America’s Most Awarded Resort: Inside Wynn Las Vegas

The Wynn Las Vegas mega-resort includes connected multiple lodging, dining and spa options, and these components collectively won 47 Forbes Stars in the 2023 Guide, more than any other U.S. property under one roof (very big roof). Forbes doesn’t rate gaming, shopping, live entertainment or golf, but if they did the tally might well be even higher, especially since Wynn is the only resort on the Strip with a golf course, an impressive Tom Fazio design. This is one very high-profile example of the unique assets that helps set Wynn apart from all the other mega-resorts full of gambling, great restaurants, shops and shows in the city – but it is certainly not the only one.

I’ve been covering Las Vegas travel and tourism since Steve Wynn splashed onto the hotel scene with the Mirage, and I stayed at his Bellagio the first night it opened. But after he sold these off to MGM Resorts, he developed Wynn with a different spin on what was quickly becoming a cookie cutter model in the city. Instead of a big Strip attraction – free pirate ship show, free volcano show, free fountain show, etc. – to draw pedestrians through the doors, Wynn was imagined from the inside out as more of a self-contained refuge. It was designed as a mega-resort that was an escape from the other mega-resorts, and its founder’s strategy was to create a place where guests would not have to – or want to – leave.

Steve Wynn has long since left the company, and some of his ideas certainly didn’t pan out, like razing the golf course for a waterpark. But after some trial and error, years of investment and improvements, and several very recent developments, the dream of Wynn as its own mini-city of excellence has been achieved. I have stayed here a few other times over the years and visited most recently a few months ago, following a couple of years of steady upgrades. I was impressed.

Last time I checked in, Wynn was home to two Forbes 5-Star hotels along with two 4-Stars. That’s world class for sure, but today all four have garnered the highest possible 5-Star rating, and many other improvements and additions have been made. But to me what is even more interesting about Wynn are the operation’s out-of-the-box aspects. Instead of a theme, Wynn has a personality, and that personality is decidedly classy. There are a lot of great casino hotels in Las Vegas, and several that I personally love for different reasons, but they mostly try to outdo each other on the same old things, and I feel completely justified in saying that Wynn has more unique activities and attractions than its peers.

But let’s start with the awards. There are the four 5-Star hotels, including the connected Wynn and Encore, each of which has an even more luxurious boutique “Tower Suites” hotel within it. The Tower Suites are still preferable, with easier check-in/out (and free morning coffee, something sadly missing in Vegas), but you can’t go wrong anywhere on the property. There are also townhouse-style luxury one and two bedroom Fairway Villas opening to the golf course, with large outdoor spaces and lots of luxury extras like roundtrip limos to and from the airport (technically these are part of the Wynn Tower Suites, but they are physically separate and a top-tier hidden gem). It does not matter which side of the complex you stay on, unless you care about the colors of room décor, which is the only notable difference. Each side has its own casino area, gym and spa – both 5-Star winners – while the many excellent restaurants are spread around evenly.

These include the 5-Star Wing Lei – the only 5-Star Chinese menu in town and also the first Cantonese restaurant in North America to win a Michelin Star. As if by law, every resort in Las Vegas is required to feature a high-end Chinese eatery, but Wing Lei is consistently considered the best (it’s famous for the Peking Duck).

The slate of eateries here also illustrates what makes Wynn so different. When you think Vegas, you immediately think celebrity chefs, because that’s what the city’s entire culinary scene was built on – a trend launched by Wolfgang Puck with Spago at Caesars Palace Forum Shops but first fully embraced resort-wide by Steve Wynn at Bellagio. Today there is no other place with so many represented, from Puck to the late great Joel Robuchon to Nobu Matsuhisa, Bobby Flay, Michael Mina, Alain Ducasse and so on.

But not at Wynn, where the anti-Vegas norm has always been developing original concepts from within. The outpost of Italy’s Cipriani in the retail shopping arcade is the sole exception. Instead of a steakhouse by Jean-George Vongerichten or Gordon Ramsay or Tom Colicchio, all of whom have these in the city, there’s the homegrown SW Steakhouse, which has long been consistently excellent and was among the very first handful of restaurants in this country to launch a Japanese beef program when Kobe and other wagyu became legal to import. Despite the absence of a big name, it is one of only two steakhouses in Las Vegas to make the Forbes Star list (4-Stars, along with Wolfgang Puck’s CUT in the Venetian).

