost, as totally repulsive, albeit consistent with the man's "plastic" image, including but not limited to, his supposed fake "Chicklet-White" veneered teeth and what many, who have seen him recently, describe as his "glass-implanted eyeballs" (you know the kind that taxidermists use on stuffed animals)!

Leonard,

You mention that the Palazzo is '...widely expected + reported...' to surpass Encore in many respects.

I'm curious what this means. Expected by whom? Reported where?

I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just wondering where this info is coming from. Anything else you can share, especially specific details, would be great.

As far as square footage goes, according to Las Vegas Sands, the standard 'suites' at the Palazzo will be 655-735 square feet, which is about the same as the existing Venetian 'suites', which average 700 square feet. I put 'suites' in quotes like that because LVS refers to all their rooms as suites. The standard rooms/suites are a single room with a step, which is often referred to as a 'petite' suite at many other properties. So, it sounds like the standard room at the Palazzo is about the same size as at The Venetian.

The sizes of the standard Encore rooms have changed several times since the project was announced. The standard 'Resort' rooms at Wynn Las Vegas are about 620 square feet. As I understand it, the standard rooms in the Encore tower will be about 730 square feet which are larger than the comparable product at the Palazzo. Of course both will have several variants on suites and villas. Supposedly Encore's smallest suite will be over 1,000 square feet which, for the bottom end of a suite product, is larger than most other 'small' suites.

Adelson pioneered the 'people really dig really big standard rooms' thing in Las Vegas and since then Wynn has really embraced the idea. I've heard him credit Adelson a few times for bringing bigger rooms to the masses in Las Vegas and clearly it has caught on all over.

I certainly expect Palazzo to be of a higher quality than The Venetian but honestly, depending on how you measure it, there are a lot of places where they won't have to try very hard to make the place better than The Venetian.

I was aware of Steve's surname and Jewish heritage. I've never heard him comment on the reasons for his name change publicly. Do you know if he has done so? Was it him or his father that initiated the change? Adelson has done a lot in terms of philanthropy in Israel. His wife is also very engaged in the direction of their giving.

Even if Wynn Resorts shouldn't have sued over the parking, Adelson was playing games with the number of spaces. That's not to say that everyone doesn't do this - all projects look for reductions in the number of spaces they have to supply... I don't have the numbers in front of me but in the case of Palazzo / Venetian / Sands Expo, if I recall correctly, the number of spaces they wanted to go with originally was pretty low. Treasure Island even had to put up signs specifically forbidding Venetian employees from parking there. I'm not making a judgement on whether Wynn and Company made the right move in suing instead of trying to work it out but I am glad that there will be more spaces in the Venetian complex once this is all finished.

Personally, I don't care which one of those guys has more paper wealth. I don't really think it is all that great of a measure of anything that means anything. Once you get past the point of resources not being a concern, does any of it matter?

Hunter

Well, I don't think it matters if the father changed the Steve's surname, but considering the fact that Wynn is no longer Jewish, doesn't give much ground, for argument. The man, it would seem, has embraced Buddhism in its entirety in more ways than one. He has been largely quotes as seeking a Buddhist balance in his designs (i.e.- the relative distances in the resort, and "flowing" color schemes in some areas)

I agree with Hunter, that paper wealth, doesn't mean that much, especially in corporate terms. Also, the parking thing has come under increasing scrutiny, considering that Steve himself isn't adding any new spaces to the WLV garage, which already seems way too crowded. It will be intersting to see what LVS will do with the Palazzo parking garage, considering they have also been allowed to shorten the "size" of the average parking spot. This means, the parking spaces will be spaced closer together and won't have the length that most parking spaces have.

I sure hope Encore has its own separate Tower Suites. The single elevator core is discouraging, but in Hunter's extremely artistic and detailed drawing of Encore's floor, there is what looks like a separate porte cochere off "Wynn Blvd." that happens to be near the high limit room. Also, Wynn himself said that Encore will further explore intimacy moreso than WLV. Guess we'll find out in two years.

