| Encore Las Vegas | |
|---|---|
| Location | Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, Nevada |
| Address | 3121 Las Vegas Blvd South Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 |
| Opening date | December 22, 2008 |
| Theme | Life Imitating Art |
| No. of rooms | 2,034[1] |
| Total gaming space | 74,000 sq ft (6,900 m2) |
| Permanent shows | Garth Brooks at the Encore Theater (Previously Danny Gans)[2] |
| Casino type | Land-Based |
| Owner | Wynn Resorts Limited |
| Architect | Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo[3] |
| Years renovated | none |
| Website | http://wynnlasvegas.com |
Encore Las Vegas or Encore at Wynn Las Vegas (often just called Encore) is a luxury resort, casino and hotel located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The resort is connected to its sister resort, Wynn Las Vegas; both are owned by Wynn Resorts Limited, headed by casino developer Steve Wynn.
Encore has been awarded the AAA five diamond award. The Towers Suites at Encore and The Spa have received the Forbes five-star award in 2011. Encore Las Vegas and its sister property, Wynn Las Vegas collectively hold more Forbes five-star awards than any other casino-resort in the world and it is considered to be one of the finest hotels in the world.[4]
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On April 28, 2006, Wynn Las Vegas celebrated its one-year anniversary by breaking ground on a second hotel tower.[5] Initially named the Encore Suites at Wynn Las Vegas, the 2,034 room hotel project cost $2.3 billion and was sited adjacent to the existing resort and on the remaining frontage of Las Vegas Boulevard.[6] Originally envisioned as an expansion of Wynn Las Vegas, Encore Las Vegas quickly became a full-scale resort; it shares resources and is connected to the Wynn resort via a shopping arcade. The resort was estimated to add 5,300 jobs to the Las Vegas area.[7]
After 2½ years of construction, the resort formally opened to the public at 8:00 pm on December 22, 2008 to large crowds.[7][8] Due to the period's economic downturn, the opening was designed to be more subdued than previous casino resort openings.[9] The resort's jewelry shop featured the 231 carats (46 g), prune-sized Wynn Diamond, billed as "the largest cut pear-shaped diamond in the world." To open the betting, Steve Wynn gave high-rollers a few million dollars to make the initial bets and initiated the action by declaring over a microphone, "Let the games begin!"; the start of gambling was accompanied by a recording of Frank Sinatra's "Luck Be a Lady Tonight."[7]
The resort features a 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m2) casino, 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) of convention space, 27,000 sq ft (2,500 m2) of retail space in "The Esplanade", a spa and salon, five restaurants, seven bars, and a nightclub. The building is 631 feet (192 m) in height and 93 feet (28 m) in width, and has 63 floors, making it three floors higher than Wynn Las Vegas, though the building does not actually contain 63 floors since floors 13 and 40-49 were omitted: 13 has traditionally been an unlucky number in various Western cultures, and various East Asian cultures are superstitious about the number 4 because it is a homonym for "death" in their languages.[7]
The resort's interior public spaces feature a combination of Asian influences and whimsical designs, including strong reds and a butterfly motif, in its design; the overall theme, designed by Roger P. Thomas, borrows aspects from the Wynn Macau in China.[7] In addition, the hotel continues and expands on the original Wynn Resort's use of big windows, dense greenery and filtered natural light to pervade more areas of the casino than had traditionally been done in Las Vegas. The pool area includes 29 rentable cabanas.[7] In late November 2009, the casino was slightly altered, removing drapery and palm trees in an effort to open up the space a bit more. Steve Wynn, after reviewing and walking through, replaced the planting, but not the curtains, seemingly feeling the casino became too stuffy with the drapery at the corners of each space.