Likewise, only two of the countless high-end Japanese restaurants in the entire city made the list, each with 4-Stars – and zero celebrity chefs. These are Mizumi at Wynn and Kusa Nori at Resorts World Vegas (Mizumi is closed through September for renovations, but its Chef Min Kim is running a more causal pop-up Korean spot in the resort in the meantime). Amazingly, Wynn’s Sinatra is the sole Italian spot on the list, also with 4-Stars. I had my last dinner in Vegas there and loved it, with Italian American classics done in gourmet style, great service and white tablecloths. Through a licensing agreement with the legendary star’s estate, they serve his personal favorite recipes (and cocktails) and it is adorned with memorabilia presented in a classy way, including his Emmy, Grammy and Oscar for From Here to Eternity.

So not only does Wynn have one of just five 5-Star restaurants in the city and three 4-Stars, but all of them are the highest in their category. The only thing missing is a starred French eatery. But there are several other standouts, especially the Forbes Recommended Lakeside, one of the city’s best seafood specialists, with an amazing selection of fresh fish flown in daily from around the world.

But the unique culinary approach runs deeper than the lengthy list of awards and accolades. In the “normal” Vegas model, each restaurant, especially the less fancy ones, is sort of on its own in terms of the breadbasket on the table, the dessert list and breakfast pastries. They have to either make—or more commonly outsource—all the items outside their main focus. By operating its own eateries, Wynn enjoys an economy of scale and is able to run a full-service bakery, and a separate full-service pastry shop, each helmed by masters in their craft along with all the other combined cutting and processing that can go on is purpose built hidden kitchens. Instead of parbaked frozen rolls, Wynn eateries are constantly re-supplied with fresh high-quality product all day long – and it makes a difference.

This setup also allows them to be the only major casino resort in town that regularly offers cooking and cocktail classes, something oddly lacking in such a gourmet destination. These are called Master Classes, and there are typically two or more scheduled each month, some in the hidden kitchens and some in the individual restaurants and bars. When I was there this spring, I attended the Bakery Master Class and learned to make everything from sourdough bread to Challah to Bavarian-style pretzels. It was fun, delicious – lots of fresh baked testing – and very well done. I have taken cooking classes all around the world, so I have a pretty good frame of reference. Options change constantly but have ranged from craft cocktails to dessert to sushi to the occasional dim sum class from Wing Lei’s Michelin starred chef. For each they bring out the real pros, not assistants, and it usually includes a meal and sometimes adult beverages. Like many offerings at Wynn, there is nothing else quite like it in town, so if you visit Vegas and stay here, check the Master Class schedule, I highly recommend indulging.

As part of its recent wave of improvements, the resort hired Mariena Mercer Boarini as Master Mixologist two years ago, and she has overhauled cocktail menus for the 34 watering holes within Wynn, a couple of which are entirely new venues. These include the high-end Overlook Lounge, perched on the edge of the casino floor and overlooking (hence the name) Wynn’s signature water feature, the Lake of Dreams. Also newly added is the Aft Cocktail Deck, outdoors on the lake itself with a super yacht theme, tropically inspired cocktails and a late-night menu featuring sharable carafe-sized cocktails made tableside.

What else does Wynn have the no one else does? Beyond its two Forbes-5 Star spas, there is a true emphasis on wellness, in a manner I’ve only seen in Vegas at the Venetian with its Canyon Ranch satellite. Spas often get lumped into “wellness” when what they really offer most guests is pampering (but yes, there absolutely is a wellness element to some spa treatments). Wynn addresses this in several ways, under the umbrella Wynn Living Well, an all-new program introduced this January. For starters, the resort hired well-known health and wellness personality Amanda Kloots (CBS’ The Talk) as its Living Well Ambassador to develop a series of in-room workout videos for all abilities. “My number one goal, whether traveling or at home, is to make fitness part of my daily routine, and incorporate movement into my every day. Wynn’s new wellness program will help those on the go do just that,” said Kloots.

But to me the most impressive addition to the Living Well focus was the arrival of the city’s only outpost of fitness and longevity program TB12, one of just ten studios in the world. Most are co-located at medical facilities such as hospitals or rehab centers, making Wynn even more unusual as a resort option. The flagship is in Foxboro, MA, where co-founder Tom Brady (TB and uniform number 12) spent most of his NFL career, and there are additional locations in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, throughout Florida and at the Dorado Beach Resort in Puerto Rico. TB12 is fitness and lifestyle program developed by the 7-time Super Bowl Champion in partnership with his longtime athletic trainer Alex Guererro.

