Bellagio (resort)
Bellagio (/bəˈlɒʒi.oʊ/ bə-LAH-zhi-oh) is a resort, luxury hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Blackstone Inc. and operated by MGM Resorts International. Bellagio was conceived by casino owner Steve Wynn, and was built on the former site of the Dunes hotel-casino. Wynn's company, Mirage Resorts, purchased the Dunes in 1992. Plans were announced in 1994 to replace it with Beau Rivage, a French-themed resort. However, Wynn changed the project plans in 1995, instead theming it after the village of Bellagio, near Lake Como. The resort was designed by Jon Jerde. Construction began on November 1, 1995, with Marnell Corrao Associates as general contractor.
Bellagio
Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
3600 South Las Vegas Boulevard
October 15, 1998
3,933
156,000 sq ft (14,500 m2)
Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art
Conservatory
Fountains of Bellagio
Fiori di Como
Land-based
Blackstone Inc.
Realty Income (21.9%)
Jon Jerde
Atlandia Design (interior design)
2003–04, 2007, 2011–2015, 2021, 2023
Bellagio opened on October 15, 1998, with 3,005 rooms in a 36-story tower. Built at a cost of $1.6 billion, it was the world's most expensive resort up to that point. Early revenue was less than expected, and Wynn departed the resort in May 2000, when Mirage Resorts merged with MGM Grand Inc. Profits improved under the ownership of the newly formed MGM Mirage (later MGM Resorts). A 33-story hotel tower, with 928 rooms, was opened in 2004. MGM owned the Bellagio until 2019, when it sold the resort to Blackstone Inc. for $4.25 billion. MGM continues to operate the property under a lease arrangement.
Bellagio is located on 77 acres (31 ha).[1] It includes a 156,000 sq ft (14,500 m2) casino and 3,933 rooms. The resort's signature attraction is the Fountains of Bellagio, a dancing water fountain synchronized to music. It is performed in an 8.5-acre man-made lake, located in front of the resort. Other attractions include the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, and a conservatory and botanical gardens. The hotel lobby features Fiori di Como, a sculpture by glass artist Dale Chihuly. It is the world's largest glass sculpture.
Bellagio has numerous restaurants, including Le Cirque and Picasso, the latter by chef Julian Serrano. Other chefs at the resort have included Todd English, Michael Mina, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Wolfgang Puck. Bellagio includes an 1,800 seat theater for performances of O, a water-themed show by Cirque du Soleil. The property also has a high-end retail area which introduced several luxury brands to Las Vegas, including Chanel, Gucci, and Prada.
History[edit]
Background and development[edit]
The site of Bellagio was previously occupied by the Dunes hotel-casino, which opened in 1955.[2] Through his company Mirage Resorts, casino owner Steve Wynn purchased the Dunes in November 1992, for $75 million. He intended to demolish it and build a new resort in its place. An early idea was to build five or six complexes with approximately 500 rooms each, along with a small theme park.[3][4][5] As the Dunes closed in January 1993, Wynn proposed including a man-made lake in his new project for water skiing and windsurfing. However, county officials questioned whether such a feature could be included following the passage of a 1990 water ordinance.[6] A state expert found it unlikely that the lake would cause major soil sinking.[7] The county modified the ordinance in February 1994, allowing Wynn to proceed with a man-made lake, on the condition that he honor his claim that it would use less water than the Dunes' former golf course.[8][9]
On October 17, 1994, Mirage Resorts announced plans to build the French-themed Beau Rivage resort on the land, at a cost of $700-$900 million. It would be surrounded by a 50-acre lake with guests entering by footbridges.[10][11] Mirage Resorts announced a name change in July 1995, stating that the resort would be named Bellagio, after the village of Bellagio, Lombardy in northern Italy.[12][13][14] The resort's designer, Jon Jerde,[15] had been vacationing on Lake Como. Impressed by its beauty, he convinced Wynn to come see the area.[16] While on the lake with friend Paul Anka, Wynn noticed the nearby village of Bellagio,[17][11][18] and spent half a day there.[19] The village's Italian architecture inspired Wynn to scrap 10 months' worth of design work for Beau Rivage in favor of a Bellagio-themed resort.[11] Wynn would later use the Beau Rivage name for another resort in Mississippi.[20]
The Las Vegas project was revised and scaled back. Among the changes was a reduction in the size of the lake feature;[21][22] Mirage Resorts determined that it would use too much water as originally planned.[23] The hotel tower, originally planned at 49 stories, was also reduced.[24] The design and planning process took a total of 28 months, dating to 1993. Wynn said "there was no need to rush the project. We wanted to get it right".[25] Jerde's design firm spent a total of four years designing the project. Wynn's in-house design team, Atlandia Design, handled the interior.[26] Aside from the Dunes, a Denny's restaurant was also demolished to make way for Bellagio.[27]
Construction began on November 1, 1995,[28][29] and the opening was initially scheduled for March 1998.[30] Marnell Corrao Associates served as general contractor.[31] The project's cost increased several times, in part because of new features being added. A shortage of skilled workers also resulted in rising labor costs.[32] It was financed through various lenders.[21] Finished at a cost of $1.6 billion, it was the most expensive resort ever built.[20][33][34]
Wynn envisioned the Bellagio as a five-star resort catering to tourists who typically visit places other than Las Vegas, such as Paris, London, or Venice.[35][3][36] He said Bellagio would "redefine Las Vegas",[37] describing it as the "most ambitious" and luxurious project ever attempted by Mirage Resorts. He also said it would be "the most romantic, delicious place ever built in the world",[21][38] as well as the "greatest" and "most beautiful" hotel ever.[25]
