Wynn Sets Construction Date For Encore
A Smoke-Free Hotel In Las Vegas?
Posted: 10:35 am EST December 13, 2005
Although Steve Wynn is dropping out of the bidding for a potentially lucrative gaming license in Singapore, he is not slowing down his plans for Las Vegas.Wynn announcemened that construction on Encore, the sequel to Wynn Las Vegas, will begin by spring of next year.The $1.5 billion project will function as a separate resort but will be connected to Wynn Las Vegas near the showrooms at the northern end of the building. Encore will feature 2,030 suites, each around 740 square feet, making them the biggest standard rooms on the Strip. There will be a 40,000-square-foot casino (tiny by Strip standards but hey, you’ve got another 100,000 or so a couple of hallways away at Wynn), several restaurants, a nightclub, a separate pool and spa, and its own parking garage.For the design, expect more of the same, only in reverse and a little bigger. Encore will have 48 floors (three more than Wynn) in a curving bronze structure, just like Wynn only facing in a different direction (to the north).If all goes according to the timetable Wynn is working on, people will be clamoring for an Encore sometime around the summer of 2008.
Despite its very public recent troubles, General Motors is taking a bold step forward in the marketing of its vehicles in Las Vegas with its first-ever "permanent" test-track facility. It is designed to allow drivers the chance to pilot the company's vehicles with none of those pesky traffic laws getting in the way.GM is taking over the big parking lot behind the Sahara on Paradise Road and will create two test tracks -- a high-performance road course for screaming around in Corvettes and the like and a desert-themed off-road course for climbing about in Hummers and their cousins.Although temporary to start (tents and cones will fashion the facility), it could become a permanent tourist attraction. Fifty or so different vehicles from across the General's product line will be available, and the facility will be staffed by professional drivers and advisors instead of salespeople (although if you are enraptured with that Chevy HHR after screaming around the track, I'm sure they'd be willing to take a check).GM will also sponsor a train on the Las Vegas Monorail, which conveniently has its end-of-the-line station right above the future test tracks.
In the entire world there are only 150 restaurants and hotels deemed good enough for the Five Diamond Award from AAA and there's a new one in Las Vegas: Alex, the upscale French dining experience at Wynn Las Vegas.Created by chef Allesandro Stratta, Alex has won raves for its fine food, with flavors of the French Riviera and a dramatic ambience.Stratta is no stranger to top accolades. His former restaurant, Renoir at the Mirage (also created under Steve Wynn's guidance), was an AAA Five Diamond Award winner, as well. If you feel like visiting, be warned -- this kind of dining pleasure doesn't come cheap. Make sure your credit card has a word such as "platinum" on it.
Much publicity ado was made recently with the announcement that the Westin brand of hotels will be going totally smoke-free in 2006. The brand, popular with business travelers and upscale travelers, will no longer offer a choice of smoking or non-smoking when selecting a room -- they will all be tobacco-free, along with the public areas of the hotels.But what about the Westin Casaurina in Las Vegas, a city that has non-smoking sections in restaurants and non-smoking rooms, but just about everything else is open season for nic-addicts?Turns out that the smoking ban will only apply to the rooms, the lobby and the restaurants. If you need to light up, you can sidle up to a slot machine in the casino and still puff to your heart's content. The casino, which is managed by a separate company, will provide a few non-smoking gaming tables, but the rest of the floor will remain a smoker's paradise.That further reinforces my standard reply to anyone who asks me this question: "Where can I go to not be bothered by cigarette smokers?" The reply: "California."
Cabbies in Las Vegas lost a big chunk of their income with the announcement of a deal from strip clubs around town to stop giving out gigantic "tips" to drivers to bring patrons to their establishments.It had become common practice for the management of the strip clubs to pay as much as $70 per passenger to taxi and limo drivers just for dropping customers off at their places of business, with the drivers often steering passengers away from places that don't tip as big or as often.Although illegal, the law was rarely enforced and rarely even mentioned until a proposed ordinance would have imposed stricter penalties. Fearing a cut to their lucrative side income, cab drivers staged a series of protests by tying up traffic on the Strip with caravans of cabs.City and county officials have been working with the owners of the strip clubs to come up with some sort of solution and it resulted in the gentleman's agreement between clubs that the tips would be no more.Cab drivers are outraged, of course, especially since the ordinance, the law, and the agreement don't apply to limo drivers who may still be competing for tips.Despite the kickback cutback, I doubt this one is over. The drivers aren't going to take this lightly and expecting the owners of strip clubs to abide by a handshake deal is probably wishful thinking.
So, what's going on with the Tropicana? Is it going to be torn down or not? And if so, when? Will someone please just make a decision?Apparently not.Executives for Aztar Corporation, the owners of the Tropicana, are keeping their mouths firmly closed, declining to give even the barest of hints of what, if anything, they have in mind for the hotel once known as "the Tiffany of the Strip."Redevelopment, remodeling and implosion rumors have been running rampant for years now, and the company has even gone so far as to file paperwork for approval on a pair of replacement resorts, but as far as a specific plan of attack, all the execs will say are variations of, "We're thinking about it."That thinking could involve wrecking balls, it could involve selling the whole thing to make it someone else's problem, or it could mean we'll be having dinner at Mizuno's in 2009. Who knows?For now, The Tropicana soldiers on and has recently started taking reservations into the spring of 2006.
