Recently we were invited by the Wynn Group for us stay at their follow up hotel to the Wynn, The Encore. Both buildings stand as icons anchoring the north end of the Las Vegas strip. When the Wynn was built, it stood out as a beacon of new design for Las Vegas properties. On the spots where the mid-century art deco properties of the old Flamingo, Stardust, and the Sands, they were being replaced by replicas. Treasure Island came along with it’s Caribbean island theme, the Mirage came along with this desert island theme, Harrah’s celebrated a Mardi Gras theme. Then the Wynn came along and stood on it’s own look. Not following the old trend of Las Vegas mimicry, it’s large reflective, metallic brown monolithic design stood in stark contrast to the other Las Vegas hotels. And still does. It even faced a different direction, facing south-north, whereas most hotels faced east-west or west-east, depending on which side of the strip they were on. It was beautiful and it was completely different. Even the roof line was interesting, the way the building had a swoop to replicate the swooshing wind of the desert sands blowing your money out of your pockets.
The Wynn quickly became the standard for luxury on the strip. It was given a 4-diamond rating by Forbes and 4-Diamond by AAA. (although the Tower Suites are 5-star and Diamond, so step it up!) Not even the Bellagio gets that! The Wynn opened so well, and made so much money, that they decided to build a sister property to follow it up 2 years later. And appropriately, they called it the Encore. Although the Encore follows the Wynn theme, it did so in a slightly different manner. The Wynn has a slightly less overt statement of luxury which adds to its luxurious statement, a perfect case of less is more. But the Encore, was designed to capture the younger wealthy crowd. Where as the Wynn stood out to the old school high rollers, the Encore dealt to the new nouveau riche. The younger crowd with the same amount of money to burn for a bottle of Veuve Clicqout or Dom Perignon in the night club. The thirtysomethings with a couple grand to drop on a weekend in the high rise suite, a cabana by the pool, and black chips at the table. This is going to be a little livelier, a little more rambunctious. And it does so ever so slightly. That’s what I like about the Wynn: its understated luxury appeal. It’s not over-the-top trying to wow you with design. It’s calm cool design simply lulls you into a clean sense of comfort and the notion that it takes a fine eye to recognize luxury.
So we took the Encore up on its offer to come stay for a couple of days. Upon arrival, we leave the bags to the Bellman, and we hop inline to check in. I still wish somebody would come up with a better check in process than standing in this bank teller line waiting to be called next! Standing there, I noticed an awful lot of children here. It seems there are an awful lot of families checking in at this time, but then again, it was the day after Christmas, so why not. The kids are out of school, the parents are out of work, make that away from work, and why not bring the family down. That is one of the more appealing aspects of the Wynn and the Encore properties is that they are mature enough to make it safe for families and children. You don’t have to worry about walking through the crowd with a couple of under-dressed, under-aged girls walking through or the local bros chugging beer in the walkways blurting out obscenities.
We check in, which was rather effortlessly for our reservation. I was surprised in fact, that they didn’t offer us an upgrade, but it’s OK I would’ve said no anyway. The tower suite is fine for us and I’ll talk about that more in a second. Walking in, the room has a nice sleeping area with a swivel TV wall to separate it from the seating parlor. The Encore theme is cream, tan and brown accented with high gloss lacquer and gold trim. And again it’s very inviting, very comfortable, and feels quite elegant. I love the room electronic lighting controls. This allows you to simply press one button and all the lights in the room come on, the curtains open and luxury welcomes you. There are controls on the walls and bedside tablets to control the lights, temperature, order food, check bank account balances (just kidding on the account balances).
The bathroom is large, with a spacious shower, a rather long tub, dual vanity, bottom of champagne and separate water closet. Oh wait, that was our bottle, didn’t see Nancy put that there. I can’t wait to stay in one of the one bedroom suites with the Jacuzzi tub next time. The dual vanity has plenty of space, and Nancy’s favorite, in-wall TV to watch while doing make-up. Two plush bathrobes and slippers round out the bath luxury.
One of my favorite things about the Wynn room is one TV that swivels between the bed and seating areas. Just a cool feature, one of the things where you don’t really need two TVs that close to one another. The room has some nice artwork to it, nothing that stands out so bold as as dogs playing poker on velvet, and the lighting fixtures are high end art pieces themselves. The high ceilings give the 745 sq-ft room an even larger feel and undermount lighting on the cabinets provide a nice warmth to the room.
