...are never dull.
I had already planned to mention and link to my appearance on KNPR yesterday in which I expressed extreme doubts about Wynn's plans to move the company to China. Fine. There it is.
Then I thought that this British blogger and filmmaker dude named Philip Bloom's digital diarrhea about how much he is owed by the Wynn Las Vegas because they failed to remove a feather pillow from his room was possibly worth taking apart in this space. He says his feather allergy was exacerbating his laryngitis and he told the hotel to remove all the feather pillows; they missed one, he didn't realize it until his last night and he now claims that he ended up unprovably sicker from it. This infraction, he believed, entitled him to loads of freebies!
Bloom acknowledges no responsibility to double-check the premises for potentially harmful allergens -- especially something as general as feathers that appear in pretty much every top-end hotel on the planet -- and is now angry because the hotel only refunded him half his food and beverage tab. He had received a Tweet from @WynnLasVegas promising him full a F&B refund, so on that count he's right that he should have gotten that. But his whole whiny and entitled demeanor in his blather suggests he probably didn't deal very politely with them, either.
But then Wynn himself went into somewhat shocking detail with the South China Morning Post last weekend about his relationship with Andrea Hissom. The R-J's Norm Clarke reported on it today, so I just read it through. (SCMP.Com has a firewall so I can't link to the piece, but they offer free 14-day trials, so you can sign up and then see it for yourself. It's possible this direct link could work, too.)
What we learn in this fascinating piece by Daniel Jeffreys:
* Wynn is an ass man. To wit: "When we were first going out she would make a comment about space and she'd be dead right. And I'd think, 'Don't tell me that, on top of everything else, besides having the greatest butt in the world, she also has the designer gene!' It's like God made a woman for me. The only thing that stops my world from being perfect is that Elaine is not happy."* Elaine's response: "I obviously needed a man like Steve for his charisma, passion and enthusiasm and I am sorry we don't have a personal relationship any more. But his character is a very demanding one and I am an alpha female. I found I had to compromise to maintain the relationship and I did that because of our children. ... I am thriving. I am in an enviable place - I have independence and that means I can make a difference, but am I totally satisfied? My dream for the endgame [living out the rest of her life with Wynn] was compromised. I am mourning the loss of the dream as much as the man but I do not feel like a victim in any way."
* Wynn claims to have been separated from Elaine when he met Andrea at a restaurant in St. Tropez and romanced her over the love-conquers-all flick "Gigi."
* Wynn suggested that if Elaine had a boyfriend, then the two couples could double-date. Elaine laughed and then responded: "First, no one should assume that I am not seeing somebody. ... I am not craving to learn somebody all over again. It has been great to be in this fanciful wonderful business but I want to have a more important legacy; I want to be known for elevating consciousness. My activities now [promoting continuing education and reducing drop-out rates] are noble."
* Ex-Gov. and Wynn Resorts Board Member Bob Miller on why Elaine Wynn did not attend the Encore Macau opening: "She's too elegant to be here."
* The reporter actually asked Elaine Wynn if she thought Andrea Hissom could take over Wynn Resorts after Steve's gone. Her answer: "She has no background in this business. So there would be a technical deficiency. To say more is too personal."
* Wynn on how he prevents doing business with mobbed-up Macanese junket operators: "I always have a former assistant director of the FBI on board, who does reports on all the junket operators. These are sent to the board in Nevada. So far 45 [operators] have been accepted and six rejected."
* Wynn is "incandescent with rage" on behalf of MGM Mirage for New Jersey's decision that Pansy Ho's connections to her father make her unsuitable as MGM's business partner. Could that be because there have been some who have suggested that Wynn himself had mob ties just because his own late father's dealings may have been unsavory?
* Paul Anka broke the news of 9/11 to Wynn.
Jeffreys never, in the course of the discussion on succession, notes that the most likely person to take over is Elaine Wynn's nephew, Andrew Pascal, who is actually running the Vegas operations already. He also doesn't reference Wynn's vision problems.
Still, that's quite a coup for Mr. Jeffreys. I'm just stunned he didn't ask Elaine what she thought of Andrea's caboose.
