An Adventure, Celebration and Exploration in Vegas, Fall 2020

I love traveling other places but Vegas in the past two or three years especially has become my default go-to vacation destination, and I attribute about 90% of that to Wynncore. I clearly LOVE Vegas , but when not there I work pretty intensely at what I do and often desire a mental break and relaxing vacation, which I know I can get once I am in the Wynncore womb. And it is just so easy -- Wynncore and my host are no fools (lol) -- to just decide when I want to go, book a flight, give my host the dates and then I am all set and can spend the coming weeks and months doing the planning -- depending on the kind of Vegas vacay I want -- from (now on!!) Master Classes to outdoor activity and concerts when they return, on top of trying to win some money.

For the typical shorter trip I would love to have just a shorter version of the trip that just ended. My usual trips are heavy on gambling, spa, food and especially shows. I have had 4 or 5 day trips when I went to a different show almost every night.

Maybe instead of the Grand Canyon I would hit Red Rock and/or Mt. Charleston, which were on my To Do list but I didn't make it this trip.

But I love seeing the world and much more of our country too, so in the past three years I have had two bucket list trips to the African continent (one high end and the other at the other extreme, but both extraordinary) and two cruises, one to Alaska with my mother and my second ever to the Western Carribean solo this past February.

On the list I hope in the next 2 or 3 years is another trip to a different country or region in Africa, Vietnam and Thailand or maybe back to China, where I visited almost 20 years ago. And I want to do a long Southeastern US civil rights, food, music, culture two- week driving tour.

Vegas, for the foreseeable future, will continue to be my mainstay as I can decompress there almost immediately but I would love to mix it up with a trip elsewhere once a year (still keeping at least a couple of shorter Vegas trips), if I am so fortunate.

And yes, I use every bit of vacation and personal time I have.

Edited to add: And yes, IMO planning, especially in the Covid environment, is key. There is a lot still going on in Vegas and unless you do some advanced research and planning you can be there and miss an opportunity to do something special about which you might not have been aware. It's one of the reasons why I love this board and try and contribute to it with TRs and financially as well.

 

Finally caught back up. This report had everything! Thank you so much for taking all the time and effort to put it up for us!

And Wynn has 8/5 DDB UX for nickels? Pleasantly surprised by that! And congrats on the 8X royal! Is that the most credits you've hit on one hand? Hopefully it will come on dollars next time!

 

Yes, I have won more credits when I was DEALT Aces playing five play dollars in TDB 2 years ago (ah, the memories of my biggest handpay ever ❤❤❤) but the 32,000 credits I believe was the single largest number of credits I have gotten in one hand. Only thing better would have been 10 or 12x the royal!

And good to know that you think that the nickel play at Wynn isn't bad, relatively speaking.

 

Thank you so much for this TR, Flowers! I rarely enjoy live TRs but i certainly enjoyed yours! I'm so glad you had such a great time!

 

Thank you for taking the time to detail your trip for us. I have thoroughly enjoyed your trip report and added several new places to my "must try" list. You have a terrific way of experiencing Vegas and I am grateful that you allowed us all to go along for the ride.

 

WOW - What a great report thank you for sharing.

 

Loved your report and all of your adventures. So fun to read and follow along. Sadly, it seems as though Encore is making changes to their operations. https://www.fox5vegas.com/coronavirus/encore-at-wynn-las-vegas-changes-hours-of-operation-due-to-low-visitation/article_5603c448-0d77-11eb-8ea3-f7073e62088a.html

 

Great report, great trip! I enjoyed every minute. Thank you for sharing!

 

I just heard! Wow. Another VMBer said to me privately that they decided to close down during the week after I departed. Lol.

Seriously though, I get it; it's a business but I hope the employees on the Encore side will be okay.

I am back in full work mode but couldn't sleep last night being back on East Coast time so, what did I do? I confirmed my plans for a Thanksgiving week trip. My host said there are no planned events or tournaments for late November but he got approval for a substantial amount of free credit, which is like my winning a decent prize at a tournament anyway.

I am thinking Encore might be open the Monday through Thursday of Thanksgiving week. Otherwise, I guess I will be staying in the Wynn Tower Suites for the first time! I stayed in a regular Wynn room once, years ago, but never in the Wynn Tower Suites.

 

Still recovering from the trip (but with amazing memories that I am still processing) and at work but taking a quick afternoon break to share some information.

I wanted to loop back on this as discussion about back end comps often comes up. Urth Cafe, La Cave, Elio and Cipriani are definitely not part of RFB. I also thought they would never be comped on the back end. I've never had La Cave comped on the back end before and assumed both my La Cave and Elio meals would be on my bill at check out. But I played so much (and lost a pretty penny) that my host comped those restaurant charges as well. I also had another massage my last full day and all of my spa and salon charges for the trip were comped on the back end, which has been the norm for me for the past couple of years but IS unusual -- I believe rare -- for Wynncore.

When I checked out Sunday night after close to 17 days, my bill was $400 and some change, all tips (I tip mostly in cash) and a little bit of retail for things like sunblock and bobby pins and a hair care product. I assigned a large "value" to what I experienced and so while I am not thrilled with my losses, I'm not down about it it all (which may seem a little scary).

Also, Wynncore for the past year or so has automatically added a 20 or 21% tip to any spa or salon treatment. I believe 17% of that goes to the therapist and the rest to the spa staff, like the attendants (who I also tipped in cash/whomever was helping me with my locker, grabbing juice, making sure I was up from the lounge chair for my appointment, etc.) So although tips are typically never comped on the back end, when my spa treatments get comped, the tip that is added winds up getting comped as well. I actually mentioned this to my host the last time as an FYI but it hasn't changed and I'm not complianing.

But, I also tip my therapist separately in cash, basically another 20%. I usually added a hefty cash tip pre-pandemic but usually not another full 20 or 25 percent. I decided in advance I would do that before this trip given how fortunate I have been -- my paychecks have never missed a beat throughout this pandemic (insert many praying hands here) -- and I know it has been tough on some of the employees who are not yet back full time, like spa therapists.

Passing along this info FWIW. Basically, if you are a whale (I am not) or lose a fair amount to a lot (which I did), just about anything can be comped. I'm sure some whales pay for NOTHING, except tips.

 

@Flowers this is great info regarding the restaurants that are not covered under RFB , but can possibly be comped off the back end.

Thank you for this information and the excellent trip report. I arrive at The Wynn Tower Suites tomorrow for the weekend and I am coming in with RFB.

Thanks again,

Mr. Elite

 

Wishing you a fantastic trip! If you don't mind let us know how the order of flowers goes!!!!

 

Will do, thank you again for the recommendation! I am looking forward to the weekend , the floral department said they will deliver the arrangement while we are at dinner tomorrow. Said they could not place it into the room until I have checked in.

 

You're welcome! That will be nice for your wife to see/smell the flowers post dinner.

 

I totally agree! I can’t wait to arrive!

 

Are we sure about this? My Elio bill was comped and I'm a lower level player than @Flowers. Well, to be fair, they didn't comp my tasting experience (separate charge), but the food was covered.

 

Ugh this is my biggest regret. I wanted to tip extra but they didn't give me the slips to sign. So my therapists just got the standard %. I'll have to bring cash next time for each one of them .. Seriously and top notch therapists at that property

 

Things may have changed but yes, I heard it is not covered by RFB but I guess that doesn't mean it can't be comped on the back end!!

 

Don't stress about it. The first time I had a treatment post the new policy I did the same thing. You can do something extra special next time!

 

@Flowers My girlfriend really enjoyed the flowers ! Wynn did a great job !