ENCORE SUITES LAS VEGAS

The Encore Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada is set to open between 2008 and 2010. Located on the Las Vegas Strip right next to its sister hotel and casino, Wynn Las Vegas, Encore is going to be a completely free standing building that also has complete access to Wynn Las Vegas at the same time. Encore Las Vegas is set to blow the competition away. The hotel is going to be the tallest in Las Vegas with 60 floors. Encore Resort was originally planned to be an addition to the Wynn Las Vegas, but plans became so incredible Steve Wynn decided to make Encore its own hotel and casino with access to the Wynn.

When all is said and done the Encore Hotel Las Vegas and casino will cost around $2.1 billion to build and will offer 2,034 rooms and suites. You can expect the ultimate luxury when you stay at Encore. Currently not much is being said on the design or the furnishings for the rooms though rumors have hinted to expect something more lavish than Wynn Las Vegas. In interviews Steve Wynn has said that the rooms will mimic the look and feel of his Diamond Suites at Macau.

Encore is going to be the place to stay when it's open. In addition to the lavish hotel rooms, Encore will be home to a 74,000 square foot casino that will include slots, poker, and all of the popular table games. Encore will also be the home of numerous trendy nightclubs, gourmet restaurants, shops, and bars. You should be able to find everything you're looking for when it comes to luxury right inside the Encore hotel.

• Encore Las Vegas cost $2.3 billion to build
• Encore is the new signature resort in the Wynn collection.
• Encore consists of more than 4.6 million square feet including 60,000 square feet of convention and meeting space.
• The Tower is 675 feet/48 stories tall; the top floor is floor 63 and we skip floors 4, 13, and 40-49.
• There are 2,034 guest rooms and suites.
• Nearly 9.5 miles of neon are used at Encore.
• Some 220,000 thousand watts of lights illuminate the Encore tower exterior (To give you a perspective, the lamp at your desk is probably only 60 watts).
• The Encore generators can generate 10.5 million watts of power in the case of an outage.
• There are 882 electrical power panels and dimmer boards located inside Encore.
• The Encore logo sign has 4,632 light bulbs, 3,300 feet of neon, and 1,380,864 LED lights.

One of the major motifs at Encore is nature and the concept of bringing the outdoors inside. The major mosaic motif is the butterfly, which can be seen in many forms and styles throughout. There are also lot of trees, foliage and windows shedding natural light on casino areas, convention space and other unexpected areas. All of the plants and trees are real.

Stayed at Encore Hotel Las Vegas ? Please share your experience with others.

I've stayed at the Wynn a few times and loved it. I thought I'd try the Encore. Never again. At check in I was asked how high I wanted to be. I replied that I didn't care but that I did want a view of the Strip. "We have a Panoramic View room available now for an extra $25 a night." I assumed that meant the room I requested wasn't available yet, so I said ok. Now I know about the infamous “upgrades” at check in. I reiterated that I would like a Strip view. "Sir, we're in the middle of the Strip, do you want a north or a south view?" Being from out of town, I did not know the North or South from East or West. So I asked for a view of the area of the Strip where Paris and Bellagio are. "You want a South view, Sir? Is that correct?" The lady definitely was not what I would call customer friendly or accommodating. She was not there to make my first impression of the Encore a good one. And trust me, to someone from out of town, the Wynn and Encore are at the end of the strip, the far end, not in the middle. I always request a Strip view at the Wynn and the person at check-in has always known what I meant. When I got to the room, I was delighted to find an iHome radio which accommodates my Ipod. I spent 15 minutes trying to get it to work. Then I discovered it was unplugged. Isn't that something that Housekeeping should have taken care of before I arrived? The room seemed rather warm. I had to call an engineer to fix the air conditioner. The filter was filthy and blocking the air. He changed the filter. With the afternoon sun hitting the windows, it never really did get cool – I kept the thermostat set at 60 degrees. Unfortunately, the air conditioner unit is next to the windows rather than in the middle of the room, so the bed area is warmer and the bathroom is uncomfortably warm. During the day, the ac could not cool the room. During the night it was fine. The windows at the Encore are just like those at the Wynn – full of finger prints. But while the Wynn's windows have fresh air vents, the Encore's do not. Unlike the Wynn, if you want the drapes open or closed, you have to stand there with your finger on the button until the curtains are fully open or closed. At the Wynn, it's one touch and you can walk away while they open or close. The charge for Internet is $15 a day – a bit more than most hotels. The Internet speed is fast, very fast. Like most hotels, the desk chair does not go high enough to comfortably type. In-room dining – I used room service 5 times. Each time they asked if they should return in a couple of hours to retrieve the table and service items. I always said yes. Never did see them. They sat each time until the next day's maid service. The bathroom – In an improvement over the Wynn, they swing the bath tub 180 degrees so you can soak in the tub and see the TV. The tub is very deep, but not long enough to lie fully down in. The mirror is mammoth and beautiful, but finger prints have not been cleaned from it. The lock on the bathroom door did not work. There is a scale in the bathroom. I repeatedly stepped on it to check my weight, and it repeatedly said 8 pounds. Actually, I weigh about 163. One day I returned after housekeeping had visited and found no toilet paper on the holder. There had been paper there when I left. The maid must have removed it and not replaced it. As for the slippers and complimentary newspaper – never saw them. Never had anyone show up for turn-down service. Another improvement over the Wynn – The registration desk and the elevators at Encore are close to each other. You don't have to walk through the casino to get to the elevators. I have stayed at 5 star hotels. The Encore is not up to those standards. Given the price deals the Wynn and Encore are doing, the rooms are a good deal. But don't expect what we once knew as Wynn quality or a 5 star hotel.
-- Review by Duncan M.

