Wynn Las Vegas shows that what happens in Vegas is open to the media
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What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas – and now one of the most prestigious hotels on the strip is red-faced for spilling the beans.
The Wynn Las Vegas is currently conducting an investigation into how personal details of three politicos slipped out, costing two of them their jobs.
According to the Wynn, the people who contacted the hotel were able to obtain personal information on guests – including when they stayed at the hotel and the services they booked at the hotel spa – after disguising their true intentions.
“The callers did not identify themselves as reporters,” the Wynn’s Chief Communications and Brand Officer Michael Weaver said in response to emailed questions.
“Providing any guest information to anyone other than the guest themself is a clear violation of Wynn Resorts privacy policy and this matter is currently being investigated,” Weaver said.
The hotel, where rooms currently run for US$600 per night and up, is part of an ongoing political scandal in Ontario after employees at the hotel released private information about guest stays and spa treatments to the media. The stays happened in early 2020 and somehow, two different media outlets were able to call and verify not only who stayed at the hotel but which services they booked.
The personal information of Amin Massoudi, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s principal secretary, Khaleed Rasheed, then a backbench MPP, and Jae Truesdell, then in the private sector, all took a trip to Las Vegas together in February 2020. This trip became subject of an investigation into the Greenbelt due to a couple of different factors.
First off, the three men on the trip associated with the Ford government couldn’t get their stories straight and had different dates. Secondly, it appeared that Shakir Rehmatullah – a land developer and longtime friend of Rasheed – met the three other men in Vegas and there are questions about whether he paid for the trip.
The trip happened before the pandemic had been declared and at a time when the Ford government wasn’t actively considering removing lands from the Greenbelt. Still, the perception that something untoward happened – along with conflicting dates, stories and that Rasheed said he paid for his trip with cash – led to him losing his cabinet position and Truesdell his job as Ford’s director of housing policy.
Massoudi had left the government in August 2022 but has still been acting as an advisor to Ford, billing the PC Party’s taxpayer-funded caucus services $237,000 for consulting last year, a contract that has since been ended.
The intrigue surrounding their downfall is one story, but how a high-end hotel gave out personal information is another.
“The Trillium made a series of calls to the hotel’s amenities booking services, including its spa, restaurants and golf club, and was told that on Feb. 1, 2020, Massoudi booked an 80-minute ‘Good Luck Ritual’ massage at the hotel’s spa,” the Trillium reported on Sept. 11, 2023.
The Trillium was also able to confirm that Rasheed booked a pedicure earlier this year on a return trip the Wynn.
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Meanwhile, CTV News also reached out to the Wynn and said they received stories that conflicted with what had been told to the Integrity Commissioner by three different employees.
They were able to confirm that Rasheed and Massoudi “got the “Good Luck Ritual” massage and developer Shakir Rehmatullah got a custom massage at the same time in the Spa at Encore, 4 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2020.”
Normally, confirming someone is or has stayed at a hotel is difficult, never mind finding out exactly what treatments they received at the spa. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stayed at the Corinthia Hotel in London at a cost of more than $6,000 per night, that was discovered through access to information and both the PM and the hotel were tight-lipped on any details.
The Wynn says they take the privacy of their guests very seriously, but this incident appears to show otherwise.
“What methods the reporters used to obtain the information, and any ramifications to the employees involved, are the subject of the investigation, which is taking place now,” Weaver said.
When that investigation will be completed isn’t known, but the damage to the Wynn’s reputation when it comes to guest privacy has already been done.
