Wynn's Hot Water Outage

TMZ.Com had some interest scoop today that I'm surprised none of us Vegas bloggers came across. It seems that guests at Encore Las Vegas on Saturday had no hot water. Mr. Wynn signed this extraordinary letter that you can download. According to it, here's how they tried to make amends:

"In the event you need access to a shower, we will make our Spa Facilities at Wynn available to you on a complimentary basis. In addition, I have instructed my Operations team to apply a $50 credit to your hotel folio."

$50?!? That's it? When the boiler broke down at the condo I rent out and my property management company dragged its feet in fixing it until I gave them holy hell on behalf of my renter, I gave my renter a four-day rent rebate. Granted, I didn't have a swanky spa to send them to, but the Wynn spa is a pretty hearty hike from the Encore room tower. Plus, what a bother to paying Wynn customers using the spa.

This passage is fascinating, too:

"For 40 years, I have been developing and operating resorts and I have never experienced a problem such as this. These complexes are designed by engineers, who craft systems to help us avoid critical failures. ... As such, we are all embarrassed and deeply sorry for the inconvenience this has likely caused."

Of course, had Wynn owned the Bellagio a few more years, he would have presided over a far greater "critical failure," the Easter Sunday 2004 power outage that would go on for four days and cost MGM Mirage somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million in lost revenue. If he gets the credit for having built the space, then he also gets the blame for the design flaw that allowed the entire power grid of the resort to be so vulnerable.