“Don’t worry about making mistakes and destroying money,” Steve Wynn has told his employees. I wish someone would tell me that. Oh yeah, they’re opening the world’s most expensive casino resort in a few days, so I guess that there’s some pressure on everyone.
From CNN:
The most expensive casino in the world will open its well-appointed doors on Thursday, marking the latest installment of the evolution of the Las Vegas Strip from tacky gambling corridor to venue of the rich and sometimes famous — or at least the free spending.The $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas resort, fronted by a tree-covered artificial mountain, opens at a time of resurgent investment in Las Vegas, which is riding a wave of record tourism and booming real-estate prices.
Steve Wynn — the gaming magnate known for creating casino resorts like The Mirage — has become something of a celebrity himself, starring in a television commercial standing astride the rooftop of the gleaming 50-story bronze tower.
Already just the promise of the new resort’s opening has upped the ante for rival Las Vegas destinations, analysts say.
Speaking at a conference last week in Los Angeles, Wynn said the 9,500 employees have been told not to worry about money or failure. Such things are inevitable in a new operation and a new building. Their one charge, he said, is to not let guests leave unhappy, whether it takes reversing a charge or even returning a bet.
“Don’t worry about making mistakes and destroying money,” Wynn said he told his employees. “The only thing that matters is that the people who come to this environment be happy and playful. It’s not about us, it’s about them.”
Details of the resort’s interior have not been widely circulated, although the company’s Web site boasts that “Michelangelo took four years to complete the Sistine Chapel. Your room took five.” The 2,700 rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Strip, the mountain and lake, or the resort’s 18-hole golf course.
I did “State of Nevada” on KNPR last Friday, and a WLV called in just to say how thrilled he was to be working for the “New England Patriots” (his words) of the casino industry. The opening should be exciting. I’ll try to elbow my way in at 12:01 Thursday morning, and you can bet I’ll be taking pictures and notes.