Encore w/ some Palms Place sprinkled in (1/2-1/5)

Highlights

- Stayed 1/2 and 1/3 @ Encore Tower Suites
- Stayed 1/4 @ Palms Place
- Attended Mamma Mia on 1/3
- Ate @ Sugar & Ice, Batista Hole in the Wall, Simon Brunch @ Palms Place, Musashi Japanese Steakhouse
- Turned a nice profit on slot credits
- Lost profit on video poker after that
- Hit some nice sports bets
- Lost those back at craps table
- Finished down $150 for the trip [STRIKE]with bet on Texas still pending[/STRIKE]

Ok...if you don't want to read the long version (and I will find a way to make a 3 day trip into AT LEAST 2,000 words )...then thanks for stopping by. However, if you want to read my thoughts good, bad, and otherwise about the Tower Suites at Encore, Palms Place, and the overall state of the Vegas economy as gauged by my discussions/haggles with locals...then stay tuned! :evillaugh

 

Nice little teaser there. Looking forward to reading the long version.

Glad McCoy was able to sqeak out the win for ya in the final seconds (even though I'm obviously NOT a tu fan). :evillaugh

 

Looking forward to reading the long version.

Did you bet for the 'Horns to simply win or did they have to cover for you? Let us know how it worked out for you. As a UT grad I was way happy about McCoy's late game heroics. His numbers for the game were good. But, if you followed him this year you'd know it was not his best game. The OSU defense may have had a lot to do with that!

Staying tuned for the rest of the story.

later, GVJ

 

Unfortunately I had them covering 8 points...so I lost my bet and finished down for the trip. I'm about halfway through writing the long version so it will be posted shortly!

 

You scored the upgrade you wanted to Tower Suites? Nice! Looking forward to the whole thing.

 

After a few minutes at the resort desk of all places...I was able to make it happen.

Alright quick update...

I'm at 2722 words and am only at our late Saturday night show of Mamma Mia. I doubt Sunday will be as long...but I've got to get out to take care of some errands so this will have to wait until tonight/tomorrow morning before I can post the full report.

 

2722 words and counting...if only high school essays flowed so smoothly.

 

(sorry about the first thread...I took too long writing this and had to start a new thread so I could post this. Enjoy!)

Highlights

- Stayed 1/2 and 1/3 @ Encore Tower Suites
- Stayed 1/4 @ Palms Place
- Attended Mamma Mia on 1/3
- Ate @ Sugar & Ice, Batista Hole in the Wall, Simon Brunch @ Palms Place, Musashi Japanese Steakhouse
- Turned a nice profit on slot credits
- Lost profit on video poker after that
- Hit some nice sports bets
- Lost those back at craps table
- Finished down $150 for the trip [STRIKE]with bet on Texas still pending[/STRIKE]

Ok...if you don't want to read the long version (and I will find a way to make a 3 day trip into AT LEAST 4,000 words )...then thanks for stopping by. However, if you want to read my thoughts good, bad, and otherwise about the Tower Suites at Encore, Palms Place, and the overall state of the Vegas economy as gauged by my discussions/haggles with locals...then stay tuned! :evillaugh

Friday, January 2nd
I woke up bright and early as I had family and friends in town for the Cotton Bowl. This was going to be a great day. Get to the game early, tailgate with friends & family, watch Texas Tech win the game and celebrate their first ever 12-win season (and first Cotton Bowl win) in school history and then head to Vegas with the lady for our Christmas/anniversary/last trip before the wedding present to each other. However...Tech lost 47-35 and I left the stadium quite depressed. However…I still had a flight to catch to Vegas so all was not lost!

I picked up my fiancée after the game (she had to work on the 2nd) and we headed to DFW. I found a coupon in my travel bag for $10 terminal parking (instead of $17) so we parked right up front @ Terminal D (by far the best terminal @ DFW) and headed inside. Though I have platinum status with AA, when you travel on an award ticket you aren’t given an option to upgrade to first class. Knowing that 14 out of 18 seats were showing to be available in first…I decided to try and work the system a little bit. I got nowhere at the gate or ticket counters…and the kiosk machine was only allowing me to upgrade for $105 and not my fiancée. Well we all know that wasn’t an option…so I was feeling a bit desperate. Long story short…I made a call to AA’s Platinum service desk and told them I’d like to upgrade both tickets and the kiosk was my only way of doing so but that it wouldn’t give me two upgrades. By some stroke of luck, I got them (or whoever can actually do this) to allow 1 more seat to be offered via kiosk upgrade. Bam…5 minutes before the plane is to begin boarding I am now holding 2 first class tickets to Vegas for a total of $210!!!