While athlete ownership and sponsorship of everything from tequila brands to sporting goods has become commonplace—often adding nothing but cost to the consumer—the proof in this case is Brady himself. In addition to being widely recognized as the greatest quarterback of all time, Brady is especially known for playing at the highest level unusually late into his unusually injury free career, as if he was much younger than his years. He attributes this to the specialized regimen he developed with Guererro years ago and has followed religiously. All pro athletes train relentlessly yet many, if not most, still get injured. They typically train for strength and speed, some for flexibility, but TB12 is longevity focused and emphasizes pliability, what it calls the muscles’ ability to move more freely and absorb more force. This is accomplished through a combination of very deep tissue massage, stretching exercises, use of self-massage accessories like rolling on balls, and specific strength training movements. Pliability is the most important of the five cornerstones of TB12, including nutrition, hydration, movement and mental fitness.

I won’t go any deeper into the sports science of TB12—that’s a whole article in itself—but I gave it a try in a one-on-one session at Wynn (there are only one-on-one sessions). While I can’t replicate many of the massage aspects at home, I did come away with some new and useful resistance band movements to incorporate into my daily workout routine. I have written for decades on skiing, cycling, hiking, fitness sand physical activity, and have been through a lot of classes, personalized training, bootcamps and destination fitness retreats, and this was different, focused more on being fitter longer than just being fitter. It’s really designed as an ongoing program, not a single consultation, and works better if you can go repeatedly. There are local regulars, and many Wynn guests schedule multiple sessions during their stay, or every time they visit (the resort has a lot of loyal repeat customers). But generally, if you are interested in trying TB12 or learning what it is all about, there are few easier places to do that.

Wynn also has exceptionally well-equipped state-of-the-art fitness centers, one on each side of the campus for maximum convenience. In addition to certified personal trainers, these offer a slate of daily group classes including a whopping four types of yoga, with an outdoor poolside option, along with Body Sculpting, Core Revolution, and High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT ($40). There’s also a Soul Cycle studio in the retail area. As a final component of Living Well, every restaurant on the campus now offers special vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free menu options so no guests are limited in where to dine.

In addition to the unique approach to restaurants, cooking classes and wellness, there’s the golf course, which is a big deal and in and of itself the reason some guests stay only at Wynn. It’s not just the only resort with a course on the Strip, it’s the only resort with an onsite course in the entire city (there are some in the suburbs like the J.W. Marriott Summerlin and Lake Las Vegas resort). It is also one of the best in the Vegas area, impeccably maintained, with luxury locker facilities. These have everything from shoe rentals in all sizes to a wide range of top tier rental clubs so guests can arrive empty handed and play, or enjoy a round on impulse. The Tom Fazio design has great only-in-Vegas views and memorable signature features such as the famous waterfall behind the peninsula green of the do-or-die par-3 eighteenth hole.

The original course (also Fazio) was shut down years ago and work was begun to tear it up and remove it before the resort switched gears and rebuilt it. It reopened in late 2019 with eight all-new holes, and has since been a home to Capital One’s celebrity event The Match, with pro athletes like star quarterbacks Tom Brady and Josh Allen and NBA superstar Steph Curry. The new Wynn Golf Club holds a special place in my heart because I was the first person ever to birdie the signature eighteenth, on opening day (and I always will be).

Beyond the special touches that set it apart, Wynn has all the bells and whistles you expect in a top-tier Las Vegas casino resort. For entertainment, there’s the Wynn Theater, a wonderfully intimate and acoustically superb venue that regularly hosts big name performers (I saw John Cougar Mellencamp there) and Awakening, a proprietary live show featuring the kind of acrobatics, puppetry, music and state of the art special effects that have become popular in Las Vegas (the show was new when I visited, and has since been suspended, redone and relaunched). There’s a day beach club, night beach club and a nightclub, plus lots of cocktail lounges, skewing high end. There are lavish pools with cabanas. The shopping also skews luxury, and the resort just added a Louis Vuitton Maison with both the brand’s collectible favorites and several excusive items available only here. There’s also a new Chloe boutique.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that with what is expected to be the single biggest event in the city’s history coming this fall, Wynn is again uniquely positioned. The debut of the new F1 race, the Las Vegas Grand Prix, is coming November 16-18 and is already considered second only to Monaco in stature for fans to attend worldwide. The city is selling out fast but because Wynn sits at the corner where the race turns off the Strip, it has one of the very best viewing locations, with two turns in front of the hotel, and is selling an array of F1 packages, from grandstand to over the top luxury.