David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - Encore

Signs of the Times

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:08:00 -0700

In less than an hour, Steve Wynn is going to make an extra-special, triple-secret, top-hush "entertainment announcement" via a Wynn Resorts Web-cast. Don't tell anyone but ... he's going to reveal that Garth Brooks will be playing Encore.

Which we know partly because it's been the worst-kept secret on the Strip and even more so because it was announced today in Nashville at 7 a.m. Vegas time. But we're all s'posed to pretend that we didn't hear anything and it's all going to be a big-ass surprise and whatnot. Yeah, that's the ticket.

This underscores how ill-tuned the casino industry is to the news business -- and furthermore, how it still hasn't made the adjustment to the global village of online media. People like Wynn (or Jenn Michaels over at MGM Mirage) continue to operate as though the daily newspaper were the only game in town and people's primary source of information.

Sorry, but what happens in Nashville no longer stays in Nashville until the next news cycle. It makes it to Vegas in the blink of a Tweet.

Vintage Vegas/Matt Goss. Both are reviewed by Richard Abowitz, who makes a number of thoughtful observations re lounge acts in general. He's a bit lenient on both Zowie Bowie and the Gossmeister, IMO. Vintage Vegas is so bad you'll want to see it so you can talk about it at parties. Goss is just bad and in a very uninteresting way. If a yawn could wear a white suit, it'd be Matt Goss.

Why does Steve Wynn hate America?

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:31:00 -0700

Or maybe the question should be, What was Steve Wynn smoking before he told CNBC "Money Honey" Maria Bartiromo that Wynn Macau was making more than all other 30 Macao casinos combined? Perhaps he meant his joint is the single-highest-grossing casino in the Chinese protectorate, but his phraseology is misleading:

Wynn's remarks on the importance of staffing and customer service are, as usual, on point. However, he starts sounding like a puppet of Peking ("One thing about the Chinese government, I think they get it right."), praising the steadiness and thoughtfulness of its policies. Here's an example of Peking's steady, thoughtful policymaking in action:

Wynn's comments that infrastructural improvements don't help at tourism-dependent (casino) industry make him sound naive -- doubly so if aforesaid projects put disposable income into consumers' pockets. Still and all, Wynn is far more reasonable on CNBC -- and immeasurably less obnoxious -- than during his obstreperous Fox News Sunday rants.

Although Wynn clearly fancies himself the new political pundit on the block, he's got but one string to his bow: bellowing "Tax policy" over and over. Which translates as "Tax cuts (for me)!" Yup, if Big Guvmint would just stop collecting taxes from Big Bidness, everything would be hunky-dory, economically speaking. We'd have new jobs coming out the ass.

Here's the problem with that line of argument: We're fresh off eight straight years of tax cuts, tax holidays and corporate loopholes big enough to encompass every square foot of CityCenter. How did that work out for us?

More to the point, given a tax-averse administration and Congress, how did Wynn's casino colleagues handle their newfound largesse? Did they invest it responsibly? Hell to the no! That "bundling of the Strip" which Wynn has decried is the poisoned fruit of companies that were awash in capital and easy credit, who then used it to try and eradicate the competition. (Similar phenomena occurred in the regional casino markets and in the slot industry.)

Having cannibalized their main rivals, casino companies then began to devour themselves, in the form of insupportable debt levels and insane LBOs. And if Wynn really believes that government spending has never improved anyone's lot in life (he must have forgotten the New Deal, for starters), then how many standards of living are raised by merger-and-acquisition orgies? For the average worker, it means jobs are "consolidated" out of existence. Heck, not even executives are immune. Just ask some of the Mandalay Resort Group or Park Place Entertainment higher-ups who are now enjoying involuntary retirement.

Should the current administration hand out the kind of tax vacation Wynn is demanding, would the casino industry A) buy new and shiny objects, B) retire debt or C) create jobs? B & C would probably finish a distant second and third to A.

Just look at Harrah's Entertainment: It can't repay its creditors dollar for dollar but thinks nothing of snapping up 16% of Planet Hollywood. If there's degenerate gambling going on in the casinos, the worst of it can be found in the executive suites. If these guys ever took to playing Russian roulette, they'd probably leave at least five bullets in the revolver.

Wynn is probably feeling his oats, given the bullish, odds-defying early performance of his Hong Kong IPO. The real story may be that gains realized in the Hang Seng will be used to prop up Wynn's Las Vegas operations rather than to expand in Macao.

This just in: The two-week run of A Bronx Tale at the Venetian has been extended to a third weekend. A spoken-word play in a Strip theater seemed like a dicey prospect so this is very good news indeed.

Quote of the Day

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:16:00 -0700

"I don't really care what they do with the entrance. If they keep the rooms up to snuff and keep the atrium, they can build a sodomy lounge, it wouldn't matter to me a bit." -- Two Way Hard Three (www.ratevegas.com/blog) reader "John" on the proposed beach club at Encore.

Stat of the Day

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:43:00 -0700

Beloved by critics and bloggers, Encore is proving to be something of a millstone around the neck of Wynn Resorts. Average daily rates at 'Wynncore' are down 39% for the year to date, compared to a "mere" -25% at neighboring archival Palazzo-Venetian. Unlike Wynn, however, Las Vegas Sands does not seek to be King of the Price Point.

Wholesale revision of Encore is in the works after only eight months, which if nothing else proves that Steve Wynn is at least tacitly willing to admit that it's time for Plan B. If his nightclub expansion translates into the imminent demise of Switch, tant pis. That gimmick-driven restaurant has been Encore's inarguable flop. Possible loss of the conservatory-like atrium would be a more serious worry: Without it, Encore would become a considerably darker and more claustrophobic casino -- as though it weren't having foot-traffic problems already.

Greek Isles sold, few care

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:23:00 -0700

Vegas' hardest-luck casino changed hands ... again. Short of another irrational spike in off-Strip land valuations, Canpartners Realty Holding Co. IV LLC is never going to see its $67 million again. The Greek Isles is in a dead zone, a block too far north (being a block away from Encore doesn't do you any good if you're on the wrong side of the block) and two blocks too far east.

Ah well, kinda serves Canpartners right for lending $56 million against a property that was never worth but a fraction of that amount. And until Canpartners gets a gaming license and captures the casino revenue, instead of leasing out the space as a big-ass slot route, it might as well buy a Motel 6 instead.

Had enough? You'd think that after spending six of the last eight years being used as a doormat by the opposition, congressional Democrats would be saying, "It's payback time." Not yet. If anything finally gets their back up, it may (ironically) be a President whose desire for comity too often translates into giving the store away.

There are still a few crumbs left upon the table for those of us who are uninsured, afflicted with pre-existing conditions or laboring under onerous co-pays. But that'll probably be bartered away, too, and we'll be left at the mercy of people like this s,o.b. M.D. who says it's a "privilege" to be healthy. So I'm guessing he's not down with that Hippocratic Oath stuff, either, huh?