I'm betting on Encore blowing Palazzo away just from the little details we already know and the previous reputations of the builders.

By the way, you know a trip report's good when a whole year after it's been written, it's still on fire with comments. :-)

Actually, Steve is still + always has been Jewish. He never has changed his religion, [his father] changed their surname from "Weinberg" to "Wynn" for reasons I would prefer not to go into here. Let's just leave it at that for now. Steve's daughter, Kevyn is married to a Cantor of their Synagogue in L.V. You can't get more Jewish than that, having your daughter marry the Cantor of your Temple. Hunter, as I said, from what I was told by several designers who had worked on the original design development team for Palazzo, being an "all-suite" hotel as is the Venetian, their spec for the average-sized typical room [suite] was planned to be 800 square feet, making the typical rooms at Palazzo the largest in the city. Obviously, there are major variables in the typical room product depending on their location within the standard floorplate. End suites tend to be larger versions of the typical room while still not considered to be actual suites by definition. Steve's "beef" with Adelson in connection with the parking issue developed primarily as a result of Wynn's 'claims' that Venetian's customers were using WLV parking facilities and going over to the Venetian instead, because they [Venetian] were underparked. There was no basis to this claim because there is simply no easy way to monitor 50-100,000 people daily and who stays at WLV and who goes across the street. No foundation exists for such an unprovable claim. Similarly, Venetian employees were reportedly parking on the T.I. property. As far as an individual gaming operator's personal wealth and his availability in accessing vast resources through their own financial vehicles (i.e. Adelson + Kerkorian) is now becoming an ever more important component as to the future survivability of the publicly held mega-gaming companies. There is about to take place a MAJOR paradigm shift for creating asset-rich financial vehicles that will be used to absorb/meld major gaming companies and that is privatization, think Harrah's $15.5B friendly buyout offer by several private N.Y. investment firms who plan to take the company private. One cannot imagine how the smaller sized operations with less diverse resources, such as Wynn Resorts, will be able to hold up against a "powerhouse" like Adelson who has unlimited resources at his personal disposal to do whatever he wishes when the gaming industry ultimately evolves from public companies like they are today to privatization over the next few years. Even with Wynn + Okada's current intentions of increasing their personal stake in Wynn Resorts, notice I am no longer using ticker symbols :-) if Adelson went after Wynn Resorts he could easily maneuver himself into a very strong position whereby he would ultimately prevail due strictly to his vast wealth. One needs to look at Adelson as the "Bill Gates" of the gaming industry and Las Vegas Sands the "Microsoft", a juggernaut that has the ability to absorb their competition at will. Kerkorian's very timely announcement that he is increasing his personal stake in MGM/MIRAGE to almost 62% has raised some eyebrows in the industry and the rumor mill is now working overtime. Kerkorian is arguably the most savvy investor in the industry and when he makes a major move like that, it has everyone wondering what he will do next. Look for some major surprises to develop in due time that will turn the gaming industry upside down...there is just no stopping this guy, even at 89, the man is truly amazing and continues to impress.

I would submit that if Adelson is Gates and LVS Microsoft then Wynn is Steve Jobs and Wynn Resorts is more like Apple...

A hipper product with great margins. Apple compares itself to BMW and I think that is apt. They don't want to be Ford or GM. They don't mind being smaller and hipper/better.

Microsoft is the antithesis of unhip and beyond Windows and Office, almost all of their products struggle in the marketplace. They rely on the dominance of those flagship products to prop up the rest of the, Xbox 360 notwithstanding.

I would submit to the idea the LVS could be the Microsoft of the gaming industry. Let's just hope they follow the same path as Microsoft. By that, I'm hinting at the legal problems that Microsoft has had in the European markets. I wouldn't be opposed to see legal troubles down that way, that could negatively impact the company, but that is just me.

