It had been a minute since I’ve been in Las Vegas (can it really be three years?), so I was excited to get an invitation to attend the league technology conference at the Wynn Encore. I’ve never stayed at the Wynn or the Encore, so I was interested to see how it stacks up. My cab driver also insisted that it’s not the Wynn Encore – you are either at the Wynn or at the Encore. Noted, boomer.

According to the Wikipedia List of Largest Hotels, the combined Wynn and Encore towers are the third largest in Vegas at 4,748 rooms. I was surprised to see The Venetian listed as the largest in town, as I always thought the MGM Grand was the largest in the world. Turns out they count the Venetian and Palazzo and the Venezia as one (at an astounding 7,115 rooms), but the Green Monster at the south end of the Strip is still the largest *single hotel building* in the world, with 6,852 rooms.

Damn, that’s a big housekeeping and maintenance lift.

Side note, the only two U.S. hotels on that list not in Las Vegas are the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu (3,386) and Disney’s Port Orleans Resort in Orlando (3,056). Interesting.

So what was the Encore like?

• My room was a nice mini-suite, with a big marble bathroom, middle bedroom section and a front “living room” area with a desk and a sectional sofa.
• Found out this is the smallest room type at Encore – there are also “Tower Suites” that are still in the same building, just blocked off from the “normie” rooms (one is Forbes Five Star, the other Four Star).
• The room had nice iPad and Alexa controlled actions for lighting, drapes, temperature and TV control.
• There were Four Seasons-like “scenes” when you entered (i.e. – you could select all on and every light would turn on and the drapes would open). Also settings for low lighting (which I preferred) and individual wall panels in certain parts of the room for added local control.
• The small TV in the bathroom didn’t work and the “premium” minibar tried to charge me $18 for opening the door and looking inside. Both of these issues were addressed when I checked out, but I still hate the concept of highly overpriced minibar systems.
• Speaking of overpriced, when are premium hotels going to offer free and fast wireless internet everywhere? This has always been an issue in Vegas, but it was still comical at this property for 2024. For example, they listed 7mbps service as free, with 12mbps and 20mbps “upgrades” available for added cost. The free service never got close to 7 in either direction and the upgrades were like $12.99 and $14.99 per device per day. Nope.
• My last big gripe is the “Resort Fee” scourge that Vegas can’t seem to give up. Between that $45 daily fee and the hotel taxes, it was like adding another Benjamin a day to the bill.
• The Encore casino floor was too small and too boring – just skipped it and went over to the regular Wynn side, which was much more exciting.
• Meeting areas were nice and close to the room elevators, yet isolated enough from everything else to give a nice sense of privacy for our event. Temperature control, seating, AV and snacks/drinks were all excellent. Didn’t understand why there were no bathrooms on our floor, but they were just up one set of stairs. The catered breakfasts were good, but the lunches were hit and miss.
• They had a room key scanner and security guard at the entrance to the room elevators, which seems to be pretty standard out here still (which I’m fine with, but was interested to see that Mystic Lake had recently dropped this for using your key in the elevator to access a floor).
• We didn’t really eat at any of the Encore restaurants, so I can’t speak to that (or to their very popular nightclubs that feature world-class talent). The happy hour reception we had in the Eastside Lounge was very nice, though, with drinks and light appetizers that were both good.
• Thought the front desk was rather small for the number of rooms, but had a good experience both arriving and departing (also: kudos for having a noon check-out time).
• Beyoncé held her I Am…Yours concert residency at the Encore Theater during mid-2009.
• Encore is already 16 years old, but it didn’t really seem dated anywhere on property.

Speaking of dated, one of my old favorites really seemed to have lost its luster: The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. I spent a fair amount of time there with a colleague from Allegiant Stadium and just found it to be a bit run down, dirty in too many areas and we had to endure that awful Las Vegas sewer smell throughout much of the casino floor. Bellagio and Caesars had none of these issues and I was generally impressed with the new Fontainebleau.

Sahara on the other hand…

“The Mirage is a defunct casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States.”

So begins the Wikipedia page for one of our favorites spots on the Las Vegas Strip. I was fortunate enough to find out just in time to visit one last time before my work conference began this week. Literally by a few minutes: the roads in and out had already been barricaded, but they were letting people in for a farewell press conference with staff under the porte-cochère in front.

I took a bunch of pictures outside of the Siegfried and Roy Plaza and the iconic volcano, then headed in the entrance on the Caesars Palace side. The door was unlocked, but almost everything was closed (not Starbucks) and all of the slot machines were powered off. I wandered back by the Cirque Love theater (last show there was July 7), then up to the tropical dome and over to the front entrance (all the fish were gone, but the bronze mermaids remained).

Colleen and I stayed at Mirage a number of times, including our trip for the Morrissey concert in 2021 (which was probably the last time). We also picked the Mirage as the place we stayed for the girls first Vegas trip in 2018. The rooms had just been refurbished and they really liked going to the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. SK and I also went to see the Beatles-themed Cirque show as part of her landmark birthday trip in 2019 and I also remember having birthday dinner there with the Millers in 2009 (and the first time I saw Love). Lots of visits to the Carnegie Deli too.

Thanks Team Mirage for all the great memories!