Wynn Las Vegas rooms to get a $200M makeover

Wynn Resorts will spend $200 million to remodel rooms at Wynn Las Vegas, the company announced Monday.

The delayed remodeling project at Wynn Las Vegas will begin in July and is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2022.

Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox told investors on an earnings conference call Monday that rooms hadn’t been remodeled at the property since 2010. He said the company had a plan to remodel rooms in 2019, but that was thwarted by the uncertainties of the COVID-19 breakout.

Maddox offered no details on what the remodeling would include.

“What we want to do is we want to come out of ‘21 and go into ’22 with brand-new room product and this is not just a soft refurb or rag job. This is a full remodel of these rooms and I think it’s really going to be a competitive edge for us going into 2022.”

Marilyn Spiegel, president of Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, said the company is focusing on building RevPAR — revenue per available room. For the first quarter of 2021, the average daily room rate at Wynn was $178 a night, 39.5 percent less than it was in 2020’s first quarter. RevPAR was at $108, 11.5 percent off 202o’s first quarter.

The company is working to keep rates and RevPAR higher to encourage guests who will spend more freely in Wynn restaurants and on retail items, and pay for entertainment and shows when those amenities return.

“It’s going to be a slow ramp-up. We’ll start in mid-July and finish by the end of the year,” Spiegel said during the call. “We’ve got so much to look forward to in 2022 and we want to be totally prepared for that.”

Maddox pointed out that the timing of the remodeling will be good for the company because Wynn really hasn’t used its new 400,000-square-foot conference center that opened in early 2020, but was shut down by COVID-19 restrictions in March of that year. Maddox said the company recently wrapped up hosting a 600-person show in the conference center and it was completed “without a hitch.”

A more intensive schedule will occur in the months ahead.

“While the back half of ‘21 looks good, ’22 is really strong,” he said.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.