The flight left at 9:05 PM CST so there was no dinner service…but you gotta love the free drinks in first class. 4 or 5 screwdrivers and a glass of champagne later, we watched Get Smart (been wanting to see it as I really liked the cast they had) and touched down in Vegas 30 minutes early (I know…a rarity for an AA flight to be early).

From the moment I hit the terminal at McCarran, I knew things were hurting bad in Vegas. While our flight was about 90% full…the terminal looked like a ghost town at 9:45 PM on a Friday night. I hit the baggage claim and taxi line…same thing. Nobody was there. (I would later have a cab driver that owns one of the local companies that tell me that the wait to pick somebody up @ the airport was running 75 minutes (so more like 90 minutes) and Bellagio was running 35-40 minutes.) I walked outside to grab a sedan and they offered me $39 for a sedan or $70 for a limo. I told them I’d pay $30 for a car to Encore (with a stop at a liquor store) and they said that was fine. Despite what I had seen, I was mildly shocked but the driver seemed really happy to have us so off we went. A quick stop for some Tito’s and Crown and were on our way to Encore.

We arrived shortly before 11PM and went straight to the invited guest check-in on the resort side. I asked the lady if the upgrade policy to the tower suites was the same at Wynn (where it has to be done through the Tower Suites check-in) and she confirmed that it was. I waited for a few minutes while she set up my reservation. After a few minutes of talking, she told me that they couldn’t confirm my reservation for the 3rd and final night of my stay at this time. I had taken advantage of an offer that comp’d all 3 nights and gave me $200 in slot credit. Additionally, they were out of resort rooms at Encore. She offered to move me to a “waterfall show room†on the resort side at Wynn. She said they only have a few of those rooms available and they are larger than the standard rooms. I told her that I would like to be upgraded to a Tower Suite room if they don’t have a standard room available. She was able to accommodate my request but again let me know that my 3rd night wasn’t confirmed. She also stated that if they did have a room available that the rate would be $119 for me on Sunday night regardless of where the room was located. I spoke with a host about this later and evidently the offer letter I had received was inaccurate and they couldn’t comp my Sunday night stay and I would have to pay…more about this later. To sum up my experience at check-in, you CAN get a Tower Suites room through the Resort Check-in. In fact, they can put you in any available room that they want whether Encore or Wynn, Resort or Tower. The only “catch†is that they have to go to Tower Suites check-in to get you a Tower Suites key. This is a different experience than what I had encountered at the Wynn.

So after 40 or so minutes at the desk…I’ve got 2 keys to room #3208 in the Encore Tower Suites in my hand. Upon entering the room, I was immediately blown away by this view out my window:



Sorry for the poor camera phone shot…my Nikon D90 broke on the flight out and I was only able to rig it up to take a few pictures.

I can’t say enough about the design of the room. It’s definitely a step up from the Wynn Tower Suites. However, I did have a few complaints:

- The L shaped couch in the living room feels like a cheap microfiber couch. It looks great but it’s not much for sitting on and watching TV.
- The TV is supposed to swivel from bedroom to living room. However, my TV would swivel itself back to the bedroom when I turned it around to the living area. I called and mentioned this at the front desk but nothing was done about it.
- The bathroom is very similar in design to Wynn. This means that the side room for the toilet is still poorly designed. As a guy…I’m not all that inclined to close the door when I go in there. However, with my fiancée around it’s in my best interests to do so. Unfortunately…once you go into the room you can’t sit down and THEN close the door as there just isn’t enough space. Frustrating indeed!
- My room didn’t have a remote control and my TV was slightly possessed. Whenever I turned it off manually…it would turn itself back on. So when it’s 1AM (3 AM CST) and I want to go to sleep…it was a bit hard to do just that. I called down and waited about 30 minutes for a selection of 4 remotes to be brought to find out which frequency my TV was programmed to. I’m not complaining about the wait time at that hour…just frustrated with the possessed TV. Even after getting a remote, this was still an issue for us.
- The bedside control to run the drapes and sheers was inconsistent at best. Sometimes the buttons would work but often times one of the buttons would have to be hit 10+ times before I could get it to operate.
- The Wynn slippers still aren’t made to fit anything above a size 9 foot. For a guy with a size 11.5 foot…I sure would like to walk around in slippers some time!
- I was offered my choice of papers and chose the NY Times and LVRJ. I received the LA Times instead even after requesting NYT a second time. Not a big deal…but it was a flaw in service (and the only one that I had for that matter) that you might not expect at the Tower Suites.