15 comments:
Yes, the direct link worked. How sad that Steve is so desperate to maintain his Dorian Gray image that he would discard his relationship with Elaine, a very smart, classy lady. When I first heard the rumor that Steve and Andrea Hissom had broken up, I thought that it would be ideal if Steve and Elaine would remarry for the third time (if she would have him back). After all, their personal and business lives have been intertwined for almost 50 years. After reading the South China Morning Post piece, Elaine deserves better than Steve. Steve is the poster boy for "There's no fool like an old fool".
Get your facts write sir or least read the blog properly. I am not after freebies or anything. I am simply asking them to follow through on promises made after my dreadful stay.
I simply am complaining about their dreadful customer service which as a paying guest I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO! It was dreadful. Nothing more, nothing less.
Not a nice man are you? You don't come across as one.
Bloom's rant was unfounded and loaded with loopholes.
First, he heightened the story by making it sound like his "free pizza" was a voucher handed to him. Clearly, it was a more-than-generous food and beverage comp off his room service bill. Also, for a guy that claims he stays in hotels for ten months of the year, he wouldn't think to have his bedding preferences accommodated in advance? Surely Wynn isn't the first hotel he's stayed in with feather pillows. Finally, most all large company twitter teams handle their matters with customers in private. It seems @WynnLasVegas's tweet was presented out of context and there's far more to this story than Bloom is telling.
With the venom of the comments and gullibility of his blog readers, I felt obligated to defend the excellent service I've received at Wynn/Encore and their Twitter team by posting a comment onto his blog, especially since I've personally made the very same request he did. Bloom's handling of my comment, however, confirmed my suspicions. I didn't question his highly-suspect blog post as I've done here, but mentioned that among the excellent service I've received at Wynn, I too have asked for feather-free bedding and it was handled beautifully.
The comment was not approved.
Philip Bloom is just another example of influential social networkers abusing their position. It is unfortunate that @WynnLasVegas was a victim of it.
-Mike E.
Yes, "customer service" as defined by someone who feels entitled to have everything paid for (i.e. FREE!) because he didn't bother to double-check for himself if a DANGEROUS ALLERGEN was hanging out in his room!??!
There are so many holes in your version of events that I'm pretty confident YOU haven't told the story in any semblance of accuracy. How is it that you have never had to have the feather pillows removed from any of the other high-end resorts you've stayed at? How is it that you did not even know that you had this problem until this particular incident when you happened also to be very ill?
I agree the Wynn owes you your full F&B check if they promised you that. I just think that you've already gotten a better ride out of this bitchiness than you deserved. Take just a modicum of responsibility for your OWN health and well-being.
Now go back to deleting some more dissenting comments from your blog and enjoy living in your little fantasy world where you're always right.
I don't disagree with Mr. Bloom's complaint but at the same time, for someone who boasts living on the road more than half a year, you would think that checking pillows would be a regular occurrence.
I think it's fair to delete profanity and personal insults on one own's website but if @Mike_E was just expressing his pleasant experience with the same hotel, I think it's cowardly for Mr. Bloom to delete that comment.
wow...did anyone actually read my blog?!?!? Feathers rarely bother me but doctor said AFTER the attack that my mild allergy would have been exaggerated by my illness and they must be removed.
this is pathetic. I am perfectly entitled to have a rent on personal blog about SHOCKINGLY poor customer service.
My rant is what it is. It has never been disguised as anything else. There are no loopholes in my story. It is told as 100% fact. Your blog about this was personal and made unnecessary snide comments. My blog, although a rant was done with humour. Something you are sorely lacking.
I liked the use of 'caboose'.
Why don't you just accept that Mr. Bloom's experience at that hotel wasn't great.
I must admit if I was staying in a 5 star hotel I wouldn't expect them to make any mistakes (such as the missed pillow) and if they did make any then I would expect fair compensation.
Clearly the hotel hasn't done what its promised therefore Mr Bloom has the right to complain which ever way and for him the most effective way is through his blog.
I'm sure the hotel has many happy customers who will write positive reviews and surely people who have a negative experience have the right to write a negative review as well.
I don't think your personal attack is fair on him, in fact I personally believe its very rude, after all what has he done that insults you so much? do you work for them or something?
I have to say that Philip Bloom comes across as a complete jerk here.