Hard Rock overextended. Having doubled down on its costly purchase of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, manager/minority owner Morgans Hotel Group finds itself playing for time with its lenders. Reinventing The Joint proves to have been a good idea; ditto the new convention space -- both are helping to stave off catastrophe.

But it was sheer pigheadedness of Morgans to push ahead with not one but two new hotel towers amid declining ADRs and slippage in occupancy. When Boyd Gaming called a timeout on Echelon (partly due to partner Morgans' fecklessness), it should been a cue to "wrap" the megaresort-sized expansion of the Hard Rock, at least for the time being.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:37:00 -0700

"There is a very surreal question here: Is it intelligent to ruthlessly grind every last dime out of this place when it involves dislocating groups of your employees? Oh yes, the quarter looks better and you have one of these fancy phone calls. But is that good business? I think not." -- Steve Wynn, during Wynn Resorts' 2Q09 earnings call.

The dream is dying

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:07:00 -0700

Just last week, UNLV's historical sage, Dr. Eugene Moehring, was taking a dim view of the fate of Las Vegas' working class. Now comes the Wall Street Journal to back him up with some sobering reportage.

Even at union salaries, Culinary Union-represented employees are hardly living on Easy Street. According to the WSJ's Tamara Audi, a hotel maid can expect to make slightly under $30K/year. She also finds a fry cook who was pulling in $36K annually, before he was laid off. (He's now making much less at union-free M Resort.) This goes to show not only the importance of union representation but also how close many of these people are to the economic precipice.

Many of the causes of our current plight (like real estate speculation) are outside my remit. However, a great deal of the blame falls upon casino CEOs who -- encouraged by banks that pushed too-easy credit like "happy dust" and by cheerleading Wall Street analysts -- succumbed severally and variously to a collective psychosis.

The Plaza: Rooms available, starting the 12th of Never.

The hyper-optimistic mentality that produced a rapid-fire succession of (in no particular order) CityCenter, Cosmopolitan, Fontainebleau, Echelon, Palazzo, Encore, the Hard Rock Hotel acquisition/expansion, and even will o' the wisps like Crown Las Vegas and Viva, rested upon a bizarre assumption. Namely, that the Las Vegas Strip could not only absord literally thousands upon thousands of new rooms (preponderantly at the high end) but could do in a compressed time frame.

A few companies even thought this could be done even after they'd glutted themselves with LBO debt. (True, Harrah's Entertainment now says it never intended to go the metaresort route but the available evidence testifies otherwise.) As I've written before, a bubble was mistaken for a baseline, thereby magnifying the consequences when the economic fundamentals began to crumple.

Distance evidently lends clarity, at least to Harvey Perkins of East Coast-based Spectrum Gaming Group. He calls for a complete rethinking of the luxury-based Vegas business model, repositioning the Strip's posh palaces slightly downmarket. It'll mean eating a lot of pride but what alternatives are there?

It's a glass half-full perspective, which is preferable to the overdose of gloom quaffed by MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren. He darkly prophesies, "There won't be another property built in Las Vegas for a decade."

Just wait 'til the next economic upturn and see if Murren is still saying kaddish. There will be new casinos in Las Vegas before 2019, I'm fully confident -- but they'll be ones positioned around affordability and (hopefully) generating double-digit ROI. Because, frankly, Las Vegas isn't the investment it used to be.

The St(ump) Regis, as it was to have been.

Then there's the schizoid-sounding Sheldon Adelson, who harrumphs, "I don't see any opportunities for any development in Las Vegas." Emphasis added; the Las Vegas Sands CEO seems to swing from bullish to bearish by the day.) It'd be nice for Sands if Adelson had been vouchsafed this insight before he started work on the St(ump) Regis in the midst of a condo-market meltdown. Now it's big bloody nose right betwixt the eyes of the Venetian and Palazzo.

The polar opposite of Adelson is Culinary Union boss D. Taylor who sounds like a flack for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, so giddy is his optimism. Hey, D., have you talked to your workforce lately -- you know, the ones who just had to defer a $710/year pay bump?

At least some amusement is to be had from the Strip map prepared for the WSJ by Bill Lerner's new outfit, Union Gaming Research:

I don't think I'd take investment advice from a firm that doesn't know the correct spellings of "Echelon" or "Caesars." City Center seems to fallen off the map entirely. It'd also take issue with the classification of many sites (like the in-foreclosure FX Real Estate plot) as "ceased or delayed" as there was never any work to cease or delay at, say Elad Properties' "Plaza" site or Crown Las Vegas (aka "Archon"). Ditto MGM/Kerzner, Africa Israel, etc. However, the Cosmo, which really is in limbo, doesn't make onto the map.

At any rate, as land prices on the Strip continue to return to earth, there's going to be plenty of prospective acreage for the company that's ready, willing and able to build a mid-market casino on the Strip.

Case Bets: CityCenter, W, Bernie Goldstein, Roger Thomas

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:15:00 -0700

Some rueful condo buyers are probably calling MGM Mirage's ultra-mega-super-duper resort "ShittyCenter," judging by their ire. It's difficult to know with whom to sympathize in this ongoing dispute. Condo depositors want to renegotiate prices (which range all the way up to $9.4 million/unit) while MGM -- though not unsympathetic -- maintains buyers got a special deal going in and therefore have relatively little cause for complaint.

Good luck trying to renegotiate the price of that Saturn on which you just made a downpayment. MGM needs those condo purchases if CityCenter is to remain in balance (look what happened to Fontainebleau, which has sold nary a timeshare). And it really can't afford to start refunding some of that $313 million that depositors have already placed in the kitty.

However ... there might be a pragmatic argument to be made for MGM bending to pressure. Condo sales in the valley haven't been robust -- a mere 1,172 units in 2007-08 and a measly 52 closings this year. Scarier still, the Wall Street Journal notes that 7,000 more luxury condo units are under construction as we speak.

There's basically no market remaining for high-end condos and every unit that goes on sale dilutes the value of a CityCenter aerie just a little bit more. MGM hasn't been ashamed to offer discounts to players and vacationers. Maybe it's time to extend that philosophy to condo buyers. If CEO Jim Murren has to sell a few casinos to make up the difference ... well, so be it.

Not everybody is having a hard time moving property in this market. J.P. Morgan reports that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide just sold its W San Francisco for 14X cash flow. Geez, try to get half that multiple for a Strip property and watch potential buyers yawn in your face.

Bernie Goldstein, R.I.P. Not only are there second acts in American lives, the late Mr. Goldstein proved there are third acts as well. The granddaddy of Midwestern riverboat gambling, Goldstein built Isle of Capri Casinos into the first company of its ilk with a recognizable brand identity and saw it outlive several of its rivals. If the company's business plan went astray in recent years, that doesn't diminish the scope of Goldstein's achievement. Thankfully, the gallus-snapping Goldstein was inducted into the American Gaming Association's Hall of Fame just in the nick of time.

