One of the world's most influential developers, Steve Wynn spoke with Successful Meetings' Terri Hardin about past successes, the new role of gaming, and what's on the horizon.
What was your first "Steve Wynn-style" success?
The Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. We built it for $160 million, it was the smallest in town, and it made $90 million a year. We sold it for $500 million after six years, and used the money to build The Mirage.
The Mirage, with its exploding volcano, certainly kicked it up a notch.
We weren't the first ones to have an attraction out front. Jay Sarno's Caesars Palace -- with its fountains and its facade -- tapped into that same energy. It's a simple but effective idea; we integrated it into the Mirage.
For Bellagio, you changed the formula, bringing in art and celebrity chefs.
The art collection was a qualitative statement, to say, "We understand that you want stimulation; here, you will get it at the highest level." As far as the chefs go, I must say that it was Wolfgang Puck at Spago and Tony Marnell and Jean-Louis Paladin at the Rio who showed us that there was a demand for better food, served with panache. Elizabeth Blau, who was my director of restaurant development and is working for me again, talked me into it. Bellagio had more James Beard Foundation chefs than New York City. We became the Camelot with a Round Table of great chefs. To my credit, I provided the "table."
What part will gaming play in the future of destinations that offer it?
Gaming in and of itself has very little attraction anymore, because it's everywhere. There's nothing unique about a slot machine; hell, you don't have to drive more than an hour in America to find one. When people go on vacation, they want a unique and exciting experience. What it comes down to is whether facilities have that appeal. If they do, and they include gaming, then they're very successful. But if they just rely on slot machines, then it's a little tricky.
How will Wynn Las Vegas advance the evolution of gaming resorts?
Mirage was mainstream Las Vegas, at a higher taste level. I think that Treasure Island and the Bellagio are the Mirage with more or less money. We never rethought anything -- we just did a successful thing three times. But Wynn is a new $2.4 billion concept, designed to enrich the intensity of the guest experience in a three- or four-day visit, and with the assumption that there would be casinos in every state in every major market in the world. It's all about the non-casino experience. From its golf course to its lagoons and pools, it's a world unto itself, and bears no resemblance to anything in Las Vegas at the present time.
We have 180,000 square feet of meeting space, and every single room has floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall glass windows, opening onto a terrace overlooking a garden. No room in the whole complex is without windows; every one of them has a terrace and a garden view. There's a mountain, and parks. The mountain's 170 feet tall -- that's as far as I want to go in describing the facility. What's in play here is a new idea. And if that idea's successful, it will probably affect the course of all future resorts. If it's not, you can look for me in Guatemala.