Wynn Las Vegas Magazine by MODERN LUXURY

Wynn - 2014 - Issue 2 - Fall

Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas

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photography by barbara kraft T here are magic moments in the week or two before a resort opens to the public, says Steve Wynn. "It's my favorite time because we have great fun designing, selecting, and install- ing, and then looking at it before we open the doors. It's a delicious feeling. All the scaffold- ing is gone and the place is being vacuumed, and it's just you and the employees eating in the restaurants—and you own the place. Some of the decisions we made were made three years before, and just before you turn it over to the public, it's like you're seeing it for the first time." But despite the beautiful things that you will discover in every public and pri- vate space—monumental art and carefully considered objects, art and finishes in every room—when Wynn describes the curating of Wynn and Encore, or any of his resorts, he does not launch into an enumeration of things. Rather, the essence of a beautifully curated hotel, Wynn says, is "keeping the promise that you have decided to make to guests. We are a niche operator—we aim for the top end. But the 'stuff' is only part of the contract. We could spend all the money we want on handwoven fabrics, crystal chandeliers, and marble, but the guts of the place are the people who work here and are proud that they are associated with a place that is, in fact, the best. They mon- itor everything because the alternative hurts their pride." Of course, where the "guts" and the "stuff" coalesce is where poetry is made. Curating a hotel, for Steve Wynn, is a simple equation: Make selections in good taste, continue your dedication to ideas large and small, and inspire the people who take care of all these things to love them as much as the chairman himself— and a hotel's magic becomes "a self-fulfilling prophecy." On the day I meet with Wynn, big decisions are being made about Wynn Palace, the luxu- rious second Wynn resort in Macau, opening on the Cotai Strip in 2016. He is also deeply considering bed linens. Yes, sheets. On the table before him are samples of the actual sheets from Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Four Seasons, and the villas in Wynn Las Vegas. He has taken the sheets from the most luxurious hotel groups in the world to ensure that the lin- ens he will introduce to all the rooms and suites from top: The twisted balloon fowers of Jef Koons's three- ton Popeye (part of the artist's "Celebration" series) have delighted visitors to the Wynn Theater Rotunda since 2012; Steve Wynn. 26 Wynn STEVE WYnn

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