The resort's nightclub, XS, was developed by Victor Drai and opened on New Year's Eve 2008 with 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2) and space for 3,000 guests.[10] The restaurants include Sinatra, a Frank Sinatra-themed, 152-seat dinner-only steakhouse, which includes a Grammy and an Oscar award statuettes on loan from the Sinatra estate as well as a large photo of the singer and Steve Wynn from 1981. Other restaurants are Wazuzu, a modern-Asian bistro that features a 27 ft (8.2 m) crystal dragon; Switch, a French-influenced surf and turf restaurant that features walls, ceiling and lights that rise, fall and change color every 20 to 30 minutes; Botero, a dinner-only steakhouse themed after the work of Colombian neo-figurative artist Fernando Botero and featuring three of his artworks and two of his sculptures; and Society Cafe Encore, a casual restaurant.[7] A beach club opened in June 2010, replacing the Strip entry and atrium space; it is the "Switch Beach Club" due to its relative location near Switch restaurant.[11]
The Resort Suites contain 700-745 ft² (65-69 m²) of floor space. The hotel tower features two sections; the standard Resort tower and the smaller, more upscale Tower Suites.
The resort's permanent show was singer-comedian-impressionist Danny Gans, until his death on May 1, 2009.[7] Gans, who had previously headlined at The Mirage casino resort, took over the space previously held by Broadway shows Avenue Q and later Spamalot, both of which were unsuccessful in their Las Vegas runs.[9][12][13][14][15] The performance space, built with Wynn Las Vegas and previously named the Broadway Theater and the Grail Theater, was renamed the Encore Theater to associate it with the new resort.[9][12]
Encore Beach Club aims for the quality upscale atmosphere usually found in European clubs. The 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) venue features 40-foot (12 m) palm trees surrounding three tiered pools. There are chaise lounges, couches, and day beds featuring private safes. It includes oversized lily pads resting in shallow water, and shower poles. There is a high limit gaming pavilion. Each of the 26 cabanas come with flat screen televisions and refrigerators. Starting May 1, 2011 Kaskade returns to headline the Beach Club on Sundays.
At night, Encore Beach Club becomes Surrender Nightclub, a 5,000 square feet (460 m2) area open to the surrounding outdoor oasis. DJ Steve Aoki is the music director for Surrender and headlines on select Friday nights. Afrojack, Calvin Harris and Lil' Jon also make regular appearances. Some noted performances include Ne-Yo, Kelly Rowland and Far East Movement.
XS has more than 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of outdoor and indoor space, over 10,000 individual light sources and was designed by Roger Thomas, the executive vice president of design for Wynn Design and Development. The design was supposedly inspired by the curves of the human body and boasts a ten foot rotating chandelier and a rich gold, black and brown color scheme. XS was voted #1 in the Nightclub & Bar Top 100 2011.
The 1st quarter of 2009 was the first where the Encore was fully operational after its opening on December 22, 2008. The prior year quarter includes only Wynn Las Vegas. Overall revenue from the resort increased from $327.2 [million?] to $345.9 [million?] in the first quarter, a very modest increase considering the additional hotel tower and new food and beverage outlets.
The additional casino at the Encore added 97 tables and 857 slot machines to the original 190 tables and 2000 slots. However, casino revenues for the combined resort were lower than the first quarter of 2008 when only The Wynn was operating. Net casino revenues for the combined resort dropped from $125.1 million to $117.5 million.
Gross non-casino revenues for the quarter were $228.4 million, a 13.3% increase from the first quarter of 2008, driven primarily by higher hotel and food and beverage revenues resulting from the opening of Encore. Although the added 2,034 suites at Encore nearly doubled the available suites, hotel revenues were up only 20.6% to $85.1 million during the quarter, versus $70.6 million in the first quarter of 2008 due to declining room rates and lower occupancy rate. Food and beverage revenues increased as a result of the additional 12 food and beverage outlets located in the Encore expansion. Retail revenues declined and entertainment revenues also decreased primarily due to the closure of the Spamalot production show in July 2008.[16]
Beyoncé Knowles performed a special sold-out four show run at the Encore Theatre from July 30 to August 2, 2009. The shows, which were a part of her I Am... Tour, were completely altered from the standard arena shows that comprised the rest of the tour, with new costumes and songs added, existing songs changed, and an all-round 'intimate' theme prevailing. The shows were successful, and were filmed and released on DVD in November 2009.
Knowles announced (January 2010) a deal for an extended run at the Encore, with shows beginning in 2010.[17][18]
On October 15, 2009 at a press conference, Garth Brooks announced a 5 year contract with Wynn for concerts. Brooks will do 4 shows a week for 15 weeks a year. The first show was the weekend of December 2009.[19]
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