Congratulations to Roger Thomas for being named the next recipient of the Jay Sarno Award from Casino Design and G2E. While I'm not sure it's flattering to receive an award named after the man who covered Caesars Palace with unsightly cement mesh and gave the world Circus Circus, it's the sentiment that truly counts.

Basically, Thomas (and architect DeRuyter Butler) set the template for the last two decades on the Strip and everybody else has been tinkering around the edges. Thankfully, he's rescinded his retirement from Wynn Resorts, so we can look forward to years more of standard-setting design work.

Case Bets: Caesars, Criss Angel, Lance Burton, Earl & Lani and Trent

Wed, 13 May 2009 14:44:00 -0700

Seen last night by an S&G source, Pit One at Caesars Palace empty save for one or two baccarat players. It's just a small indicator of a larger disconnect that I hope to address later.

PR flack Robin Leach has been transcribing more of the gospel according to Criss Angel, the latest being that Cirque du Soleil's wunderkind "will juggle his schedule" of Believe dates to make room for filming the next season of Mindfreak. Do you think this might be a face-saving way to cut back on performances of a show that's already having to be deeply and frequently discounted? Naaaaaaaaaaaaah!

And is MGM Mirage really content to let Lance Burton walk, as appears to be the case? With only a month remaining on Burton's contract, no extension has been signed and MGM punted our query to Burton's manager.

Two of the Strip's major showrooms are currently vacant. Burton's act is probably too downmarket for Wynn Resorts' tastes (or pretensions, if you prefer) but Alex Yemenidjian could steal a march on his former employer by bringing Burton back to the Tropicana. Lord knows, the place could use him and Dirk Arthur is working on a short-term contract now -- a stopgap arrangement made when interim Trop management screwed up and came within days of having no shows at their property.

Value for the $$. Last week's adventures included checking out Voices at the Las Vegas Hilton, which gives the LVH a long-needed shot in the arm. Stars Earl Turner and "the beautiful Lani Misalucha" (as she is always introduced) wisely minimized expectations prior to opening. For one thing, their energetic, caution-to-the-winds revue features far more interaction than they led people to expect. Who knew if these two very different singers would "jell" ... but they do.

It's a rouser and -- at an $80 top -- a considerably better value than Elvolution, starring Trent Carlini. Eighty bucks at Voices gets you two headliners and a six-piece band. A $92 top at Elvolution buys you an Elvis Presley impersonator ... singing to backing tracks. That takes some nerve, I tell ya.

Quote of the Day

Tue, 12 May 2009 12:30:00 -0700

“‘That’s a little out there, that’s a little fey, maybe I won’t do that, maybe I’ll butch that one up.’ I think I might have done that.” -- Roger Thomas, about second-guessing himself on the designing of The Mirage and Treasure Island. Thomas, inarguably the most influential designer in Vegas history, is profiled in the new issue of The Advocate.

Irony is Dead Dept. III

Tue, 05 May 2009 18:05:00 -0700

On Monday, Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) proclaimed this to be "State Employee Week," complete with flowery script and many a preambulatory clause. That'd be the same Jim Gibbons who, the week before, vowed to cut those same employees salaries even further than the -6% he'd already proposed. No word yet on whether aforesaid employees think having a whole, entire week designated in their honor makes up for a decrease in their take-home pay. (Nevada has the fewest state employees per capita in the U.S., so it's not like they're underworked ... just pay a visit to the DMV sometime.)

Sic transit gloria Gans: Singer/actress Beyoncé Knowles (above) will be playing a short run at Wynn Encore this summer. Reports a source who keeps tabs on casino Web pages, "she was selling tix on what was formerly Danny Gans' 'page' before he was even cold." Lest we need reminding, this is not a sentimental town.

The 'CityCenter effect.' Although MGM Mirage estimates it's had 110,000 applications for a maximum of 12K jobs at CityCenter, it transpires that 17K of those came from within MGM Mirage. While that may give you a 70/30 shot at a CityCenter job if you're already with the company, the rest of us might as well forget it and scan the job listings for vacancies at other MGM Strip casinos. If a Bellagio slot attendant gets a job at Aria, that promotion should manifest itself all the way down to food chain. On other words, this is your big chance to work at Slots A Fun, the casino of which MGM is so ashamed it doesn't list it as a discrete property on its Web site.

Rising above the fray. Confronted with a classless gesture in front of his casino -- and I say that as somebody who saw the protest-like promotion with his own eyes -- Palms owner George Maloof responded with class. By the way, those weren't just 40 guys with signs, they were wearing illuminated, sandwich board-sized placards on their backs. It made quite a startling sight late on a Friday evening, one of the tackiest things I've seen in Vegas (and we write the book on "tacky" here). The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, meanwhile, continues its downward mobility.

Wynn, unplugged

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:27:00 -0700

"Wynncore"'s boss has been all over that series of vacuums and tubes which some call "the Internet" this week. He did Kirk Kerkorian a favor by suggesting that he, Steve Wynn, would be tractable to buying anything the aging aviator had to sell ... even Circus Circus.

While Wynn may have been merely being playful, enjoying how much the worm has turned since then-MGM Grand forced him out of then-Mirage Resorts, his expression of interest helped goose MGM Mirage stock by 5%. Holders of Wynn Resorts shares, however, may have emitted a collective "Eek!" at the thought of Wynn buying yet another clown-themed casino (don't forget that he once owned the Boardwalk). WYNN shares slipped 3%.

If Steve Wynn on 60 Minutes is good, then 69 minutes with Steve Wynn must be better, right? Either way, here he is at the Milken Institute's Global Conference 2009. What's inarguable is that there is no other CEO in the gaming group -- no, not even Sheldon Adelson -- to whom people would listen for anywhere near that amount of time. True, many Americans do watch an hour-long TV show starring ex-casino mogul Donald Trump, playing a parody of CEO (or could it really be a cunningly disguised Alec Baldwin in the role of Old Fish Lips?) ... much as they do When Animals Attack! or World's Scariest Police Chases.

Bloomberg News cornered Wynn for a few minutes and the unscripted result was better than any televised fender-bender. [Warning: The audio is subject to frequent dropouts.] Wynn began by acknowledging that, times being what they are, Americans are scarcely obligated to visit Las Vegas.

One wishes certain umbrageous local figures would get that memo.

He also notes that Wynncore is cheek-by-jowl with "all the convention centers." So I take it that proposed Wynn Las Vegas/Encore convention center is now off the drawing board. Strip land acquisitions are flatly ruled out -- no doubt causing some long faces at Elad Properties, Triple Five and other companies that bought acreage at the top of the market (i.e., $33 million-$36 million/acre) and can't do squat with it now. Uncle Steve is not coming to their rescue, I'm afraid ... and why should he? As Wynn obliquely acknowledges, he's got plenty of land of his own, fully amortized but not developable in these tight-credit days.