Ok now that those are out of the way…I’ll wrap up Friday and move on to Saturday.

After we got to the room…we went down for a few minutes to the Lobby Bar to grab a drink and walk around for a few. I was very impressed with the overall layout of the place. The slots are fairly well organized by denomination, red card desks are easy to find and don’t have long ass lines, and there are plenty of side bars and lounge areas surrounding the floor. The one thing I wish I had known before walking over to Wynn is that they do have a “sports book†at Encore. It’s not your traditional book but rather a lone betting window on one side of the red card counter. It has a TV screen above it that shows current lines and you can place bet/cash out tickets there. After our stroll around…it was 1AM and we went upstairs to get some sleep.

Saturday, January 3rd
We got out of the room about 10 AM and stopped by the front desk to see if we were confirmed for Sunday night. He said that we were and the rate was $139 for us that night. Somehow it had gone up $20 overnight. Unfortunately, since it was booked through casino services I had to talk with them. I didn’t have time to at the moment though as were off to shop for wedding shoes for the bride to be. We went to every boutique at both Wynn & Encore Esplanades before stopping down at Sugar & Ice for lunch. Having always wanted to go there, I was very pleased to find tomato bisque w/ grilled cheese on the menu! Both of us ordered it and went outside to sit on the patio. It was about 50 degrees but they have heaters at the tables so it wasn’t really a problem. She loves dining al fresco and I was happy to oblige!

After lunch we tried the shops @ Palazzo but again came up empty. We stopped in the Peter Lik Gallery inside the Grand Canal Shoppes to enjoy the scenery and check out some of his newer work. Before we knew it, we ran across two photos (one of the Lone Cypress @ Monterey taken from an angle I’ve never seen before) that we absolutely loved. We went back and forth about them for close to an hour before deciding not to purchase before we had even started gambling! Now that our shoe shopping trip had come to a close…it was time to hit the casino. We set up our $200 slot credit and were ready to play.

I let her play the credit while I spent some time on a quarter VP (found an 8/5 JOB machine by the red card desk) machine. She hit a nice run and cashed out the first $80 in slot play as a $120 slot ticket. She then joined me at the VP machines and proceeded to turn the last $120 into another $170 ticket. At the same time, I couldn’t hit anything to save my life (3 times I was dealt 4 to a royal on a 5 hand machine but not once did I even catch anything more than a single pair…frustrating) and was down $80 or so. I finally made a comeback by catching quads and was just above even. At this point, we were up about $160 (plus $200 in cash from the $200 slot credit) after an hour of play and if you’ve ever read my reports you would know that it’s a miracle for me to be up EVER at the Wynn. I’ve never had a winning session at anything other than sports betting. Whether it’s the Valentine’s Day Massacre as a still single man in the Wynn poker room in 2006 (lost close to $2000 that day) or the 3 trips in late 2007 that saw me down a substantial sum of money @ blackjack and slots…I simply don’t win anything at the Wynn. So did we get up and go back to our room??? Of course not!!! We had a great cocktail waitress who kept the Belvedere screwdrivers coming strong and at a VERY impressive pace for us all afternoon (it’s amazing what a $10 chip and a smile can do for you) and 2 hours later we were watched our $360 whittle away to just over $50. Oh well…a net loss of $20 (put $70 of our own money into the machines) isn’t too bad for a few hours of play and fun with your fiancée.

Back up to the room to get ready for dinner and Mamma Mia we stopped at the sports book to put in a few bets. We had Wake Forest (her alma mater) @ +135 on the moneyline (winner!!!), Colts @ -1.5 (loser), and a parlay of Colts and Wake moneyline (loser). We finished down $2.50 on our bets. If the Colts could’ve pulled out the W we’d have finished up with $180 in profit. Whatever… So I have a friend that has been telling me for years that I have to check out Batista’s so we finally decided to give it a shot. I will say this…it’s good but not great food. It’s a VERRRY good value if you like wine! I think their garlic bread was the best part of the meal. The grilled chicken parm and fettuccini alfredo were ok but I wished the chicken parm would’ve been breaded. I didn’t really enjoy their marinara sauce that came with it and my side of ziti as it really lacked flavor IMO. The accordion player is humorous if not a bit pushy when it comes to wanting/expecting a tip. Even still, he adds to the experience and I’d gladly have him stop by our table on our next trip. Tax and tip put the bill right at $65. As I said previously, if you’re a wine drinker and aren’t too picky about the quality of the wine…then Batista’s is a great value!