When someone gets a few thousand followers on Twitter or their blog, they feel like they're a big A-List celeb.
Using his blog/Twitter account to shout loudly about this issue just shows how much of an ego-maniac he is.
Do his followers/readers really give a damn about his hotel dispute? No!
Get of it dude.
I will leave this childish discussion to the anonymous people who write on here.
I made a complaint. they said sorry and would make things "right", they didn't follow through with that or public promise. I am not a jerk. Only the people who are too cowardly to leave a name are the jerks.
I am going back to adult land where i can converse with people older than 13. :)
Hey morons, you are what is often referred to as trolls. You have not done anything of any value yourselves so you choose to try to demean others. The whole point of this idiots post was to get Philip Bloom angry then make the people that respect him angry and drive traffic to this moronic site. They say any publicity is good. Not in this case. I don't know who you are but my first impression of you is that of a lousy bottom feeder.
P.S. Speaking of credibility it's 2010 and a domain name costs $10. You can reroute your Blogspot url in 5 minutes. Very unprofessional site so the fact that your behavior is I guess should come as no surprise. Start acting like a professional and maybe you will be treated like one. In the mean time go play in traffic.
@ Philip Bloom
The reason people post anonymously is because not everyone has 12,500 followers on their side, or x thousand hits to their blog each day.
You are in a privileged position where you can bad-mouth someone/some company and ridicule them and have a lot of people take notice of what you say; whilst those who might want to respond might never be heard if they're not so popular.
Which is no doubt why you had this little rant, as you felt that the publicity could work in your favour in getting some freebies/action taken. The "don't you know who I am?" effect.
I always find it very arrogant when small time 'web celebs' (yes, small time, check out how many followers real celebs have, hundreds of thousands or more) use this tactic - yes, you can shout louder than most people who talk back to you, well done.
So by posting anonymously, us cowardly 13 year olds (oh dear, must everyone who talks out against you be classed as a 13 year old?!) can talk freely and without having you slag us off in return or ruin our reputation for disagreeing with the great, Philip Bloom. It evens out the playing field, muhahaha! :-D
Also, the fact you will block comments on your blog that don't stoke your ego or are in disagreement with you, clearly shows that you can give it but not take it. The easiest way to dismiss a comment that goes against the grain or your point of view is to call that person a troll. No, not everyone shares your opinions, but that doesn't mean they're a troll!
Finally, here's a little pointer for you - don't believe your hype. I like you, I think you're doing a great job in the DSLR video scene, but you're not Steven Spielberg. You're a big fish in a small pound, so please don't let it get to your head. Stay humble, or at least act it, even if you're not inside.
Lots of love,
Anonymous Coward
13 years old
xxx
Based on what I've been told, there's more to the story. Specifically, the other side of it.
It's miles away from Bloom's account of the details for everything after the pillow incident itself.
The Wynn pool is the easiest pool in Las Vegas to crash. Their security is as bad as their pillow-missing housekeeping staff. :)
-Signed, Anonymous 13-year-old!
Me and my bff were at Wynn in 9/2008. Loved the room (comp'd), staff, buffet, everything was wonderful. Couldn't wait to go back. Went back in 3/2009 (room comp'd again). Drove 12hrs got confused and went to Encore by mistake. Winds 60mph. Friend goes thru revolving dr w/no problem. I attempt to go thru same revolving dr and wind pushes dr the other way and hits my arm. The glass in dr shatters. The Wynn will not give me my room because my credit card wouldn't work (worked fine everywhere else I used it that day and the next). I became a little loud (did I mention the 12hr drive) and I recv'd my room. We get to the room and their staff came in and removed everything edible and drinkable in the room (we dont use any of that stuff anyway). I was too tired to go to the hospital like my friend suggested and I did not seek legal advice. I recv'd $500 from the Wynn. I lost that in 9/2008 walking from the entrance to get my club card. Thanks. Moral of this story, if u get hurt at Wynn or any other Resort/Casino, go to the hospital and seek legal advise. Dont wait for them to do the right thing. I was not looking to get rich from the accident but I thought they would compensate me better than they did. And yes, I will still go back if they send me another free room (they did but I could not go, mom sick and passed away).
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