The Waits Brothers and Wynn’s Innovative Tryst  

It’s so much more than a name; it’s a philosophy that dictates success through excess. That’s why in the last three years, no city’s nightlife of has grown with the pace or frenzy of Las Vegas.’ Therein lies a story: Las Vegas’ grandest casino, one of its most ardent pioneers and twin brothers who have helped put it on the map. It’s a success story that could only come to life in Las Vegas. Meet Tryst’s operating partners Jesse and Cy Waits, part of a new era of nightlife impresarios.
    “We’re just small town guys at heart,” Cy says. “We grew up back and forth between California and Hawaii. Jesse moved to Las Vegas first and did well for himself. So, I joined him.”
    Not only is this story remarkable in the rapid pace of their networking and ascent in the industry, but it is also an account of two individuals who match each other physically, but also complement each other mentally.

The Road Starts to Rise
    With their innate leadership skills, it didn’t take long for the brothers to get noticed. Cy advanced from his role as a security supervisor and was groomed by  corporate as an operator, traveling around the country using his natural problem-solving skills to help fix broken notes at House of Blues outlets around the country.
    At the same time, Jesse moved out from his station behind the bar to implement his promotional and marketing skills in a new job as the VIP host for several wildly popular nightclub promotions at the venue. While neither brother initially had plans to make a career in the nightlife business, the seeds were planted during these days for successes far down the road.
    Evolution and growth are cornerstones in this industry, and they support and uplift people and places in much the same way. The days that marked Jesse’s and Cy’s on-premise potential were the same days that marked a change in Sin City as well. Always a natural center for growth, Las Vegas was shying away from its Disneyland years. Industry moguls were coming to the realization that visitors eager for an adult nightlife experience were spending more money than families were.

Jesse Waits
    A major catalyst came in the form of the opening of Steve Wynn’s Bellagio –– one of the planet’s most extravagant casinos. It included in its $2 billion budget the advent of Light Nightclub. It was one of the first nightclubs created to cater to casino high rollers in an upscale environment built around bottle service, and running the show at Light was Andi Masi, the former boss at the House of Blues. He eagerly hired Jesse, assigning him as a VIP host, and today, Jesse credits Masi as a key player in his rise to the top.
    “His attention to detail and vision were amazing,” Jesse says. “I learned so much working there.” It also was at Light that Jesse caught the attention of Los Angeles entertainment and restaurant mogul Victor Drai, the proprietor of Drai’s After Hours.
    In other towns, after-hours might be considered a negative term, eliciting thoughts of illegal drinking haunts. But in Las Vegas, a town built around the party, Drai’s ruled the roost. While Jesse started as a VIP host managing the mayhem at the oft-packed front door, he quickly continued his rise, taking over promotional and marketing responsibilities and soon the whole club.
“Victor is like a father figure to me,” Jesse says. “He saw something in me and put his trust in me, and we really became great friends.” Eight years later, locals and tourists alike still line up through the Barbary Coast casino –– waiting for the party that begins at 3 a.m. and can continue well into the next day.

Cy Waits
    With Jesse’s star on the rise, Cy would return to Las Vegas, his operational talents honed and sharpened by years on the road learning from the best operators that the House of Blues had to offer. Opportunity would present itself when the MGM Grand made a bold decision to remove hundreds of slot machines and replace them with one of the country’s very first ultra lounges.
    Coined Tabú Ultra Lounge, it would continue to revolutionize the nightlife industry in Las Vegas and at the helm of the ship was Cy, the space’s opening general manager and the man charged with convincing club-goers that bigger didn’t always mean better.
    “Tabú was an amazing venue to be involved with, because it was so different than anything Vegas offered at the time,” Cy says. “We were able to achieve something special because of the tremendous staff we had and the room was so far ahead of itself, especially during a time when technology was struggling to find a home in the nightlife industry.”
    Tabú possessed playful hooks in elements such as the reactive tabletops, outfitted with three of six existing Reactrix systems in the world at that time.
    “People were blown away with what we were doing at Tabú,” Cy says. “And, it wasn’t just the tourists either. When we started impressing the locals, then we knew we were doing something right.”
    As Tabú’s popularity escalated, so did the recognition for Cy, who was making a name for himself by treating his customers right and running a tight ship with unwavering loyalty from his staff.

Together Again
    When Steve Wynn opened his much-anticipated Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, he had plans to build his first nightclub. Coined ‘La Bete’ or French for ‘The Beast,’ it was to be a nightlife jewel in his resort’s crown. In reality, it turned into a nightmare. The crowds didn’t come, and those that did were not impressed.
    Down the road, with his new nightclub struggling, Wynn was quick to make a change. He knew he needed a proven nightlife operator and met with most of the city’s nightlife elite. When the dust settled, it was Victor Drai who received Wynn’s blessing.
    “When they opened, they thought it would just be a success because it was at Wynn, but the people behind the project weren’t proven nightlife operators, and it’s just not that easy,” Cy says. With his first foray into the traditional Vegas nightlife market, Drai wasn’t going to make the same mistakes as his predecessors. With Jesse already onboard at Drai’s, he reached out to Cy in an attempt to realign the twins.
    “It was always our goal to work together again. We always knew it would happen at some point,” Jesse says.
With the twins reunited, it was time to turn the struggling subterranean club into a pumping hot spot, and the first move was a renovation to fix the flaws.
“Victor designed most of the club him self,” Jesse says. “He has such an amazing attention to detail. He knows that everything matters down to the smallest thing.” The brothers continued to play a role in the re-design of the club, adding elements that serve fundamental roles in the venue today: an entranceway lounge that created a revenue stream where blank space stood before, a stripper pole that has become a focal point in the club, and even the name itself. The new partnership allowed for each to focus on his particular talents. Jesse works the door and oversees the marketing and promotional efforts of Tryst, and Cy works the floor overseeing operations. The brothers were also given ownership points in the club, a first in the new Las Vegas where big business gave way to hard work and reward.
“We’re so humble, because we started at the bottom and worked our way to where we are now,” Jesse says.

The Newest Player
    Tryst isn’t one of the sexiest clubs in the country without reason. The pinnacle of Tryst remains the 100-foot waterfall that cascades from a manufactured mountain into the tranquil lagoon upon which the club sits. The 12,000 square-foot nightclub is drenched in deep red, crimson and brown color tones creating an aura that seems to glow. Proving their value, the brothers made some small tweaks to the indoor/outdoor venue and added almost 20 tables to the club, bringing tens of thousands of dollars to the bottom line.
    While other nightclubs wage war on a marketing battlefield, Tryst strives to
be different.
    “Our biggest promotional tool is our staff,” Cy says. “With our club in such high demand, they are proud to work here. We treat our staff with respect because they are our friends and family. A lot of them have been with us for a long time now.”

Future Plans
    When Steve Wynn arrived in the Far East gaming mecca of Macau, China, he brought a secret weapon with him –– Jesse and Cy Waits. The brothers, along with Drai, have opened their second outlet, Tryst Macau, a similarly red-drenched nightclub that caters to the Asian high rollers partying on the Koti Strip.
    “There’s no waterfall,” Jesse says, “but it’s doing great already.”
    The twins will spend time between Las Vegas and Macau, rotating back and forth, yet Vegas will remain the focus. Already Steve Wynn has plans for an expansion of his luxurious casino property — a second tower that will be given the moniker of Wynn Encore. The world, one might say, is their oyster.
    “We will be doing another club in Encore,” Cy says, “although it probably won’t be open until 2008 or 2009.”                     NCB

Bryan Bass is vice president of Las Vegas Food & Beverage Magazine.