News / John Tabatabai / 25 June 2009 / 8 Comments

When I jumped on the Virgin Atlantic plane to Vegas, the future looked bright. It has been one year since I had returned to London, my eyes darkened with fatigue, my liver choking from alcohol abuse, my wallet thinned by the never ending stream of parties and I was looking forward to doing it all again.

"They appear to have unearthed my brilliant and most devious plan to extort hotels by handing them articles of my clothing for dry cleaning, and, when all are sleeping and the hotel is quiet, I pounce, with the stealth of a cobra and sneak into the laundry and steal back my clothes back."

An early departure date would enable me to play enough tournaments, party and pamper without allowing each component to negatively impact at the other. I had booked to stay at the Wynn indefinitely, but was looking forward to at least six weeks in Vegas' foremost hotel experience.....or so I thought.

A week into the trip, me and my roommate had only experienced the joy of housekeeping once. We had been locked out of the room on account of a cerebrally challenged staff member who saw no reason to register our payment for the room (this once eventually resolved when we produced an online statement to a manager who saw that the room had actually been paid for). I understand that mistakes happen, I suppose house keeping could forget to do their job, I guess its not that important to take money off a customer and then pretend they have not received it and I suppose its okay to keep the customer locked out of their room until they prove they have paid for the room in spite of the fact that there is a record on the computer.

In all fairness to the Wynn, they did compensate us for our inconvenience..... $75.... just enough to buy a salad and pasta at our favorite Wynn Restaurant. I was also impressed that my wire, sent to the Wynn over two weeks ago had not arrived. I conceded that there was the slim possibility of the wire being sent incorrectly so I was heartened by the fact that the Wynn could track the payment with a routing number to see where it had gone. Sadly its appears they could not track it despite telling me that they could; but I guess that's okay...I can understand why they may feel that I wouldn't want my own money.

So after seven days of receiving 1 star service at 'Las Vegas' premier hotel' I felt compelled to leave and stay with friends who reside in Vegas, but this was not before I decided to get my tailored dinner jacket dry cleaned at the Wynn.

One would assume that the complicated process of dry cleaning may be on the Wynn's list of 'can dos' and not on their list of 'cannots'. The Wynn believes that they are able to offer the aforementioned service and gladly took my jacket for dry cleaning. I retuned the following day to be told that my jacket was being held in storage until the following morning.

The next day I returned to the hotel to be told that my jacket was in the hotel but could not be found. A few hours later I was told that my jacket had been given to a nice Japanese man who had kindly taken the jacket on my behalf. It was at this point where my patience became gravely tested. I was continually promised phone calls to update me on the plight of my jacket but found that the plethora of managers ( none of whom seem to have any authority whatsoever) were unable to take time out of their business day, which I can only assume consists of scratching their heads and arses in equal measure, to make the necessary calls.

As a grave matter of security the 'Case of the Missing Jacket' was passed onto the risk department who are instructed to investigate the matter in its entirety. After almost a week of investigation they have come up with no definite answers but have assured me that they are being as thorough as possible. It is clear that the risk management team take their job seriously, dedicating hundreds of man hours to determine the whereabouts of my jacket - maybe it should have been the Wynn risk management team who should have been sent into Iraq to determine whether or not there were weapons of mass destruction?

I am somewhat curious though as to why any company would dedicate so much time to finding a jacket that could have simply been compensated for in the event of any inefficiency that one has come to expect from the Wynn. I am sure that by now the quest for my Jacket must be running into the tens of thousands - I have been told that staff are 'working around the clock to resolve this matter'.

Some of you may be thinking that it is kind of the Wynn to devote so much time to finding my jacket. You may understand my frustration however, when you learn that this investigation is chiefly aimed at establishing whose fault it is that the jacket has been lost. The hotel manager, Andrew, part of a seemingly endless stream of hotel managers who have been given little/no authority, after being placed in charge of the investigation was keen to point out that despite the fact that the Wynn had taken the jacket from my room, using the hands of a member of staff dressed in official Wynn clothing, he could in no way confirm that the Wynn were responsible for the loss. I guess the bellman who took my Jacket may have been attacked by a crazed Jacket thief and as such the Wynn was not responsible for the loss - however this particular avenue of investigation has not been addressed by the Risk Management team.

The following day I waited for a call for the Wynn and like every other day I have waited I was forced to contact them myself at my expense. I was slightly disappointed to learn than The Wynn believe that I have now received my jacket, despite previously telling me it had been given to someone else or 'lost in the system'. They appear to have unearthed my brilliant and most devious plan to extort hotels by handing them articles of my clothing for dry cleaning, and, when all are sleeping and the hotel is quiet, I pounce, with the stealth of a cobra and sneak into the laundry and steal back my clothes back.

I am also slightly disheartened by the fact that the Wynn, who must spend more on flowers in a week than Elton John does in a lifetime, cannot afford to compensate customers for appalling service and loss of their belongings without establishing an agreement with their insurance company. Now, I am not an expert in insurance but I would hazard a guess that they are not covered for rank stupidity, inefficiency and absentmindedness and as such are chasing a fruitless hope that someone else will take responsibility for their gut-wrenching uselessness.

It is also saddening that they choose to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a management team who are not only unable to act on their own initiative, but also unable to process in their cerebrums that a guest may be legitimately upset when they pay for a service they do not receive and have their items stolen from them in the process.

I understand that blogging about this farce will not have any impact on those wishing to stay at the Wynn. I do however, feel a responsibility to inform the general public of the pile of excrement that has been forced under my nose by a hotel that claims to be one of the finest in the world. I will ensure that I inform you all of the eventual resolution of this charade.

Catch Up on all the WSOP Main Event News on Betfair Poker
Wind John up about his jacket on the Betfair Cash Tables