Bellagio says 'ciao' to Las Vegas
by Zachary Hall, Outpost satff
If have you ever wondered what $1.6 billion looks like,
look no further than the 3,025-room Bellagio resort on the
world-famous Las Vegas strip. It was the costliest casino
ever built when it opened on Oct. 15, 1998. With the $2
billion Venetian opeing in April, 1999, that distinction
will not last long. Bellagio maintains some of the most
appealing amenities of any hotel in the world.
A price tag of $1.6 billion made Bellagio Las
Vegas' costliest casino when it was built. Photo
courtesy of Bellagio.
This is not the place to belly up to a $2.99 buffet and a $10 show. From the high limit tables to the expensive fine dining, Bellagio is not for a person who carries a light wallet. But then again, there are plenty of places like that all over Vegas. This is something new for the city that never sleeps.
The brainchild of Steve Wynn, CEO of Mirage Resorts, the hotel-casino offers high stakes gambling, luxurious rooms, botanical gardens, world class shopping and some of the greatest art works the world has ever seen. Where else but Las Vegas?
Even jaded Las Vegas natives are impressed. "I've seen them all," said Jeff Hatch, born and raised in Las Vegas. "I'm rarely impresed by anything that comes along, [but] this place is absolutely amazing."
Wynn is betting that his resort is the only place you can find such things. So far, Wynn is right.
"All the figures are well above our expectations," said Alan Feldman, vice president of public affairs for Mirage Resorts Inc., on the Bellagio Web site.
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The grounds are spectacular. A massive lake, complete with gondolas for the visitors, surrounds the resort. Tuscan styled shops line the shore.
A blown-glass ceiling allow natural light to flood the entryway. Beyond that, a 90,000-square-foot botanical garden filled with some of the most colorful and diverse plants that horticulture can offer. Prominent oranges and greens, laced with yellow and violet, radiate from the huge atrium.
"This is the most dramatic part of the hotel," Wynn said in an October 1998 Vanity Fair article. "The hotel's smell and look is going to change every 30 days."
The 116,000-square-foot casino offers unlimited options for the gambler. But this is not a place where you will find $2 minimum blackjack tables. The casino is littered with high minimum tables not for the nickel-and-dime gambler.
If gambling is not your thing, make your way to the shopping arcade. Called Via Bellagio, it hosts the most revered shops and names in retail. Gucci, Giorgio Armani and Tiffany and Co. are all on the roll call of this world-class shopping experience.
The gallery at
Bellagio includes works by many of the modern
masters.
Photo courtesy of Bellagio.
What Bellagio offers that other casinos don't
Bellagio is about breaking the casino mold. It is home to a $300 million art gallery that features some of the greatest 19th and 20th century painters. For a $10 entrance fee, visitors can gaze at the collection of originals by artists such as Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh and Gaugin.
In a city known for lounge acts and crushed velvet, an art gallery is a unique addition to the Las Vegas strip. That is the point of the Bellagio, to add something new to the Las Vegas experience.
"There are few areas of universal agreement about what is truly lovely, graceful or admirable," Wynn writes in the forward of the Bellagio art book. "One of the subjects on which there is some general agreement, in spite of cultural, economic or social differences, is that of fine art."
If a Las Vegas show is what you are after, Bellagio has a spin-off of Cirque du Soleil called O. It offers some of the most death-defying acrobatic feats the world has ever seen.
All this comes at a price. Bellagio rooms are the most expensive on the Las Vegas strip. Rooms can start at more than $100 per night and go up into the thousands. To celebrate the millennium at Bellagio it will cost you $6,000. That's $2,000 a night for a minimum of three nights, assuming you don't eat.
"This place looks great, but I can't afford anything," Hatch said. "Until they give locals a discount, I'm not going to touch the place."
But if you have the money to spend, Bellagio may be just what you're looking for.
Posted March 26, 1999
Copyright 1999 Nevada Outpost
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