The property features a variety of trees.[39] Before the opening, builders spent more than a year searching the western U.S. for mature Japanese privets, which are capable of withstanding the dry Las Vegas heat. A deal was reached to remove approximately 30 privets from the government center in Ventura County, California, and replant them at Bellagio, at a cost of nearly $10,000 per tree.[40] The resort's pool area is surrounded by a Mediterranean garden that included nearly 300 pine trees, left over from the Dunes golf course.[41]
Opening[edit]
The opening was highly anticipated,[42] and crowd-control measures were in preparation months prior.[43] Mirage Resorts launched a $10 million advertising campaign which included 60-second television commercials, featuring opera singer Andrea Bocelli.[36]
A pre-opening VIP party took place on the night of October 15, 1998, with 1,800 in attendance,[44][3] including Nevada governor Bob Miller. The public opening followed at 10:45 p.m.[45] Crowds, waiting to enter the resort, reached an estimated 25,000 people.[46][45] Within the first day, the resort had received more than 80,000 visitors.[47]
Incidents[edit]
Power outages[edit]
A resort-wide power outage occurred around 2:00 a.m. on April 11, 2004, leaving only emergency lights still working. One of the main power lines was compromised, which led to the failure of other lines, resulting in the outage. Power had to be shut down completely so that thousands of feet of cable could be replaced. Guests were relocated to other hotels.[77][78] The hotel and casino reopened on April 14, 2004, and other areas of the resort were reopened over the next few days.[79][80] A preliminary investigation by the county found that the main power line failed because of premature deterioration, the cause for which remained unknown.[81][82][83]
A partial power outage occurred on December 31, 2011, shutting down the resort's buffet and several hundred hotel rooms in the main tower's west wing.[84] Another partial outage occurred in March 2018, after leaking water made contact with an electrical panel. The six-hour outage affected the buffet, a performance theater, parts of the sportsbook, and certain elevators.[85][86]
Robberies[edit]
Several robberies have occurred at the Bellagio.[87] In June 2000, three men stole $160,000 in cash and casino chips, and were subsequently apprehended.[88][89][90] The Bellagio heist was one in a series of casino robberies committed by the men.[91][92][93]
In December 2010, a helmet-wearing man robbed $1.5 million in chips from a craps table, with some chips worth $25,000 each.[94][95][96] Confidential safeguards made it unlikely that the thief would be able to cash in the chips without getting caught.[94][97] Furthermore, MGM announced after the robbery that it would discontinue the $25,000 chips within four months.[98] The thief, son of a Las Vegas judge, was arrested in February 2011, after arranging to sell $25,000 chips to an undercover police officer.[99] Approximately $793,000 in chips remained unaccounted for, most of them $25,000 chips.[100] The robber pled guilty as part of a plea deal,[101] and was sentenced to 3 to 11 years.[102]
In July 2014, a man robbed the cashier cage of $43,500, using a BB gun. He was arrested the next day, after spending roughly half of the money on prostitutes and a shopping spree.[103][104][105] He was found incompetent to stand trial.[106]
On an early morning in March 2017, men wearing animal-themed masks broke into a jewelry store at the resort, prompting a police lockdown of the casino and parking garage. One of the suspects was apprehended,[107][108][109] while three others remained at large.[109][110]
Another robbery occurred later in 2017, when a man stole money from a poker cage.[87][111][112] He returned to rob the cage in March 2019, and a shootout occurred outside the resort between him and police as he tried to escape. He was shot and killed.[113][114][115]
Fires[edit]
On the morning of September 23, 2008, a mattress fire prompted the brief evacuation of the 26th floor, as well as portions of the 25th and 27th floors. One guest suffered minor burns, and others were treated for smoke inhalation and released shortly afterwards.[116][117]
On the night of April 13, 2017, the roof of the resort's retail section caught fire, forcing an evacuation of the area. The rest of the resort was unaffected, and the fire was put out within a half-hour. It caused up to $450,000 in damage, mostly above a Starbucks.[118][119][120] The fire was caused by a faulty exterior light fixture.[121]
Accolades[edit]
Bellagio is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World,[286] and various organizations have ranked the resort highly. By 2001, it had achieved a four-star rating from Mobil Travel Guide.[57] That year, it became the first hotel-casino to win the AAA Five Diamond Award. It was also the second Las Vegas hotel to win the award, after the Four Seasons in 1999.[287] In 2010, Bellagio won its 10th consecutive Five Diamond Award, the first Strip resort to do so.[288] As of 2020, it had won the Five Diamond Award 18 consecutive times.[289][290][291]
Bellagio placed eighth in the 2003 Zagat Survey of U.S. hotel resorts, while its restaurants ranked 12th in the category of top dining.[292] Bellagio has also made the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List numerous times, beginning in 2005.[293][294] A 2005 study by Majestic Research, polling more than 400 out-of-state residents, found Bellagio to be the favorite resort among tourists, with 18 percent support.[295] Another study polled tourists who visited Las Vegas in 2005, and Bellagio was named the city's top "must-see" resort, while the fountains were named best "must-see" attraction.[296] In 2010, Travel + Leisure ranked it 31st on a list of top hotels in large U.S. and Canadian cities.[297] Travelocity ranked it in sixth place in a 2011 list of top 10 Las Vegas hotels, based on guest reviews.[298]
The resort's Picasso restaurant has also been critically acclaimed,[299] receiving the AAA Five Diamond and Mobil Five-Star awards by the end of 2001.[287][300] In 2010, the restaurant won its 10th Five Diamond Award, while Le Cirque won its 8th. Bellagio was the only hotel in the U.S. to have two Five Diamond restaurants.[288]
Main tower at night
Top of the main tower
Bellagio fountains at night
Fountains during the day
Main tower and retail area
Bellagio hotel towers
Spa Tower, seen from the Las Vegas Strip
Via Bellagio shops
Pool area
Moonlit evening