After dinner we decided to hop over to Bally’s and Paris to check their rates for Sunday (I did initially have a comp’d room available at either place but the iPhone isn’t a fan of the Harrah’s website) as I was less than pleased with my free room at Encore turning into a $139 room once I arrived. I stopped by and spoke with casino services. They told me the best they could do was $77 for Sunday night @ Paris. They did offer me a free room at Bally’s but since it was our anniversary trip…I did want something a little bit nicer than that. I decided to shop around a bit more on room rates…but again…more on that later as it’s Mamma Mia time!!!

We decided that since we’ve seen the show multiple times in the past few years from the first few rows that we’d give the Mezzanine a shot and just have a few drinks and sing along (yes I know…I’m a 25 yr old, straight man who got hooked on ABBA. That’s what love will do to you kids so watch out! ) We took our seats in the 4th row of the balcony and waited for the show to start. I actually like sitting behind the soundboard as you can see the camera on the conductor and for somebody who was once very involved in musicals and performances…it’s a nice touch seeing just how into the show he was.

It might just be me, but I could’ve sworn that they’ve made some lighting enhancements to the show since I last saw it. It really added a lot to the presentation this time. As always, the cast was spot on and delivered another VERY solid performance. I was slightly perturbed by the 30-something Jersey guido in front of me that started yelling at the soundboard at intermission to “fix the (insert a string of choice words here) sound cuz I can’t hear nuthin.†I thought the sound was just fine and everybody around us just had this look of “what’s he talking about???†No biggie…we just moved back a few rows for the second half and enjoyed the rest of what will likely be our final viewing of Mamma Mia!

So here’s where my next bit of “how much is Vegas really hurting†comes down…

Since I was less than pleased that my free room @ Encore went from FREE -> $119 -> $139…I decided to shop around a little and see what else I might be able to find. Now mind you I’m with a girl that doesn’t like to move hotels so I first had to talk her into it. We agreed to check Mandalay Bay (since we were there) and THE Hotel, Caesars, and Palms Place. I tried calling the desk at Encore to ask what other suites might be available but they said I had to speak with casino marketing since I was booked through them. Calls to the host area (which is supposedly open 24/7) were never answered or returned both on Saturday night and Sunday morning…so we decided to head elsewhere. Anyways…here are the offers I received on various suites:

Mandalay Bay
Sky View Suite - $199
Media Suite - $299
Lagoon Suite - $299

THE Hotel
The H Suite - $249
The T Suite - $299

Caesars Palace (I may have some of these suite #’s off other than the 82)
82 Suite (old bi-level suite in Roman Tower. Not renovated but I wanted it for the baby grand piano and Old Vegas feel w/ black/white tiles and gold everywhere you look) - $157 (my rate at Caesars was $77 + $80 upcharge)
20 Suite (renovated Forum Tower suite) - $277
52 Suite (3500 (est) sq ft suite in Augustus Tower with a bathroom/spa area over 1,000 sq ft with that overlooks the Bellagio Fountains) - $377

In the end though…we went with Palms Place because of the extra stuff that they offered us. Here was that offer:

- $50 dining credit @ Simon or room service
- $50 spa credit
- $25 x2 and $10 match play coupons
- $25 in boutique and/or newsstand
- 25% off at spa (not combinable w/ other spa credit)
- 5 free drink coupons @ Rojo bar in lobby
- 1 bedroom, 1200 sq ft suite
- $239

Sunday, January 4th

So having decided to move over to Palms Place, we pack up and head out about 10:00 so that we can get checked-in and make it to their new brunch at Simon. At check-in, I tipped the lady (she had helped with my reservation over the phone) $20 and asked for a room with the best view possible. She said, “Unless you want to pay a few thousand extra for a penthouse…then I’ve got you in the best room in the hotel.†Sounds good to me! We made our way up to 53-302 and were certainly not disappointed. On the highest floor not including the penthouses, we found ourselves in a large, modern room with a wrap around balcony with a full view of the strip. As you’ll see in the picture below that I took that night, the view alone made the room worth it. (If anybody wants a full size image of that panoramic shot let me know and I can email it to you. The file is about 20mb so make sure you can accept something that large.)