Despite its very public recent troubles, General Motors is taking a bold step forward in the marketing of its vehicles in Las Vegas with its first-ever "permanent" test-track facility. It is designed to allow drivers the chance to pilot the company's vehicles with none of those pesky traffic laws getting in the way.GM is taking over the big parking lot behind the Sahara on Paradise Road and will create two test tracks -- a high-performance road course for screaming around in Corvettes and the like and a desert-themed off-road course for climbing about in Hummers and their cousins.Although temporary to start (tents and cones will fashion the facility), it could become a permanent tourist attraction. Fifty or so different vehicles from across the General's product line will be available, and the facility will be staffed by professional drivers and advisors instead of salespeople (although if you are enraptured with that Chevy HHR after screaming around the track, I'm sure they'd be willing to take a check).GM will also sponsor a train on the Las Vegas Monorail, which conveniently has its end-of-the-line station right above the future test tracks.
In the entire world there are only 150 restaurants and hotels deemed good enough for the Five Diamond Award from AAA and there's a new one in Las Vegas: Alex, the upscale French dining experience at Wynn Las Vegas.Created by chef Allesandro Stratta, Alex has won raves for its fine food, with flavors of the French Riviera and a dramatic ambience.Stratta is no stranger to top accolades. His former restaurant, Renoir at the Mirage (also created under Steve Wynn's guidance), was an AAA Five Diamond Award winner, as well. If you feel like visiting, be warned -- this kind of dining pleasure doesn't come cheap. Make sure your credit card has a word such as "platinum" on it.
Much publicity ado was made recently with the announcement that the Westin brand of hotels will be going totally smoke-free in 2006. The brand, popular with business travelers and upscale travelers, will no longer offer a choice of smoking or non-smoking when selecting a room -- they will all be tobacco-free, along with the public areas of the hotels.But what about the Westin Casaurina in Las Vegas, a city that has non-smoking sections in restaurants and non-smoking rooms, but just about everything else is open season for nic-addicts?Turns out that the smoking ban will only apply to the rooms, the lobby and the restaurants. If you need to light up, you can sidle up to a slot machine in the casino and still puff to your heart's content. The casino, which is managed by a separate company, will provide a few non-smoking gaming tables, but the rest of the floor will remain a smoker's paradise.That further reinforces my standard reply to anyone who asks me this question: "Where can I go to not be bothered by cigarette smokers?" The reply: "California."
Cabbies in Las Vegas lost a big chunk of their income with the announcement of a deal from strip clubs around town to stop giving out gigantic "tips" to drivers to bring patrons to their establishments.It had become common practice for the management of the strip clubs to pay as much as $70 per passenger to taxi and limo drivers just for dropping customers off at their places of business, with the drivers often steering passengers away from places that don't tip as big or as often.Although illegal, the law was rarely enforced and rarely even mentioned until a proposed ordinance would have imposed stricter penalties. Fearing a cut to their lucrative side income, cab drivers staged a series of protests by tying up traffic on the Strip with caravans of cabs.City and county officials have been working with the owners of the strip clubs to come up with some sort of solution and it resulted in the gentleman's agreement between clubs that the tips would be no more.Cab drivers are outraged, of course, especially since the ordinance, the law, and the agreement don't apply to limo drivers who may still be competing for tips.Despite the kickback cutback, I doubt this one is over. The drivers aren't going to take this lightly and expecting the owners of strip clubs to abide by a handshake deal is probably wishful thinking.
So, what's going on with the Tropicana? Is it going to be torn down or not? And if so, when? Will someone please just make a decision?Apparently not.Executives for Aztar Corporation, the owners of the Tropicana, are keeping their mouths firmly closed, declining to give even the barest of hints of what, if anything, they have in mind for the hotel once known as "the Tiffany of the Strip."Redevelopment, remodeling and implosion rumors have been running rampant for years now, and the company has even gone so far as to file paperwork for approval on a pair of replacement resorts, but as far as a specific plan of attack, all the execs will say are variations of, "We're thinking about it."That thinking could involve wrecking balls, it could involve selling the whole thing to make it someone else's problem, or it could mean we'll be having dinner at Mizuno's in 2009. Who knows?For now, The Tropicana soldiers on and has recently started taking reservations into the spring of 2006.
The Full Story
- Strategy For Vegas On A Budget
- Wynn Sets Construction Date For Encore
- Homage Restaurant Offers Rare Meat Loaf Treat
In Next Week's Column
Next week: The latest from Las Vegas.Plus, don't forget to send your questions about Las Vegas. I've got room for more, so send them in today!Click here to go to the main page of Vegas4Visitors.com and see all of the fantastic resources Vegas4Visitors has to offer you when planning your next trip to Las Vegas.Rick Garman is the head writer for Vegas4Visitors
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