Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

Ah, yet another award for the amazing Wynn Las Vegas. So deserving, I might add.

I bet Steve Wynn is smiling today also, Imagine how much better the view in front of Wynn/Encore just got, after yesterday's implosion!

Feh. Our last stay at Wynn was probably our final one. The thump, thump, thump from the frigging disco starts promptly at midnight every weekend night and continues until dawn, making it impossible for anyone but the dead to sleep.

My wife was there for a course that started at 8AM and she really seriously didn't appreciate three consecutive sleepless nights. When she complained to the course director he said that everyone with a strip facing room had the same complaint, but 95% of the attendees were given rooms on the other side. They are moving their business to the Venetian next year though.

We complained at checkout too, and got an unsurprised and unhelpful reaction from our Tower suites receptionist -- she handed us a brochure for their suites and suggested we give a fairway villa a try. Thanks anyway.

Brian, let us know if they get around to soundproofing that nightclub. I assume the noise was coming from the new one - Blur? Lush? - I can't keep those monosyllabic names straight. But maybe they upgraded the sound system in the other one since our previous stay in late 2006.

I talked to The Steve very briefly yesterday (note to The Steve - don't walk around WLV by yourself when I am in town - that's why I keep bothering you).

Anyway, I talked to him for about 2.2 minutes on the topic of Encore. You can always get Steve's attention and elevate yourself from the random billionaire-gawking-tourist by throwing out an architectural detail and proclaiming its brilliance (despite if you think it is brilliant or not).

This time it was the old: "Hey Steve, love the glass wall separation idea - good one." He'll then look at your quizzically and ask how you know about it - there's your in for a quick conversation.

No new info and he was quite nice. I didn't want to keep him, he was obviously busy.

Very cool, its pretty rare to catch Steve alone.

I'll check out the pics on the flickr page.

Mike P, the music you heard was probably from Tryst since the entire club opens to the outside, and the dancefloor actually is outside, reaching out into a lagoon.

Posted by detroit1051

Late night sound was a problem for me at Wynn's Tower Suites last year, on the golf course side, when there was a private party outside at the pool. Since my internal clock is on Eastern Time for the few days I'm in Vegas, I go to bed early and get up around 5 AM Pacific Time. If it happened again, I'd go back to Bellagio where I've never heard any noise. Same issue the one time I stayed at Red Rock Station. The clubs make so much money, there's no way Wynn or others are going to do anything to kill the golden goose.

This is done so poorly, it seems like a joke, but it's not:

www.gayparislasvegas.com

Did Harrah's acquire Krave and just throw out a new marketing strategy or something? Do they think the gay population will choose Paris over other resorts just because of a few pictures of same sex couples and the term "gay friendly" used liberally? Last I checked we were in 2007 and while I'm not gay, I don't think any minority group will make their hotel choices based on a half-assed website targeting them to a resort that otherwise makes no special effort beyond anyone else in accommodating them. It's like Planet Hollywood marketing to me because I'm Middle-Eastern with a special site that boasts about a "Middle-Eastern friendly" staff and a buffet that has a tray of chicken kabobs.

I'd personally be insulted if I didn't find that so funny.

Mike T,

You're probably right that it was Tryst. I was blaming the remodeled space because noise hadn't been an issue in something like a half dozen previous stays in the same part of the hotel, but my wife pointed out that it's Tryst that's only open on weekends. Anyway, something has changed besides me being a crankier old fart than I was a year ago.

Hunter or detroit posted a link a while back to a Wynn interview where he bragged about how much money Tryst is raking in. I'm going to guess some of that's leaking out on the hotel side from people who decide they'd rather stay somewhere a little more sedate.

Tryst is in line for $36 million in revenue this year, and has a 70% profit margin. 70%!!!!!

Hey Mike E...

Actually, the gay marketing of Paris has been pretty well done and sophisticated, and the Web presence is only one bit of it. The thing was, Orbitz and others have gay-travel microsites but when you pick a hotel, they plop you out at the mainstream hotel site. The gay Paris subsite was intended so that gay people coming through gay portals landed on a gay site with special packages and, yes, imagery that speaks to us. The gay marketing of Paris is actually about two years old now and includes sponsorship of tons of GLBT events, advertising in major gay media, gay-specific advertisements, training for staff on how not to offend the gays and even a special brochure created and kept on hand with gay clubs and other gay-specific travel advice so staff can refer folks who ask to that. It's a far more complex effort than what MGM and Wynn have done in marketing to this segment, which amounts largely to tossing a few ads out here and there.