We made our way down to brunch about 11AM. It’s a unique brunch for a few reasons:
- It’s a combination of buffet and menu but everything is included for 1 price ($38/person)
- They have a giant area full of candies for you to grab on your way out for “dessert.â€
- The servers are dressed in pajamas. Most of them are dressed appropriately but one girl just HAD to put on a nightie, silk robe, and stilettos to come to work in.

A few thoughts on the brunch and what I tried:
- For somebody who doesn’t eat sushi, I enjoyed what they had. I chose bbq tuna on hard, brown rice (I forget the proper term for the rice) and smoked salmon.
- They had an assortment of paninis. I went with what was supposed to be turkey w/ fetta, sun dried tomatos, and bell peppers. However…it looked like they forgot the turkey on mine and I wasn’t a fan.
- Peel and eat shrimp were nothing special. Pretty much what you would expect.
- I ordered pigs in a blanket, popcorn chicken, and macaroni and cheese from the menu. Now mind you, I just wanted a sampling of each and told the waiter as such but I still received full portions of each. Quite wasteful IMO as I had no intent of eating all of it. The pigs in a blanket and mac/cheese were both very fresh and very good. However, the popcorn chicken was excellent. Instead of your typical fried chicken bites, they grilled the chicken separately, sprinkled breadcrumbs on it and then tossed it in a deep fryer for a few seconds. This was by far my favorite part of the meal.

All in all, the bill came out to $90 after tax/tip. Fortunately we had a $50 food credit as I don’t feel that the brunch was worth $45/person.

After brunch I stopped at the sportsbook to place a few bets. $100 on Philly (winner), $50 on Texas (loser), and $20 parlay on Philly and over 41 (loser as the game finished at 40 points). The fiancée went to the spa as I spent the afternoon in the room relaxing and and screaming at the most hated Eagles to put more points on the board to send the game over 41 points. Alas it didn’t happen…but all was not lost as I hit my larger bet vs the spread.

As someone who used to make a decent living playing poker while in school, I still find myself getting the urge to play now and then…and it’s that much worse in Vegas. I started to head down to the poker room but remembered that they spread 1/3 $500 max and I just wasn’t feeling like putting that kind of coin up when I’m out of practice and likely to get impatient at the table. If I can’t find a 1/2 $200 max game then I’m just not up for playing right now. So instead I scoured Yelp for an hour or so trying to pick out another off strip place to venture to for dinner. I cam up with 3 finalists:

- ISLA Mexican Kitchen & Tequilla Bar
- Musashi Japanese Steakhouse
- China Mama Restaurant

When the fiancée got back from the spa, we quickly eliminated China Mama. It sounds like a place that I would really like since they serve traditional Chinese food instead of catering to the American beef and broccoli crowd…but she would much rather eat sesame chicken than fried pork ear so China Mama just wasn’t happening.

We then went back and forth on the other 2 before deciding to go with Musashi since we can find good Mexican all over Dallas but a tapanyaki grill is a tough find unless it’s Benihana’s (which we refuse to go to). I can’t begin to say enough great things about Musashi. The restaurant is very clean, quiet, and is the ideal setting for tapanyaki. Our cook was also the owner of the restaurant and he takes great pride in his craft. He puts on a better performance than I’ve ever seen, has a myriad of sauces that he crafted on his own for you to try on top of the regular ginger, chili, and hot mustards, and he’s very personable and provides a fun and relaxed atmosphere at the table. I ordered NY Strip and prawns ($26) and she had sukiyaki chicken ($16). Your meal includes the usual rice and vegetables and also comes with BOTH a soup (house soup is fine for me) and salad. Also, you’ll receive 6 or so shrimp as an appetizer that he will cook up for you after the rice. I can’t even begin to describe the wonderful flavor of the appetizer as the sauce was incredibly unique and different from anything I’ve ever tasted. Our bill was $80 with tip and worth every penny. I’m going back with the boys next weekend and can’t wait to take them to Musashi’s for dinner.

After dinner we returned to the hotel and decided to hit the craps table (would be my first time playing live) for an hour before going to bed. The casino was all but dead when we arrived. I was hoping to find a $5 table in play but the lowest they had was $10 so I decided to go ahead and play for a little bit. On a side note, Terrell Owens was playing blackjack at the table next to the dice pit. Though I’m a life long Cowboys fan, I had no real interest in bugging him for an autograph or anything…and the bodyguard he had standing next to him further swayed my decision! Within 15 minutes at the table, Iâ€m up $150. I had set a “goal†that if I ever went up $200 that I’d walk away. Unfortunately, my fiancée had set one in her mind that if we got up $150 we’d walk away…she just never told me that. Furthermore, she was having fun rolling for me (I can’t roll dice to save my life w/o hitting chips and bouncing them off the table) and wasn’t aware of what I was up to. Long and short…we hung around for about an hour and ended up DOWN $150 instead of up. Ok…it’s 10PM Vegas time and we’ve got to get up about 5AM so off to bed.

