Behind the 200 Million Dollar Revamp at the Wynn Las Vegas

Wynn Las Vegas is known for having pushed the luxury envelope, offering the ne plus ultra in hotel accommodations. So how does one go about elevating them further while still honoring the property’s legacy? If you’re Todd-Avery Lenahan, president and chief creative officer of Wynn Design & Development, you approach it less as producing rooms for a hotel and more as designing suites that bring to mind a tastefully appointed apartment in Paris’ 8th arrondissement.

The result of this $200 million reimagining of the elevator lobbies, resort corridors and 2,674 rooms and suites that comprise Wynn Las Vegas and the Wynn Tower Suites is a collection of bespoke spaces that beckon with a warmth not usually found in hotels, no matter how elegant. Everywhere one looks there is something begging to be touched, rubbed or felt: here, a wall covered in eccentrically pleated silk known as Crepes Suzette; there, a beautifully iridescent custom-embroidered drapery, woven in India.

Wynn Tower Suite Salon dining area / Photo: Robert Miller

“As guests’ needs evolve, we are constantly advancing details that exceed their discerning tastes,” says Lenahan. “Our redesigned rooms are equal parts intimate and sophisticated.”

Objets d’art—terra-cotta sculptures of rams on Lucite stands, Moroccan camel-bone chests, handwoven African baskets—fill each room, benefiting from the combination of ambient and architectural lighting. Floors of Michelangelo marble are covered in custom carpets. Editions of Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square hang on the walls, while on either side of the bed, black-and-white photos of the moon are suspended from the ceiling. Over in the Tower Suites, floor-to-ceiling mirrors with clothing hooks allow the entry hallways to double as spacious dressing rooms, while four-poster beds add a hint of cosseted intimacy.

Bathrooms highlight Lenahan’s gift for mixing design elements that, in a vacuum, might seem to be inherently masculine or feminine, but when presented together, are sublime. A brass étagère with leather-covered shelves separates magnificent twin vanities of burled walnut, each with a huge mirror. Just inside the door, a dresser of lacquered rosewood stands like a sentry.

Much of the furniture, including the chairs and benches, is on frames or bases that allow light to pass through, while the media center and private bar are housed in polished bronze étagères that reach to the ceiling, lending an air of considered permanence. An elliptical marble desk-cum-dining table extends out from the wall, allowing guests seated there to be a part of the conversation, look out the window or simply watch television with merely a swivel. Wynn Las Vegas president Brian Gullbrants says, “The new rooms have a much more residential feel and are a perfect fit for those traveling for work, leisure or a little bit of both.”