But it's when the conversation turns to politics that things get well and truly interesting. Starting with an observation that the government is too fixated on infrastructure improvements, Wynn gradually works himself up into an fine rage. His description of President Obama's policies runs the gamut of "naive ... doesn't have much credibility ... unimpressed ... ridiculous shopping list ... the right ideas at the wrong time ... shotgun approach." He faults the current administration for lacking "experience and priorities" and -- in a somewhat ironic choice of analogy -- says that when a patient is undergoing major surgery, "you don't give 'em advice on a nose job."

You want must-see TV? This is it!

Unfortunately, Wynn is somewhat hamstrung when pressed for constructive alternatives. His one substantive answer is a proposal that Uncle Sam subsidize new hires if the employer provides health benefits. Beyond that, he falls back on a broad-brush invocation of tax policy (which "incentivizes people to do what the government wants them to do"). Wynn thumps the "tax policy" tub so relentlessly that he starts to sound like a personality-implanted version of Rep. John Boehner, pining for the return of the previous administration's economic policies as fiscal Viagra.

Give the man credit. He's got strong opinions and no fear about voicing them. He's a cheerfully impolitic figure in word-parsing times and the casino industry might be unbearably dull without him.

Morrison counsels MGM

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:39:00 -0700

Why keep making fun of the Las Vegas Review-Journal? Because the R-J persists in making it so easy, that's why. For instance ...

Call the Sun. Columnist Jane Ann Morrison has some deep thoughts on MGM Grand Macau. Namely that co-owner MGM Mirage should consider "a reasonable offer" from partner Pansy Ho. Gadzooks! With that kind of insight, it's a wonder Morrison isn't running MGM in lieu of CEO James Murren.

Actually, she might want to put in a call to Las Vegas Sun/In Business Las Vegas veteran Jeff Simpson, who'd explain to her -- as he did to fellow panelists on a "Vegas Gang" podcast -- that Macanese subconcessions can only be sold back to their original concession-holder ... in this case paterfamilias Stanley Ho. Which would be one reason why "Morgan Stanley hasn’t been asked to screen offers for the [sic] MGM Grand Macau." But, hey, if Dr. Ho comes knocking, make sure it's with "a reasonable offer," 'kay?*

R-J to Sun, "Nyah-nyah!": Yeah, so what if the Sun won a little old Pulitzer Prize. The R-J nabbed a "Best of the West" from Arizona-based First Amendment Funding. So there! That Sun is, like, so totally spanked.

On the upside, today's R-J has a good exposition of why banks and other lenders are exercising so much forbearance (in both senses of the word) when confronted with insolvent casino companies. Money quote, as it were: "... the creditors are thinking the way things are now, we just might as well string them along for a little while thinking you'll get more of a return on the bonds that way." Forced asset sales will probably be remunerative a ways out, too ...

* -- Morrison is at least in good company here. Charlie Rose's recent 60 Minutes piece on Steve Wynn repeatedly committed the solecism of referring to Wynn's newest pleasure palace as "The Encore." If you see Rose, be sure to tell him how much you enjoyed his The 60 Minutes segment on The Steve Wynn, which you watched on The CBS.

Exit, pursued by a bear market

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:39:00 -0700

Aside from the occasional murmur by Wynn Las Vegas prexy Andrew Pascal, executives at Wynn Resorts keep a low (read: invisible) profile. Even the most assiduous follower of the casino industry would have trouble naming Wynn's CFO off the cuff. If you answered, "David Sisk," as of last Monday you'd be wrong. The contours of his golden parachute strongly suggest an involunatry exit, softened by at least $767,000 worth of severance pay, plus a limited-time offer of stock options.

One can't fault the generosity of Mr. Sisk's deal: He's to be paid a year's salary at pre-rollback rates and, from what little information is disclosed, it doesn't appear that he's bound to a non-compete clause. Odd that Wynn would do this without having a successor in the wings. Of course, there are more than a couple of ex-Las Vegas Sands and Harrah's Entertainment executives updating their resumés these days.

"Encore, me no like!" According to Majestic Research analyst Matthew Jacob, customers are having a tizzy over Encore's "chambered" casino layout and gravitating back to more traditional Wynn LV. So what plays in Macao may flop in Vegas, huh? You can't fault El Steve for trying. Jacob is predicting a squishy 1Q09 for Wynn Resorts, compounded by a first-ever patch of adversity at Wynn Macau.

Jacob is also the star of this CNBC segment on the gaming group, politely wiping the floor with Gabelli Global Multimedia Trust's Larry Haverty. The latter's declaration that resiliency in regional casino markets bodes an imminent recovery of Las Vegas, though we all wish it were true, is a textbook instance of 2+2=5.

Barring Atlantic City and the wholly aberrant phenomenon that is Illinois, regional markets have never slumped as badly as Vegas is doing and were much quicker to recover. Regional diversification is a double-edged sword for gaming: It's a valuable hedge against a wipeout in one key market, but it also gives customers that much less incentive to travel to Vegas or the Boardwalk when big-budget casino properties are coming closer and closer to home.

Haverty also goes off the rails vis-a-vis MGM Mirage's Aria and server-based gaming, predicting successful adoption at CityCenter will spur a wave of emulation. Yes, but ... not so fast. First, the economy will have to come firmly out of its present nosedive before casinos contemplate capex spending of that magnitude. Secondly, some of SBG's largest potential consumers -- like Harrah's Entertainment, Station Casinos, Las Vegas Sands and even MGM are so badly in hock that they're in no position to participate in a major replacement cycle. Furthermore, I don't believe International Game Technology expects more than, at most, an initially slow and incremental adoption of SBG -- an infiltration of casino floors, not a blitzkrieg. But if you're looking at IGT as a long-term investment, a drawn-out replacement cycle would probably be a more desirable scenario anyway.

There's nothing in exceptionable in Jacob's half of the interview. His more finely shaded and detailed observations contrast favorably with Haverty's scattergun generalizations. And while I agree with the latter's enthusiasm for Boyd Gaming, it's a mite premature to be toasting Pinnacle Entertainment. If Pinnacle hadn't gotten bogged down in Atlantic City and were making a more appreciable dent in the St. Louis market, then I'd raise my glass without reservation. When Pinnacle was in acquisition mode there were few assets for the taking. By the time that buffet was replenished, Pinnacle's plate was full to overflowing.

A too-florid 'Aria'

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:47:00 -0700

As MGM Mirage winds the clock toward Aria's Dec. 16 debut, it's launched a Web site to showcase the resort's restaurants. The over-the-top verbiage was too much for one LVA staffer, who annotated it thusly:

AMERICAN FISH by Chef Michael Mina

Is that like "American Gangster"?? And how do you truly tell the nationality of a fish?

SIRIO RISTORANTE by Restaurant Legend Sirio Maccioni

Oh, so no longer do we have "celebrity chefs"; now we have "restaurant legends"???

