The approach to Wynn Palace in Cotai, Macau is by cable car. Gondolas lift guests over an eight-acre lake where fountains perform to music every few minutes, and set them down at the lobby of a resort that opened on 22 August 2016 after four years of building and a reported cost of US$4.2 billion.
History
Wynn Resorts opened its first Macau hotel on the peninsula in 2006 and Encore beside it in 2010. The Cotai land, reclaimed ground between Taipa and Coloane that the government had set aside for casino resorts, was granted in 2012, and Wynn Palace was built to be the company's flagship in Asia. Steve Wynn opened it himself in August 2016 with the Performance Lake show, the gondola ride and an art collection chosen for a Chinese audience. The Palace has been run by Wynn Macau Limited, the Hong Kong-listed subsidiary, since.
Architecture and design
Leo A Daly was the architect; the design came from Wynn Design and Development under Roger Thomas, who had shaped every Wynn interior since the Mirage. The tower is a curved bronze-glass slab on a podium that wraps the lake, so that the main restaurants and the casino look onto the water. Inside, Thomas worked in a floral key: carpets, chandeliers, screens and ceilings carry peonies and lotus, and the public corridors are punctuated by Preston Bailey's floral sculptures, a carousel, a hot-air balloon and a Ferris wheel made of thousands of blooms, replaced on a schedule. The art is the other theme. Four Qianlong-period vases known as the Buccleuch Vases stand in the lobby, with further Qing porcelain in the galleries off it.
Rooms and suites
The 1,706 rooms, suites and villas are large for Macau, with a bath by the window and a view of the lake or the Cotai skyline. The suite floors are served by their own lifts, and the villas on the podium have private gardens.
Dining
Wing Lei Palace, the Cantonese restaurant, has a terrace over the lake where the fountains play during dinner. SW Steakhouse brings the Las Vegas original across, Mizumi serves Japanese with a sushi counter and teppanyaki rooms, and Andrea's does Chinese dishes in a room lined with glass. Café Fontana, Red 8 and 99 Noodles cover the hours in between. Afternoon tea is taken in the lobby lounge facing the lake.
Wellness
The Spa at Wynn Palace has treatment suites, a hydrotherapy area and a fitness centre. An outdoor pool, heated, sits in a garden on the podium with cabanas, open year round in Macau's climate.
Weddings and events
The resort has a ballroom and a run of meeting rooms on the podium, used for product launches and gala dinners. Weddings favour the lake terraces and the floral sculptures as backdrops; Chinese wedding banquets of several hundred are held in the ballroom with Wing Lei Palace's kitchen.
Location
Wynn Palace stands on Avenida da Nave Desportiva in Cotai, across the road from City of Dreams and the Cotai Strip. Macau International Airport on Taipa is five minutes by car, and the Taipa Ferry Terminal, for the Hong Kong ferries, ten. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, open since 2018, puts Hong Kong airport under an hour away by bus. The Macau Light Rapid Transit's Taipa line stops nearby. Among luxury hotels in Macau this is the one you arrive at by air.
At a glance
What sets it apart
- 01Opened 22 August 2016 in Cotai at a reported cost of US$4.2 billion
- 02SkyCab gondolas carry guests over the eight-acre Performance Lake
- 031,706 rooms, suites and villas with lake or skyline views
- 04Floral sculptures by Preston Bailey; Qianlong-period Buccleuch Vases in the lobby
- 05Wing Lei Palace terrace over the fountains; SW Steakhouse; Mizumi
Chronology
Dates that matter
2006
Wynn Resorts opens Wynn Macau on the peninsula, its first property in Asia.
2012
The Cotai land concession for Wynn Palace is granted.
2016
Wynn Palace opens on 22 August with the Performance Lake and SkyCab gondolas.
2018
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge opens, linking the resort by road to Hong Kong airport.
