Thursday, April 28, 2005 | 8:37 a.m.
Delegates attending last year's Governor's Conference on Travel and Tourism in Reno -- one of the state's most important meetings of tourism professionals -- got a special invitation to the 2005 show.
The invitation arrived in a hat with the distinctive "Wynn" signature logo, reminding the more than 1,000 people in attendance that Wynn Las Vegas was going to be the host of the next gathering.
People were impressed with the personal touch Wynn delivered to future conventioneers. And while that event is more than six months away, it's a sure bet that attendees from across the state already are looking forward to their three days in the Strip's newest resort.
They won't be the first conventioneers. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority calendar lists 10 events already planned at Wynn Las Vegas, with the first group -- a corporate meeting of 20 people from the First Indiana Bank -- due to arrive Sunday for three days.
"They'll be a significant player in the meetings and convention market," predicted Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marketing for the LVCVA. "The anticipated customer service levels they'll provide and the high-end facility and services should draw quite a bit of attention."
Michael Hughes, director of research services for Tradeshow Week, a trade publication that follows the meetings and conventions industry, said Wynn would appeal more to the meetings market than trade shows and that he expects the focus to be on "C-level-type executive meetings ... CEOs, CFOs and COOs."
"Las Vegas has a lot of exhibit space already," Hughes said. "Wynn Las Vegas will be trying to attract the higher-end player, the executives and some of the professional associations."
That's evident with some of the groups that have announced convention plans at Wynn. They include Capital Financial Group (300 delegates, Sept. 26-29), the Global Symposium on Clinical High-Field MRI (150 delegates, Oct. 24-25) and executives from Regis Corp., an international beauty salon group (60 delegates, May 15-19).
The largest group, not including December's Governor's Conference, will be the Association of Diesel Specialists, which is expected to bring 800 delegates Aug. 3-6. The American Lighting Association Annual Conference is the group booked the furthest out on the calendar, with 600 people due to arrive Sept. 9-11, 2006.
The 34 meeting rooms in Wynn's convention and meetings area are of various sizes and include 14 that have the names of French wines.
The Lafite and the Latour ballrooms, the largest rooms at 50,000 and 25,000 square feet, have stages, while the smallest meeting rooms, the Saint Julien and the Saint Pierre, can accommodate board meetings. Other rooms include Chambertin, Alsace, La Tache, Montrechet, Mouton, Palmer, La Fleur and Margaux.
The entire complex has 200,000 square feet of meeting space making it one of the city's largest facilities not including resorts with convention centers.
The new resort is well positioned between the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo Center and can easily accommodate conventioneers going to either venue.
"It will be interesting to see how Wynn competes, we may see (room) rates dropping by the hour," he said.
While much of the focus may be on how Wynn's meeting facilities compete with other Las Vegas properties, Hughes said the big picture will include how it will compete with luxury resorts on the West Coast that offer meeting facilities, such as the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel.
archive