AND;

"Ingredients from the earth, sea and air …"

As opposed to??

JEAN GEORGES STEAKHOUSE by Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten

"The expected becomes unexpected"

Haha!! So when you order a steak, we bring you a cauliflower!!!!

OH!OH!OH!, and this one's my favorite:

"Green pastures, cows and the theory of human vanity"

This is a description of the decor?? HAHA!!!

Inside the wizard's lair: If they sold tours of Steve Wynn's office, it'd be the hottest attraction on the Strip. Steve Friess got the next best thing -- a peek behind the curtain of Wynn's design nerve center. More accurately, he was able to tour the office of Roger Thomas, the aesthetic guru of Encore (above) and many another Wynn property, and take copious photographs. Love or hate Thomas' work, it's set the trends that the rest of the Strip follows.

Quote of the Day

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:16:00 -0700

"What's awesome about XS though is that it's overbuilt even by the economic standards of two years ago. That means that there are always tables available and as long as you're ordering drinks from the bar to bring back, they won't give you a hard time for sitting in them. In fact, on a beautiful night like ours, I'd say a good 10% if the tables inside the club were available and every single one of the 30 or so cabanas out by the pool were unoccupied." -- "Mike E," reviewing Encore, including a rare glimpse of its Sky Casino.

The Unlucky Club & other Case Bets

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:40:00 -0700

Did somebody build the inaptly named Lucky Club (above) over an Indian burial ground? A deprivation of access is but the latest indignity suffered by this North Las Vegas grind joint. While it was still the Speedway Casino, it was ravaged by fire. Years earlier, it was the Cheyenne, most famous for having its bookeeping described as "smoke and mirrors" by then-Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible. That rumpus -- and a few others like it -- would dog casino speculator Shawn Scott for the rest of his spotty career. Last we heard, Scott had hunkered down in the Virgin Islands.

Better fortune was in store for the long-on-the-market Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, which couldn't find any takers not so long ago. I'm guessing "undisclosed price" is code for "fire sale."

(Update: It sold for $98 million.)

At least I'm not alone in thinking that Las Vegas Sands is headed over the brink. So does John L. Smith who has more bad news for Sheldon Adelson.

Need to raise awareness of your bookmaking service? Hire a gambling addict as your pitchman! The surprise isn't that this, er, novel marketing initiative was ashcanned but that it got as far as it did. Earth to Better Bet, Earth to Better Bet ...

Earth to Wynn ... Weather forecasters have been predicting high Thursday gusts of wind all week long. But Wynn Resorts must not have paid its cable TV bill because it sent window-washers up Encore anyway. Not surprisingly, something went wrong and they had to be rescued. Now that everybody in Vegas is on a curtain-wall craze, expect crises like these to multiply exponentially.

Going out on a limb, the Las Vegas Sun says that Sens. John Ensign and Harry Reid were doing the right thing ... now that a consensus has formed and the story has faded, making it safe to take a stand.

Wendover: Casinos, yes; mental health care ... not so much.

If you're going to lose your marbles in Nevada (some would say I already have), don't do it in Wendover. It's still OK to lose money there, though. Wendover Will approved this message.

On second thought, you might not want to bring your money here, either. At least not if you use debit cards. Where do I sign the petition to abolish the Nevada Legislature? They don't need any stinking due process, do they?

More M Resort pix

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:15:00 -0700

Armed with my first digital camera (which the Significant Other won during the brief run of "The Real Deal" at the Venetian), we scoped out M Resort on opening night. If Encore marked the return of "the red casino," M responds with what might be called "the resinous casino." If you grew up in a region thick with sap-laden trees, the look will be familiar:

This pillar motif runs throughout the resort ...

... as here, over the slot floor.

Fixtures like these ...

... also make nifty places of concealment for the domes that mask the PTZ surveillance cameras.

This lovely canopy in the grand foyer ...

... is but a stone's throw from the check-in desk.

The sports book. Obviously.

The requisite wild-and-crazy casino carpet, for those who dig that jazz.

Blown-glass ornaments in the VIP players' lounge, where the TV (not shown) ...

... was set to Family Guy, in a gesture of impeccable taste. Other teevees throughout the property were tuned to either ESPN or Fox Noise, er, News. The lounge was also home to ...

... this floral arrangement. (Like, duh.)

Sample table setting (out of several) in one of the smaller meeting rooms.

Just add conventioneers and stir. (Groovy carpet, huh?)

Lastly ...

... your humble blogger comes to grips with one of M's self-service beverage stations. As you can see, I'm partial to the Real Thing. And, yes, I often look similarly vexed. All this and we still got home in time for United States of Tara. (Toni Colette can play damn near anything.)

Enjoy!

Quote of the Day

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:49:00 -0700

"... why not use elegant? The truth is that when [Steve] Wynn gathers more than a billion dollars to sink into his vision, you can be sure that at this point he is building from knowledge, sure, but he's also building with love. And elegance definitely is a characteristic he has been striving for since Bellagio." -- Richard Abowitz, taking issue with Time Magazine's review of Encore.

M in pictures

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:16:00 -0700

Well ... sorta. You'd think a billion dollars might buy a decent press kit but M Resort's didn't arrive at LVA HQ until the day after the opening. To add to the farce, most of the pictures aren't bonafide photos but extremely obvious computer-generated renderings. As a PR effort goes, this was a real face-plant. You know what they say about first impressions and second chances.

Anyway ...

M's overall vibe is one I'd describe as "understated elegance." If the message of Encore is that nothing succeeds like ripe excess, M aims for a decidedly un-Vegas image -- Southwestern simplicity and a moderately upscale position, and oh yes, we do have gambling here.

The foyer of the spa, which wasn't quite finished on opening night. There are, among many other amenities, two heated pools. One is 101 degrees, the other 104 Fahrenheit. I neglected to ask why the three-degree discrepancy was so important.

You wouldn't guess it from this rendering but the Ravello lounge has excellent sightlines and is an intimate -- but not claustrophobic -- venue for live music.

M Resort's eponymous bar. We skipped this one, I think.

Rooftop restaurant Veloce Cibo was closed for a Marnell family event (it's a big family, I hear). The only way you could get that view out the window -- practically atop Wynn Las Vegas -- would be if Veloce Cibo was in the belly of the M Resort blimp.

The foyer of Marinelli's. In terms of decor, this is the fanciest of the M restaurants. Gastronomically, we were too maxed-out to sample the fare.

The Studio B kitchen, just off the buffet. Try as I might, all I could think of was the council chamber in Babylon 5 ("Delicacies by Delenn"? "Noshing with the Narn"? "Lunch at Londo Mollari's"?) We overdid it at the buffet proper but the cooking staff really put its best foot forward for the opening-night crowd.

A standard room. You can't really see it at this size, but the "view" out the window makes the Strip look several miles closer than it actually is.