After we call the Bellman up and gather our bags, another totally polite fellow, we head down to further decompress. The Lobby Bar and Cafe is at the base of the elevators. This is great as it allows you to simply go down take a few steps and sit down at the bar. You don’t have to go trotting through the lobby, cross through the casino to get a drink. Again I like my luxury nice and easy. We grab a late night bite to eat to rejuvenate ourselves with a couple of cocktails to build up our courage to hit the tables. Short rib fries with caramelized red onions, some sort of exotic tasting sauce (sorry… I forget the details) and feta cheese (who could forget that!). Very tasty, was tempted to order a second round but decided to eat light at that point. I did decide to follow the lead of the Infomercial for Encore and try the Sinatra Smash. It’s a bourbon-based drink with extra grenadine and some juice. Sorry, but this was just a little too sweet for me. I couldn’t imagine Ol’ Blue Eyes taking something like this down. Maybe his date, I could definitely see Debbie Reynolds knocking a few back though. My wife orders a delicious St-Germain based Vodka Martini. Now that was nice. We hit the floor around 11 o’clock so things were just starting to heat up. Tables were crowded so I shied away and join my wife on some slots. We had a good time for a couple of hours and decided to call it a night. At the end of the evening I managed to keep my losses to a paltry $23. My wife refused to tell me how much she lost. I guess that’s why we got the room invite 🙂
The next morning we wake well rested. These beds are comfy, supportive, and super luxurious, making it very difficult to get out of. I wonder where do you actually find beds like this in the real world? Next time I’ve got a pull off the sheet to get the tag and model number because this was a wonderful night sleep. Tonight we dine at the Country Club restaurant. The SW, the steakhouse at the Wynn, is one of my favorite spots in the world to eat. The food is great, service is fantastic, and who can beat the lakeside show. Giant flowers, as in 30 feet in diameter popup out of the man made lake, dancing around to music. Bodies breach and submerge, colorful marionettes dance about, its an amazing dinner show.
So I wanted to try something new. The Country Club is is what you would expect it to be a restaurant Located on a golf course. Wynn has the only golf course technically “on the strip”, but believe or not, there are 5 golf courses within a mile radius of the strip. That’s wild! Who knew!?! White linen tables, dark wood sculpted trim and attentive waiters make the interior. And great waiters they are. Very attentive, and get this, when I asked how many Scallops were in the order, he responded 4. Then my wife mentioned that she would give me a bite or two of her steak, and the waiter immediately offers to split the orders and make us both a mini surf-n-turf! Awesome! The NY Strip had the perfect char to it, the Scallops were plump and juicy, it was a perfect meal. It’s a medium size restaurant I would estimate it seats about 50, compared to Cheesecake Factory, I guess that’s actually small. But what it does is it creates a very cozy and intimate environment and provides the perfect background for a nice relaxing dinner. This is a nice breath of fresh air that let you sit back and relax for a bit and enjoy our wine. Dinner was delightful, dessert was wonderful, but now it’s time to head back to the tables!
Mandalay is the former capital of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Myanmar is a small country north of Indonesia east of Vietnam. And that’s whats lost on Mandalay Bay. When you pull up to Mandalay Bay, you do notice that is lush, hidden behind lots of greenery, but no true indication of it Southeast Asian theme. As you enter Mandalay Bay through the lush greenery, you may catch a glimpse of tiger statues and other Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese influences, but they are very low-key and not very prominent, so you really don’t have quite an idea of what you’re really getting into. Upon entering Mandalay Bay, did you notice that palm tree and a slight wicker thing. Strips of marble, and beautifully laid marble it is, are highlighted by brown strips of a textured marble to resemble the wicker themes from Southeast Asia. You’ll also notice that there are an excess of shutters surrounding the crown molding and door moldings of the lobby area. And this theme is carried throughout the rooms. There are large ceiling fans throughout the lobby, but that is the only true semblance of southeast Asia here. The dining area is your typical Vegas style, the buffet and lunch dining areas have about as much sense of tropical fare as south east Florida. I would venture to say Myanmar had their theme long before Key West did.