I have been a frequent guest at Wynn for the past 3years. So I was excited to stay at Encore the week it opened. I could not have been more disappointed! The decor is cheesy when compared to the Wynn, it has the color red in overload! The corridors are cramped and the chandeliers look plastic. The staff at check-in was pleasant but slow. And a dealer actually complained about the pay being bad. Overall, I was not impressed at all and had expected alot more from Steve Wynn.
-- Review by Samantha W.

Extremely disappointed in the serivce at the hotel. Does not come close to its 5 star designation. Steve Wynn must have paid someone off. The front desk staff was very rude and unacommidating. Rooms are very nice, but staff is horrible. Also was very unimpressed with the service at the restaurants.
-- Review by Alex M.

I loved the Encore Hotel! Service all around was fantastic ---from the front desk to the service staff. Decor , perhaps not my taste, but a definate theme and that's what the Wynn's were trying to accomplish. The suites are like heaven on earth ... beautiful and large!! The boutique atmosphere makes one feel at home and not overwhelmed like other hotels that have an influx of people constantly. Another nice feature is that the is security at the elevators ---makes one feel secure. Love Encore!!
-- Review by Amaral B.

My stay at the Encore was wonderful, my room was great, clean, large and beautiful, everyone was very helpful, I will be back.
-- Review by Sandy V.