A flat suite, with another incredible (as in "not to be believed") view.

Partial view of a "Classic" one-bedroom suite.

The lobby of the conference area. Overall, it's almost as swanky as Encore, if not as breathtaking as Red Rock Resort.

Does the billion bucks show up in the final product? Yes. Is it worth the (not inconsiderable) drive? Yes. Hopefully it will stand up to wear, tear and cigarette smoke, as M made a powerful first impression of "affordable luxury," offering a higher-than-average number of amenities in a soothing atmosphere. We'll see how that imprint is sustained once the slot machines start chiming en masse and the players light up in similar numbers ... and let's not kid ourselves: In this economy, large numbers of anything (except foreclosures) tend to be welcome.

Wall Street Hearts WYNN

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:05:00 -0700

"Buy Wynn!" is the bottom line of James Dobosz's unqualified endorsement of the stock. He especially likes the recent volte-face that saw Steve Wynn abandon an occupany-driven strategy in favor of high ADRs, on the theory that customers who can afford top-dollar hotel rooms can spring for like-priced spa treatments and restaurant offerings.

Putting a "buy" rating on a casino stock is akin to placing one's head on the chopping block these days. Consider Bernstein Research, which initiated ratings of Wynn Resorts and -- get this -- Las Vegas Sands at "outperform." Bernstein's rationale for the Wynn rating is persuasive, but anybody who writes blithely that Sheldon Adelson's company will "find its way out of its liquidity bind and emerge with a stellar portfolio of assets centered in Asia and including a crown jewel in Singapore," hath quaffed a dram too many of the LVS Kool-Aid, methinks.

The next day brought this "Oh shit!" bulletin from Singapore. A 13% drop in tourism is nothing to downplay, considering that both Marina Bay Sands and Genting's Sentosa Island megaresort will live and die on international business.

Bernstein's $8-a-share bullishness on Sands drew a withering blast from CNBC's James Cramer that began, "All right, you just rolled a seven in craps. That is, if you own the crap known as Las Vegas Sands!" His volcanic tirade is not for the faint of heart ... but Cramer was prescient when he frog-marched gaming stocks off to his "Sell Block" 14 months ago. Read the latest LVS financials and see what you think.

And even if LVS has held the Marina Bay Sands budget down to its $3.2 billion starting point, $300 million in cash flow is but a 9% ROI. We're looking at 5.5% if the worst-case scenarios are accurate. The $1 billion-plus megaresort epoch that kicked off with Bellagio and Mandalay Bay may someday be known as The Era of Diminishing Returns. If you want to buy casino stock, God bless you. Just don't expect the double-digit returns of yore.

What's the sound of stale?

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:12:00 -0700

It'd probably be very much like the dulcet tones of Danny F. Gans (pictured), who reassures prospective attendees to his Encore show not to worry: It'll be the same old same-old. Or, as he rationalizes it, "I'm trying to give [audiences] exactly what they want." (Which seems to be the problem with most Hollywood movies, too, but I digress.)

I'm only slightly younger than Gans and if a graying head like mine thinks that, say, doing a George Burns impression marks you as badly out of touch, what are the 35-45-somethings Gans claims to be targeting going to think? Heck, the recent Cirque du Soleil fiasco, Believe, didn't tank because it was too new, too risky but because -- by an overwhelming consensus -- it was too derivative, too Cirque de Yesterday.

"I feel like I'm kind of the Rocky of this town," Gans declares. Given that Sylvester Stallone looks ossified and does the same thing over and over, that analogy may be unwittingly apt. Gans' reputation is that of a performer whose act fossilized somewhere back in the Clinton administration and he seems determined to validate the perception. But Steve Wynn is wagering that there's money to be made off predictable mediocrity and he's likely to be proven right.

Black Tuesday: Wynn

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:42:00 -0700

With the aforementioned exception of Penn National and that of Bally Technologies, Feb. 3 was a wretched day to be in the casino industry, with most attention going to Wynn Resorts.

The company had to good grace to hold a conference call to announce what it was doing, in detail, resisting the obvious temptation to put out a press release and then just clam up. Steve Wynn lavished considerable praise on his employees and came across as sincerely concerned with keeping people employed, albeit in reduced circumstances. Contrast this with certain casino operators (coughColumbia Sussexcough) who have seemed to positively enjoy putting people out on the street, the more the better.

Encore: caught napping?

Wynn (the company or the person, take your pick) is also to be commended for graduating the pay reduction on salaried employees so that the lower-tiered ones face "only" a 10% cutback, as opposed to the -15% that will be suffered in the higher ranks. However, losing as much as $15K in annual income isn't chump change and life will be even rougher for the hourly employees, who are looking at 20% less pay. (Social Darwinians will doubtless adopt the Pollyanna-ish view that the hourly employees now have the "opportunity" to take on additional, part-time jobs ... in a state where unemployment exceeds 9%.) However, unless you're making peanuts to begin with or are independently wealthy, a 10%-20% pay cut isn't "a little less," as Wynn defensively phrased it, it's a lot less. Let's just be clear on that.

During the conference call, Wynn said that the cutbacks had been in the works for five-six weeks, which would place their inception somewhere between Dec. 23-30 ... the first week that Encore was open. That's interesting timing. Perhaps management was too preoccupied with opening the property to see this crisis coming, but whatever the reason, both bosses and employees have been sandbagged.

Given the severity of the economy measures and the fact that, according to Wynn himself, the company is sitting on $900 million in "free cash," as they put it, why were such drastic actions necessary? Especially when the maximum saving is pegged at $100 million? Better too much prudence than too little, of course, but it seems like we're not getting the full picture here. If I had to surmise, I'd say Wynn must be looking at some very dire -- but undisclosed -- 2009 business models and bracing for impact.

Pilar Weiss of the Culinary Union told S&G she wasn't sure where the Review-Journal got its 9,500-affected-employees figure, as roughly half (5,000-plus people) of Wynn Las Vegas/Encore's workforce is Culinary-repped and therefore immune to the unilateral pay and benefit reductions (partly because they don't participate in Wynn's 401[k] plan). "He can do unilateral whatever he wants" to non-Culinary employees, Weiss said, adding that the union hasn't had and doesn't intend to have meetings with Wynn to discuss concessions.

"I don't see any defections," Wynn predicted of his workforce and one can't argue with the implicit logic, even if a Wynn LV/Encore job might not be the highest-paying gig on the Strip now. Most of his competitors are in even worse straits and any Strip job opening draws a hefty surfeit of applicants. Wynn knows his people will stay put because the chances of landing a better job elsewhere are closer to "none" than "slim."

On other topics, Wynn was pretty sanguine, saying that Encore Macau is being financed out of free cash flow and belt-tightening isn't needed over there: "Our business in Macao is at levels that don't dictate that sort of measure." Having almost a fifth of the Macanese market with just one casino is nice, isn't it?