Interesting analogy Hunter, although I wouldn't exactly refer to Wynn Resorts properties as necessarily "hip". I would expect that honor to go to George Maloof [Palms] and the future transformation of the Hard Rock by Morgans, and the W as well. I submit that those are/will be the bonafide Las Vegas "hip" properties by anyone's definition. John, even when considering Microsoft's ongoing issues with the EU, I don't think old Bill is exatly squirming in his pants since [his] operating system runs like 97% of all of the world's computers. Of course we all hate Microsoft, but there isn't a whole lot we can do about their monopoly so we have to just learn to live with it. I would compare Steve Jobs to George Maloof, that is a much better match. Now, please, don't ask me who I would compare Steve Wynn to, however, I do have some suggestions if you care to hear them. LOL
BTW Hunter, I came up with a new name for this website: "Wynn's World", has a nice ring to it don't you think? OK, I'll admit that I stole the idea from Wayne's World. :-)

Posted by mike_ch

I hate to turn a topic OT but:

"Apple compares itself to BMW and I think that is apt."

Balogna. Apple's mantra is computers for the typical man. It always has been. Schools, families, people who don't want to take a community college class on how to use their operating system, etc. "Regular people" has always been their bread and butter. BMW's mantra has been cars for the more-than-regular driver. Expensive machinery for the discriminating driver.

The latter is more in line than Wynn's mantra than the former. The Apple-as-BMW comparison is something Jobs throws out there to apologize for high prices. It holds no water as BMW has more in common with Wynn than Apple.

Sorry about that. Just had to rant.

Well, you might not buy the Apple/BMW compare but that's one that Jobs and Schiller (Apple's marketing veep) have made in the past - that's where I got it.

But to be clear, we're not talking elitist. We're talking in terms of market share and quality. They are happy to have a smaller slice of the market with high quality products and high margins. That's what I mean.

Apple is very much active in high performance verticals with products like Final Cut Pro, Logic Audio, Motion, Shake, MacOS X Server, XSan - the list goes on....

Anyway, I don't want to get off-topic with details of Apple's product line.

Thanks to detroit1051, Hunter and I were sent copies of the Fall '06 issue of Wynn Magazine.

Regarding the shots of the newly renovated Fairway Villas, they truly are gorgeous. Although it's been said that they are at the same level of luxury as the six Apartment Villas, the Fairways are definitely more minimal in their d�cor. Nevertheless, they look much more like a high-end residence than a hotel room as Roger Thomas had described several months ago.

What irks me is that the magazine misleads readers into thinking all villas look that nice and all of them have those pools. $750-$1200 a night for a one-bedroom isn't going to get you what you see in the magazine. I stand by my opinon that a reservable Fairway Villa is just a Salon Suite on steroids with a huge balcony. That isn't a bad thing necessarily, but you're simply not getting the same kind of treatment as you would at The Mansion or even Skylofts.

Since my upcoming trip next week went from being solo to having several friends tag along, I considered a 2-bedroom Fairway. I e-mailed my host to see if she would let me pay for a ground-floor one (as seen and described in the magazine) if it remained unoccupied, but to no avail. They'd rather have these accomodations go unused than help their own bottom line. The Mansion, Mirage, or even Bellagio will let you reserve their equivalent accomodations under the same circumstances. What gives with Wynn?

Quick update: I just got back from a stay in a 2-bedroom Fairway Villa and what an incredible time it was! Tower Suites takes its Mobil Five Stars very seriously and it shows. I also got a glimpse of the renovated ground-floor villas which are the epitome of luxury.

Unlike the last villa stay, I had several friends with me and we made great use of the accomodation and features. Keep your eyes out for the report coming soon.

Hey there!
I know it's been so long since you wrote this blog, but I came across it by chance and wanted to say that I, too, had the priviledge to stay at one of the Wynn villas beginning of this month (April 2008), and I even had my own private pool with sun deck (it was villa 101). Truly the best "room" I've ever stayed in.
Cheers for the Wynn!

Yasmine, thanks for sharing. May I ask how you were able to score such a room? Normal reservations won't let me reserve them.