Editor's Favorite Review
Stayed at the Encore 10/31 thru 11/5 (room 5547), and at the Wynn 11/5-11/6 (room 1818). Here for the Sema/Aapex trade show. We stayed at Caesars 2003, Planet Hollywood (PH) in 2005, Venetian 2006, Wynn 2007, Palazzo 2008. The Wynn & Encore are the best properties by far. Web sites that book the airfare and hotel together offer packages about 40% lower than booking hotel and air apart. You can select any hotel you like. When taking the taxi from the airport, fare will be about $15. Give the driver $25 when you get in if you want the fastest route to the hotels. It's only a 12-15 minute ride depending on traffic. When you get to reception you might put a $20 on the counter, but the staff will not accept a tip until after you are signed in. They will still want to upgrade you for $20 a night to one of the top 10 floors. Well worth the upgrade. Spoke with someone staying on a lower floor and they said the noise from the club was quite loud. Also, the Wynn properties place a $150 per night hold against your credit card for potential charges. If you use your Amex card you will never notice this charge. Option B, bring a charge card with $10k of credit available. If neither of these work for you, you are checking into the wrong hotel. No shame in staying at TI, Mirage, Paris, PH. All fine properties. But if you stay at the Encore enjoy yourself, spend some money, tip well. Also, we usually arrive early and our room might not be available until late in the day. Leave your luggage with the bellman, relax and enjoy yourself (Although last 2 years we had a room available early in the am). A day before you checkout see a casino host. If your level of play is strong they will comp you quite a bit of the food/beverage tab. When we stayed at the Wynn we thought that was incredible. The rooms at the Encore are huge. All the views are terrific. The beds are incredible. The 2nd day we told the maid not to bother with our room. Everything was clean and stocked and we did not need any new towels. Later in the day another maid came by to see if we needed anything. A few hours later the housekeeping manager came by to make sure we were ok. The service here was amazing. There is NO charge for the room safe. You can enter a 4 digit pin number OR use the magnetic strip from your room key or a credit card to lock it. A few reviews mentioned a charge for the safe. There is a $14/day charge for wifi. If you brought a laptop you should be able to expense that to your business. If you only plan to check email a few times during your trip you could use the business center or one of the wifi cafes on the strip . (ok Steve Wynn, here's one area for improvement. Room service trays were left out overnight. No need for dirty dishes in the hall. Please pick these up more often) Ate at Wazuzu, portions a bit large but excellent. Terrace Pointe Cafe, full cafe menu but no longer open 24 hours. Zoozacrackers deli, excellent, huge sandwiches. The Buffet, wonderful. SW Steakhouse, dress warm to eat outside and see the show. At the cafe when a waiter finished clearing a table he placed a napkin over the dirty dishes before carrying the tray past guests. A waffle came out a bit cold. The replacement waffle was brought out quickly by the manager himself. He bused a table on his way back to the kitchen. At Wazuzu when pouring water the waitress placed a napkin behind my glass to catch any stray droplets of water. At SW our party of 4 split 2 entrees and a number of sides and salads. The waitstaff made us feel very comfortable, bringing plenty of clean plates. In The Buffet the cooks behind the line were cheerful and polite to everyone. Whoever is running the food services at the Wynn properties could not be doing a better job. The casino at the Wynn and Encore both have something to offer If you want the excitement and flash of Vegas try the Wynn. The Encore casino is much quieter and less smokey. There is a beautiful walkway connecting the two. Less than a 6 minutes walk from Encore elevators to the Wynn poker room (all walk times assume a brisk, but not running, pace). We did not play any of the table games but won big on poker and slots. Poker is a game of patience sometimes helped out by a bit of luck. Slots I can teach you how to win. 1) avoid any machine with a jackpot of more than $100k. We have won over $1200 many times this year, never even seen anyone who won $100k. $400 and higher payouts are not uncommon. 2) play 5¢ or 10¢ denominations. I am convinced casinos make their money on the smaller ¢ players. 3) you MUST play all the lines on these new video slots. These machines use the concept of stacked wilds. If you only play 30 lines on a 40 line machine you will never win enough to offset your bets. 4) When you win smaller jackpots ($200 and up) get off that machine immediately, move on. 5) If you win enough to fill out a tax form take some of your winnings in check. Takes a few minutes longer but worthwhile. 6) Tip out anyone who does anything for you in Vegas. Instant Karma. MOST important. Walk from Encore elevators to the Las Vegas convention center 25 minutes. To the Sands Convention center 20 minutes. Walk whenever you can in Vegas, keeps your vacation, calorie neutral. Our favorite shows, in order or WOWness, KA (do not sit in the first 12-15 rows, looking up too much. Dine at Shibuya), Penn & Teller (funny, clean, and amazing), Love (dine at Fin, skip Stack). Bette Midler (check out Mon ami Gabi for late lunch at Paris, get a table by the sidewalk), "O" (get in line at 4:30 at Todd English Olives for 5pm seating on the patio. Closest you'll get to the water show at the Bellagio. Dress warm), Le reve (not my favorite). Also worth the trip is Aliza, a beautiful restaurant at the top of the Palms. While you are there you can see Ghostbar and the Playboy club (one admission covers both). The Venetian / Palazzo are nice properties with large rooms and a lot to offer but they are not in the same league as the Wynn properties. Wynn/Encore furnishings are better quality and the Wynn/Encore service sets the bar for all of Vegas. Side note. We got to the airport on 11/5 to go home. Flight was delayed. Continental said we would miss our connecting flight to Tampa but they would put us up for the night in Houston. I called a casino host at the Wynn who comped us a room for the night as well as our full food tab ($200). Vegas is a much better place to be delayed than Houston.
-- Review by Scott S.