"I don't really feel like sweating the stock price" was another Wynn-delivered bon mot, as he implied he might be in the mood to take advantage of the swooning market and accrue more WYNN shares.

The assembled stock analysts were respectul but not fawning, with the exception of Larry Klatzkin, who coyly wafted softballs for Wynn execs to swat out of the park. Joseph Greff asked the once-unthinkable: Could Strip resorts become irrelevant and go dark? Wynn didn't answer directly but noted that the pressure was greatest on the bargain-tier properties: "Where do you go from 29 [dollars a night]?" Added one of his lieutenants, any darkness "will come from the bottom up."

Encore encores: Restaurants up the Wazuzu

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:12:00 -0700

Wazuzu: The iconic dragon's head alone weighs 800 pounds.

Society Café: Roger Thomas' favorite of the various Encore restaurants. If you don't mind dropping $30 on breakfast, you'll like it too.

Botero: At this size, sadly, the photograph doesn't even come close to doing the place justice. It's a little cramped, but memorable, and the cuisine is the best at Encore (and also the priciest).

The bar area, complete with a Botero original. They serve the wickedest sangria in town.

Sinatra: It was to have been "Theo" and the Chairman of the Board theme was a late addition -- but it works.

Not a bad place to wait: The Sinatra bar, complete with two obelisks and an ornamental ship that Thomas salvaged from a defunct New York City hotel. Bon voyage!

Encore encores: In XS

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:04:00 -0700

XS, as seen from the pool. It's very beautiful ...

... especially when viewed in its douchebag-free state.

Encore's Esplanade shopping mall: Heavy prices in light, airy surroundings.

Eastside Lounge. It could use a little more red, don't you agree?

Encore encores: The suite life

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:45:00 -0700

A Parlour Suite.

A "king" Resort Suite and ...

... the view from your bedroom. This looks like the room we stayed in, except that it appears bigger on film and we had a scenic view of Circus Circus, not The Rio. Even so, the best Vegas hotel room in which I've stayed.

A "queen" Resort Suite; recommended for couples who aren't on speaking terms.

The living room of a Salon Suite -- spectacular, to say the least.

And the Salon Suite's bedroom ... not too shabby, either.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:23:00 -0700

"It's very civilized." -- guest's reaction to the casino atmosphere at Encore.

Three things about Encore

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:24:00 -0700

Last night I was the proverbial "plus one" for a media sleepover at Encore, although a miscommunication caused us to opt for dinner at Palazzo's Grand Luxe Café (where the service was incredibly absent-minded). If I tried jotting down every impression and observation I had re: Encore, I'd be typing for the rest of the day. So how about a few quick hits ...

1) The parking garage is incredibly clean -- Harrah's Entertainment, take note -- nor does it smell like the hold of the Exxon Valdez (I'm looking at you, Palazzo).

2) Even one's butt gets pampered. The contoured toilet seats are the most comfortable in Christendom, bar none. Yes, Steve Wynn and Roger Thomas have thought of everything, except maybe ...

3) Towel rods. If there's a place in the bathroom to hang one's hand towel, other than gracelessly draping it over the sink, we couldn't find it. Encore comes so close to perfection in so many respects that relatively picayune flaws (like the one lampshade in the check-in area that's askew) are apt to protrude.

XS: When you absolutely, positively must drop $50K on a magnum of Cristal.

Must-see TV: In-room television service at Encore includes Lebanese, Korean and Japanese channels, plus five Chinese ones. But my two favorites were the ones on which Wynn himself narrates property tours of Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Macau. Maybe it's because those relaxing "Uncle Steve reads you a bedtime story" voiceovers are just the thing for nerves that have been jangled by rush-hour traffic.

There is one tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-it gaffe in the Wynn LV film: some footage has been run backwards (turning a zoom-out into a zoom-in), because in the distance you can see one of the golf course waterfalls, only the water is going up, not down. I know Steve Wynn's is probably the greatest mind in the casino industry, but not even he can reverse the laws of physics.

Deep Red: Encore

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:53:00 -0700

As much as casino-watchers have been vexed by the total media clampdown on all but the smallest scintillae of revelation about Steve Wynn's Encore, it was worth the wait. Or, to put it differently, Aria and Fontainebleau have just been given an exceptionally difficult act to follow.

I say that as someone who was disappointed with Wynn Las Vegas when it debuted in 2005. Despite the modernity promised by the exterior, what I found inside was a pastel-colored version of Bellagio -- smaller, muted, rearranged and more than a bit fussy.

Let it not be said that there is anything pastel about Encore, nor anything tentative. For starters, primary colors are back "in" with a vengeance, specifically red. Now, I like red but we're talking RED!!! For relief, the VIP area is dominated by green. But did I mention to utter profusion of RED??? If Dario Argento designed a casino, this would be it.

My tour group, which included fellow Vegas Gang-sters David G. Schwartz, Chuck Monster and Robert Earl's favorite writer, Hunter Hillegas, had the good fortune of being in the tour group led by Wynn Resorts design guru Roger Thomas. For the latter, Encore represents his Vegas swan song and it closes the circle in other way: As Thomas put it, when Wynn and he remade the downtown Golden Nugget, it was the death knell of that Vegas staple, "the red casino." Not another would be built after that. "We killed [the red casino], we get to bring it back," Thomas says by way of explaining the riot of scarlet luxuriating throughout Encore.

Above and beyond its coloristic impact, Encore is the most tactile casino on the Strip and probably in the U.S. You'll be wanting to "cop a feel" many times over, whether it's of the wood finishes, the wall coverings or the sculpted textures like the "wall of bodies" that ushers you into nightclub XS. (Once you get in -- if you get in -- the view across the dance floor and the "European" [read: topless] pool to the al fresco bar opposite is one of the bigger "wow" effects at Encore.)

They mix a mean sangria there, too. The color scheme is as gilded as the casino is reddish and Thomas confesses, "I'm certain Goldfinger had a little to do with it." Whatever the case, it's like Christian Audigier -- The Nightclub (right down to the fashion boutique) but for people with taste.

There will be other articles and blogs appraising the aesthetic and functionality of Encore, so I'll leave the assessment to experts and confine myself to various jottings made while trying to walk and scribble simultaneously.

Thomas, who's been with Wynn since 1981, describes himself as the "partial author" of The Mirage, the seminal property of contemporary Las Vegas, and "full author" of Treasure Island. He's not necessarily patting himself on the back, as he says that one of the lessons learned at the Island was not to fully theme a casino (a lesson that several non-Wynn casinos failed to heed) and not to have one designer do the entire hotel. His subsequent approach has been to assemble teams he knows and admires, who hit it off with Wynn himself, and who have the reputation of being on time and on budget.

Despite those last criterion, not every last light fixture or handrail was in place (some uninstalled fixtures, left carelessly in the middle of a hallway, nearly cost posterity the future writings of Dr. Schwartz). Nor did we get more than the teensiest peek at the Encore Theater, which has been redone -- again -- for Danny F. Gans. The proscenium has been moved back but that's the only specific we were given.