One final glass of champagne while enjoying our view of the strip…and then we call it a night and another enjoyable to trip to Las Vegas…

 

Great trip report fella!!
We still have a few months to go before our trip but getting excited about it all the same.

What do you think our chances of an upgrade at the wynn would be with a $20 or a $50? gotta be worth a shot dont you think?

Lee

 

awesome! Thanks for the TR. Whats the difference in key cards between resort and tower side? Does it say "tower suites" on the keycard? Nice of you to check and post the prices offered for the higher end suites at MB, THEhotel, and Caesar's.. I had the T Suite at THEhotel recently when I was there and it was awesome!!! Also had the Media Suite at MB.. the Islander suite is really nice.. wouldn't have gone wrong with any of those choices but seems like you got a good room at Palms Place. Did you get the fireplace to work? I had considered a 1bdr at Palms Place b/c of the fireplace.. oh, PM you for the high res panoramic shot.

 

Nicely written TR. Thanks for posting. Too bad the 'Horns did not cover.

later, GVJ

 

If you're at Wynn I'd ask for a corner room on a high floor. It's a bit easier to get somebody to give you a Tower Suites room at encore as they literally just walk through a side door to get to the TS lobby. At Wynn it's probably a 5 minute walk r/t to go get you keys so they are very inclined NOT to do it. Well that...and I've never heard of somebody getting it before. Here's my suggestion if you're staying at Wynn...

check-in like normal and then once you get to your room, call down and ask for the Tower Suites front desk. Ask them if you can upgrade to a Tower Suite for your trip and how much the price is. If they can do it, they'll probably offer it to you for $50/night. Considering that this is a $100/night bump from a resort...it's more than worth it IMO. If they offer you more than $50 then I'd offer to split the difference or to do it for $50/night and see if that gets you anywhere. Hope that helps.

 

I stayed at Encore the same nights you did (ironically, I paid $159 for the 2nd and 3rd, but got the 4th (Sunday) free as part of an offer I received in the mail, which also included $150 in slot play). We experienced some of the same things you did - the couch isn't that comfortable, the TV swivels back towards the living room area (I think we used a shoe to keep it pointed towards the living room), the toilet room door is poorly designed (and has one of those toilet phones, which is absolutely disgusting to me!), our TV turned itself back on if using the power button on the TV (our remote worked though), and the slippers were too small for me. Also, our room key didn't work every time - sometimes we had to try 4-5 times to get into our room. Otherwise, our stay was absolutely amazing.

 

Excellent report! You've got me jonsing (sp?) to try Palms Place again. And thanks for posting rates on those suites. I'd like to do a no-reservation trip during a dead time to see what I can score. That rate on the Augustus 52 is pretty incredible:

http://www.caesarspalace.com/images/non_image_assets/CLV_Augustus_Tower_52_Suite_Room_Layout.pdf

 

So it seems they haven't worked all the bugs out of the rooms at Encore. The rates you quoted for Ceasars was that based on your players rating?

 

Yeah I REALLY REALLY wanted to go with the 52 suite but we had agreed we'd keep it around $200 if we moved elsewhere.

As far as the rates, my base rate was $77 through my players card and then casino services has a "mark up" rate for each suite that they place on top of that rate.

 

Nice report, after yours and JoeSchmo's PPlace report, I'm definitely thinking I might have to try it one night on a mid week stay. The views alone might be the best in town with the balcony. That really sucks on the offer, if I'm reading right, you had a 3 night comp offer, that they baited and switched once you got there? By requesting a charge for the third night. If that's the case, then I'll be advising everyone I know on it who's received the 3 night Encore offer, to be aware of the tactic, but maybe your issue was based on the room change.

 

The switch was because they said I wasn't supposed to have received the Sunday free in the first place. Also, we called to use my fiancee's offer (same thing) for this upcoming weekend (when she shows to have Saturday and Sunday free) and we were told that the offer was booked up. Also, she wouldn't be able to take advantage of the $200 slot credit and we'd be paying $179 or so per night. Screw em!

 

Nice trip report. Sounds like you had a good trip. I can't believe Encore changed your rates like that though, that just seems so wrong.

 

Very nice TR, thanks for posting!