Thanks for clearing that up, Steve. I wasn't aware that it was part of a larger marketing campaign so it makes much more sense.

Posted by detroit1051

Barron's November 19th issue, which in on newsstands and the internet today, has a cover story on Macau. It discusses the question of whether both WYNN and LVS are overvalued. It's worth reading. There is a second, positive article on Aruze, Wynn's partner in Japan. I can't post the articles here without violating the Blog's rules, but anyone interested in Macau should pick up Barron's. If there are online subscribers here, the links are:
http://online.barrons.com/article_print/SB119525677121796327.html
http://online.barrons.com/article_print/SB119525675568496326.html
http://online.barrons.com/article_print/SB119526417191896581.html

Posted by mike_ch

The noise issues at Wynn makes me sad. I suppose they're probably going to be handing over some business to Palazzo in that regard eventually.

As for the whole thing Steve talked about with Paris, that doesn't surprise me but it can backfire since they're basically teaching people to make assumptions. It explains why in July an employee there decided to assume a good friend of mine and I were a couple, even though we weren't holding hands or sharing anything other than a bored expression.

hey mike_ch, that's interesting. can you elaborate on how you were treated as a couple? what did he/she say or do? Just curious. Whenever I go to dinner or a party with a female friend, the assumption is made that this is my girlfriend/wife, but it's always said explicitly. Like when she's at the bathroom, the waiter will ask if my "wife" wants a refill or what-not. Is that kind of thing what happened?

Posted by mike_ch

Steve, it wasn't anything offensive, it was a guy and his friend from out of town going up the Eiffel Tower and even though we were both tired and he was so busy text messaging that we didn't even look at each other once while waiting in line, the ticket lady made some comment which I've since forgotten that seemed to imply that we were together like that.

I found it surprising, since we weren't giving off those kind of vibes at all. He found Las Vegas completely boring (he's an artist/SoHo/counterculture kind of guy who was only in town for Penn & Teller, so when he found out Vegas has no indie rock or art scene to speak of his mind shut off) and after three days of the Strip I was tired, broke, and in a poor mood. I might have simply been ultra perceptive to her comment.

Posted by detroit1051

Crown Las Vegas (Milam) took another hit when the FAA knocked the tower's height down to 1.064 ft.

"A Texas-based developer's dream of building the tallest building west of the Mississippi River on the old Wet 'n Wild site on the Strip took a big hit Monday after federal officials lopped nearly 500 feet off the project's proposed height.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Crown Las Vegas's planned hotel tower could be 1,064 feet high, the agency said in a letter to developer Christopher Milam.
Milam had originally hoped to build a 1,888-foot-high tower but lowered his sights to 1,550 feet in a letter to the FAA dated Sept. 14."
http://www.lvrj.com/business/11635946.html

Posted by detroit1051

Another good day for Brian. WYNN up 6% in first 30 minutes after declaring $6 cash dividend, but I don't understand the reasons for it:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071120/20071120005388.html?.v=1

Posted by BillyInLasVegas

I'm sure everyone knows by now that Randy Morton is back at Bellagio after his little "vacation" at Monte Carlo and turning that place into a 4 star/4 diamond joint he's been shaking things up at Bellagio lately.

A lot of things are going back to the way they used to be, most noticeable change? The old music is back! No more top 40!

I know that was totally unrelated but hey it's open topic!

Billy - very interesting and I can say I'm super glad to hear it with regard to the music.

On a separate topic, this is just hilarious:

http://thestrippodcast.blogspot.com/2007/11/robert-earl-hates-me.html

Yeah, I talked to Hunter a few times today about this. I don't like to look a gift horse in the mouth...but I am very confused. This really does not make since. Wynn just issued more stock last month to generate about $650 Million, and today turn around and give the money back to shareholders? What is his reasoning for this? Keep in mind that Wynn has given about 1.2 Billion dollars back to shareholders now, within a years time. Why not pay down debt, or buy back shares, both would make the company even more money.

Who am I to question a billionaire? :)

Posted by detroit1051

Billy, thanks for the good news on Randy Morton. I missed it in October's press release. Bellagio needs to rededicate itself to quality service and ambience if it wants to keep its Mobil star rating.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=101502&p=IROL-NewsText&t=Regular&id=1057578&