Wynn Las Vegas pays AromaSys to smell like a dryer’s lint trap?

PR Log (Press Release) – May 28, 2009 – The National Toxic Encephalopathy Foundation (NTEF) has been researching indoor air quality (IAQ) issues of hotels and casinos in Las Vegas for an extended period of time.

Hotels in Las Vegas rely upon their guest’s senses of olfactory and vision to create a remembrance of their visit, both immediate and long-term.  This is confirmed by the opulent themed properties and the chemical attempts to create signature scents, primarily provided by AromaSys.

Wynn Las Vegas is extremely opulent, high end retail stores, fine dining, luxury at its finest, visually.  Then you enter the atrium and your olfactory neurons are inundated with their signature scent that is reminiscent of being “…inside the lint trap of a large, well-maintained dryer.” [1] According to Andrew Lincoln, Newsweek’s Budget Travel magazine writer.

The scent branding that the Wynn is using in their atrium area is “Asian Rain” by AromaSys. Did Steve Wynn really pay for this memory to be invoked from a property named for him? Will this hotel’s next attempt to generate olfactory and visual memories create wet naps made from actual dryer sheets?

Unless the visiting public is interested in being reminded of being in a Laundromat, or requiring the use of a carbon filtered gas mask to avoid this fragrance, we cannot recommend this property. As this fragrance attaches itself to clothing, the potential for it being long lasting is contingent upon the actual fabric’s ability to absorb chemicals.

The Wynn refused to provide a Material Safety Data Sheet for this product.  We can only speculate that they do not want their guests to know what type of chemical soup they are inhaling while in the atrium and probably other areas of the property.

The use of chemicals to overwhelm one’s sense of smell is why the NTEF can only recommend one property for IAQ concerns, that is the Red Rock Hotel and Casino.  We have no financial interest in this property or any other hotel and casino that we might recommend.  Most of the Red Rock’s restaurants are also IAQ friendly.

Upon information and belief, the Red Rock and other Station Casino properties are planning on making major green changes in the next year or so.  We applaud their forward thinking and concern for the environment, guests and employees.

The NTEF will keep visitors apprised of what is IAQ friendly and what properties, restaurants to avoid if you want to avoid chemical olfactory assaults.

If a visitor is looking for true green in Las Vegas, it’s usually found on the felt of the craps, blackjack tables or the landscaping.


1.   Lincoln, Andrew. “Luxury for Less in Las Vegas”.  Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, Vol. 12, No. 4, May 2009, 50-55.