Flocked with butterflies. Other than the ocean of RED, the design element likeliest to be mentioned are the omnipresent butterflies. They're in the moldings, the tiling, the wall coverings ... in short, everywhere. Not only do they "represent an abudance of good luck," they provide Thomas with a metaphor for the transformative process he and Wynn enjoy: turning the unromantic elements of cement and steel into an escapist paradise. There are no Strip views at ground level because, Thomas says, "When you're cocooned at Wynn, everything is beautiful." (He did not, however, croon" ... in its own little way.")

The third design element, less obvious to the eye, is a running motif of garlands of laurels. These were inspired by the most famous tale of metamorphosis (no, not Franz Kafka's), the myth of Daphne, depicted in a statue in the Lobby Bar & Café. Yet another reinvention is Switch, the restaurant whose decor changes every 20 minutes. It sounds godawfully corny but, in actuality, it's wondrous to behold -- like a dining experience by way of Cirque du Soleil. The revelation of multiple 18-foot chandeliers is a particular coup de theatre. "Steve can't help himself," Thomas explains. "He's a lover of theatre."

Encore's Esplanade mall has less natural light, more space than its opposite number at Wynn LV, which was one of the areas where it was most obviously "Bellagio II." The decision to mix design styles is evident in the amalgam of sharp angles and wave forms in the conjoined Rolex/Wynn & Co. boutiques. It provides relief from the overall aesthetic -- as intended -- without making a violently contrasting statement.

(My favorite design element, in truth, was the chair in Wynn & Co.; pure Heaven to anyone with an aching back. I want one, dammit!)

If natural light is somewhat lacking in the mall, Encore's atrium more than compensates. This vaulted, latticed space is Wynn's biggest "You have arrived" statement to date. Its conservatory-writ-large style manages paradoxically to be both grandiose and subdued. It's crowned with a pair of huge sconces salvaged from a demolished hotel in Cap d'Antibes.

Path of Excess = Palace of Wisdom? In the mall and, in fact, throughout the property, Thomas' preference for layering details sometimes induces sensory overload. The stated intention was to create a property that would require several visits to fully appreciate and one can report: Mission Accomplished. For instance, if there's a spa in town more ornate and in-your-face indulgent than the mere lobby of the Encore spa, well, I've not seen it. Several in my group agreed that Wynn could charge people for audio tours of Encore, and rightly so. It feels less like you're being shown through a resort and more like being given a walk-through of a working palace.

A good thing, though, that Wynn's attempts to buy up and demolish the nearby Guardian Angel Cathedral were rebuffed, though. Not only could Wynn use some guardian angels in the current economy, Encore's beauty parlor overlooks the cathedral and, were it not there, you'd have an all-too-clear view of some genuinely craptastic buildings on Covention Center Drive. The Catholic diocese did Wynn a favor by turning him down.

Of the many iterations of "suite" at Encore, we were shown two: a Tower Suite that makes up in comfort what it lacks in size (it's generous to call it a "suite," though it may make you feel better about what you're paying to stay there) and a Salon Suite in which you could land a helicopter. Something very intense and Asian was going down in what appeared to be an even larger suite at the end of the hall -- a huddle with the CEO of Tagruato Corp. perhaps?

Even the elevators are differentiated in their decor. One had a red alligator-skin motif while another was clad in butterflies rampant on a field of purple. I mean, we're talking spare no expense here, folks. The fabric for the drapes in the VIP room was purchased three years ago and kept under wraps until now.

The Sinatra restaurant is dominated by gargantuan, larger-than-life-size portraits of the Chairman of the Board himself. Is it a restaurant or a shrine? I felt I ought to genuflect or at least make the Sign of the Cross. But the real conversation-starters here are two hefty obelisks which flank the bar, while overhead sails a bejeweled galleon. Thomas rescued these from the shipwreck that was a failed New York City restaurant.

Society will be, for want of a better term, Encore's bread-and-butter restaurant, as well as a must-visit for chocoholics. Thomas' goal here was, "A room that Oscar Wilde would like."

Now stop for a moment. Can you imagine Thomas saying that to William Weidner and getting anything more than a basilisk stare? Or having a conversation with Gary Loveman about the metaphorical significance of butterflies? The Harrah's Entertainment CEO would probably just want to know what the return on invested capital from butterflies was going to be.

Which goes to the heart of what makes a Wynn property different from anything else in the marketplace: His willingness to invest monetary and artistic capital in things which don't translate to the bottom line in a quantifiable way but which create a "must-see" factor. I have no idea what the ROI of the Bellagio fountain is but it's -- and not arguably, I'll contend -- the fulcrum of the Strip, the icon off of which everything else plays. Wynn is an anomaly: a casino industry CEO with the temperament of an artist ... but an artist who's chosen a very unusual art form by which to express himself.

To have come all this way and not have spoken of the Encore casino floor itself is not to imply that it's an afterthought (the way the Venetian's casino floor feels like a waystation between the super-grandiose lobby and the Grand Canal Shoppes, for when you simply must shoppe 'til you droppe). Actually, quite a bit of thought has clearly gone into the casino, the part of Encore in which Wynn's experience with Macao is most prevalent.

Even more than Wynn LV, it's dominated by semi-secluded areas. But unlike the serpentine traffic patterns of its sister property, Encore's casino is neat and orderly, laid out in a street-and-block system, with superior lines of sight. Bucking the "more is more" trend, Encore has only 850 slots, which we're told are on an infrastructure ready for server-based-gaming when (or if) it takes off.

The innate conservatism of Wynn's approach here is the sort of thing that stands him in good stead with the banks. (Server-based Aria could be a triumph of gaming technology but it's a helluva ski jump.) In the mass-market area, each '21' table is flanked by a pair of table lamps, providing an appealingly homey (or "very residential," in Thomas-ese) vibe to the table game pit.

Steve Wynn looks suspiciously like he's been Photoshopped into his own atrium at Encore, but at least it gives you a sense of scale.

It's difficult to rank Encore in the pantheon of recent Las Vegas megaresorts because Wynn's most serious competion in the last decade has been ... Steve Wynn. Even had Palazzo's rollout not been a near-total botch, it still has that expensive-shopping-mall-that's-doomed-to-fail look about it. Planet Hollywood, had it all reopened simultaneously, would have flung some serious "Wow!" at its audience, but Robert Earl's had to relaunch it incrementally and progress of late has been agonizingly slow. Other than the Criss Angel bomb Believe, it may be the Strip's most expensive work in progress.

So ... will Encore create excitement unto itself? I believe so. Does it represent not only a leap forward for Wynn but an even bigger one than expected? Yes and yes. But ...

Will it drive business? If I owned WYNN stock (which I don't), I would sleep very well tonight.