Attended a business conference November 13-16 for three days at Encore. Must say the top notch reviews about service are right on and my room was spacious, neatly arranged, beige-colored, comfortable and equipped with up to date gadgets. Toiletries were top of the line and bathroom in general equaled in overall quality as well. My room situated on the 34th floor faced due south, with thw big Wynn sign staring at me every time I gazed at the sights. Did not hear any disco music the nights I stayed.
Gaming: Encore casino is boring, slow, smells like cigar smoke and has no gaming appeal for me. The Wynn casino had more people and had more gaming choices, thus spent my hours gaming in this establishment. Cocktail waitresses were ever present and eager to serve refreshments at all times of the day and night. Did not see many hookers, but they scooted around in the late hours. The clientele was well behaved, 30s-70s, basically 180 degrees different from the Cosmo crowd I encountered in a recent stay back in late
September.
The most interesting part of the conference was the chance to go on a back office tour of the hotel. We did not get to see the security room or the count room, but the hour tour provided a glimpse of what it takes to run a five star hotel. The Wynn/Encore hotel manager personally conducted the walking tour where we glided through various aspects of the 65,000 square foot warehouse, saw cold storage items, frozen foods, general provisions, two forty foot long lobster tanks, wine cellar, the floral department, butcher shop, the bakery, the chocolate/pastry room and the employee/room service kitchen and dining facilities.
Here are some tidbits and other observations;
Wine cellar/storage: 3500 labels of wine. Beer is stored cold.
General/cold storage: 817,000 rolls of toilet paper are used annually, patrons drank 47,171 bottles of Gray Goose last year, the property sells a $10,000 drink comprised of expensive champagne and expensive cognac.
Hundreds of tables ready to be deployed along with thousands of chairs. Employees are constantly refilling, replenishing every itme imaginable 24 hours a day.
Butcher/Bakery/Pastry/Floral: One ton of beef is processe daily; 50, 50 pound bags of flour are used soley by the bakery per day; all bread is made fresh daily. 220 tons of chocolate is processed annually by the pastry group and they were already designing and making Christmas arrangements. 100 weddings are planned for 12/12/12 in the Wynn and Encore and easily over half of these will require cakes. These wedding cakes were being prepared as well. Seventy full time florists maintain the flora throughout the property. The flower balls hanging in the gargen required four people working 1200 manhours to finish, and job well done. Just a funny fact, the property buys three types of "healthy-good bugs" to help control the bad ones. They are released inside and outside.
Employee dining/Room Service/Other: The serving/dining area is quite expansive and easily could qualify for a moderate buffet on the Strip or downtown. Over 12,000 employees are required to run the two properties and over 9500 show up daily for work. Each employee has one hour for dining and can eat that one meal free.
Room Sevice: If you order Eggs Benedict, it must be served no later than five minutes after cooking and bellmen must deliver within that time period. There are four elevators per property dedicated to ensuring all meals are delivered on time. Employee uniforms have micorchips embedded in the seams and no one can walk out with clothing. There are four main employee entrance areas and all must be signed in electronically. It was a great tour.
Did not break the casino, but held my own. Also did not dine in any restaurants but we enjoyed receptions at Xs and Surrender. The food proved very edible and the sliders were exquisite. Saw Le Reve on my last trip. Worth the price of admission and your seats are right near the action.
Liked the property immensely. Felt really safe. Keys are checked every time you board an elevator. Hope I get some offers as I would love to bring the wife and then play the golf course just in back of the hotels.
BCFahren
