I thought I would post a trip report about my Wynn offer experience this week. After doing the roulette trick a couple years ago for 2 free buffets I was unexpectedly offered 3 nights in a parlor suite, $1000 in free play and $200 per day in food & beverage.
We arrived around 7:00 PM on Monday and stopped at In n Out Burger for a quick bite. This is always our first stop since we don't have them in the midwest. Next was the outlet mall by the airport for the wife. We arrived at the Wynn and check in went quickly. My ears perked up when the agent said we were in the Tower Suites. We could have checked in at the exclusive Tower Suite area, but she was more than happy to check us in. My wife didn't know what Tower Suites meant, but I knew it was a good thing. I thought the parlor suite on our offer would be a slightly larger room in the regular area of Wynn. When I heard Tower Suite I was pretty excited. I asked some questions about the food and beverage and was given an excellent explanation saying that we could just sign our bill to the room at either Wynn or Encore, but we were responsible for gratuities out of our pocket. It wasn't necessarily a firm $200 per day, but $600 for the whole trip.
So off we went to our room. We are far from high rollers so when we opened the door to our room, we were pretty shocked. There was a small bathroom to the left, a wet bar and a marble entryway. This led to a desk in a very large family type room with a couch, two chairs and a large HD TV with Blu Ray player. I have read about the automatic curtains and lights so I hit the button to display our view of the pool, golf course and distant mountains. My wife gathered herself and started taking picture after picture with her camera phone. The bedroom was very large with more windows overlooking the golf course and then she really was excited seeing the bathroom, which was as large as the bedroom. Whirlpool tub, separate marble shower, 3 sinks and mirrors and a walk in closet with safe. We were just laughing at our good fortune while I was thinking my wife is ruined forever expecting Vegas to always be like this. Our luggage arrived and Wynn employees from the valet, front desk and bell stand completed the trifecta of a positive experience with everyone we had interaction with. He took the time to show us the features of the rooms and was very helpful.
The next morning we woke up way early due to the time change and walked around for awhile until the buffet opened. Charged the $43 buffet to the room, left a cash tip and then headed to the outlet mall with the wife for a few hours. Had lunch at Chicago Joe's downtown (another required stop on our Vegas trips). We had already bought tickets for Gregory Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre, which was enjoyable enough for a cheap 1 hour afternoon show. We're cat lovers so it was interesting to see how he could train them to do anything. We also liked the story that he rescues the "stars" from shelters. Got back to Wynn and I realized I better get some gambling in before they throw us out. I played the $1000 in Freeplay on a Jacks or Better and played it through to get $1050 including my first ever straight flush for $250. For those wondering I was going to go back to the roulette machine and hedge play it through, but freeplay was not allowed on that machine. It was then time for dinner so we ate at Red 8 at Wynn. It was very good, service was very good and another $80 charged to the room with a $16 gratuity charged to us. Earlier in the day we bought discount tickets for the 10:00 PM Absinthe show at Tix 4 Tonight for $60 apiece. This allowed us some time to gamble so I played some Jacks or Better and then a $1 slot machine and was up another $200 or so. I decided to play a $5 slot machine with that money to try and get some more play recognized. I found a machine that has the bar symbols with arrows that drop down or move up if they're pointing correctly. The machine also paid if you had 3 blanks. It's the little things that appeal to me I guess so I started playing. I rarely play slots and never played a $5 slot, but I figured I was playing with "house" money. That money must be lucky because I proceeded to win another $1000. My wife came down to head to the show while I was heading back up. She asked where I was going and I told her to make a "safe deposit".
We walked around the Forum Shoppes for a little while before the show and swiped for the Great Race promotion at Caesars. Played slots to each earn points on our card and went to the show. Fortunately we found out it was general admission so we got in line early and were about 15th from the front. I was expecting the inside to be pretty large under the tent, but it was tiny. We sat about 8 rows from the stage which was only a few rows from the back. We had perfect seats close to the exit, but the first row that was raised above the closer rows providing my vertically challenged wife with a clear view. The stage is about a 20 foot round table if that. I'm wondering how they are going to put on a show on such a small stage. 90 minutes later we agreed it was the best show we've ever seen in Vegas and that includes most of the Cirque shows, S&R, Lance Burton, etc. It was funny, raunchy (very raunchy at times), amazing acrobatics and death defying stunts. Being such a small venue made everyone feel they were right in the action. Just fantastic and I can't recommend it enough if you're not easily offended.
Wednesday started with room service for my wife. I'm on Weight Watchers (not easy in Vegas) so I ate her toast and she had the full breakfast. $31 on the room, $10 on us for service fee and gratuity. Great service yet again. We planned on driving to Laughlin to knock off our 3rd stop on the Great Race at Harrahs. Unique scenery for midwesterners and we arrived in about 90 minutes at Harrahs. Did our swipe, gambled briefly and had a 2 for 1 at the buffet from ACG. I thought the buffet was fine as I was Weight Watcher careful with what I chose. She was not impressed at all and thought it was one of the worst buffets she had. Service was very friendly, but the wife was very glad to leave Laughlin behind and was wondering if 15,000 TR points each was worth 4 hours of our "high roller" vacation. We got back to Wynn and checked Tix again for a show and didn't see anything that appealed. Being up a good amount of money, I would have sprung for Le Reve but it was dark. Peepshow was another we considered but it was also dark. My wife went solo to Fashon Show Mall and she told me to go churn some serious money. I decided to go back to the $5 slot that was good to me on Tuesday and in less than an hour it was even better to me. I put $200 in and all too quickly I was cashing $2000 out and making a trip to the "safe deposit" in the walk in closet. My wife came back from shopping and I told her she wouldn't believe it but we were up almost $3000 for the trip that didn't cost us anything with FF miles for the flight and the generous Wynn offer.
I'm not a foodie, but we thought we only had spent $155 of our $600 allotment so we decided to have a fancy dinner. I suggested she call the concierge and choose from SW, Country Club, Tableau (no dinner anymore) or another place. Concierge sold her on Botero at Encore. A quick check of reviews made it sound ok so off we went. I'm not a fine dining guy, but the service was highly professional yet friendly and engaging at the same time. I didn't feel intimidated and out of place like I was expecting. My wife ordered a Sangria, which was a departure from normalcy as I don't drink at all and she rarely drinks when we were out. She said it was phenomenal. We ordered with her choice of a wedge salad, petit filet with a 1/2 lobster tail added. I had the petit filet and we ordered Botero fries to share. The steaks came out perfect and were very good. There wasn't much sharing of the fries as my wife was pretty full from salad, steak and lobster while working on her second Sangria. I know it's just french fries but they were really good and the homemade ketchup concoction was to die for. If I was in my room with room service I might have licked the container. As it was I didn't leave much in there. No room for dessert as I wanted to hit Luv It Frozen Custard at some point on the trip. As we were coming to expect, the service was flawless by several more Wynn employees. Dinner bill was $195 charged to the room and $40 charged to us. As we were walking out, my wife stopped to tell the bartender how great the Sangria was. What happened next was over the top. He offered to share the recipe and spent some time telling her how to make it while writing down the ingredients. I just couldn't believe how friendly and not stuffy they were being. As he headed back to making drinks, I gave my wife some money to leave him and we thanked him again. I wish I caught his name because I would write a letter or send an email to compliment his great service and thoughtfulness.
We had to run to the Imperial Palace to get something for our son. If you want to talk about 180 degrees on the Vegas spectrum, yikes is all I have to say about the IP. I finally made it to Luv It and while they didn't have very many flavors on offer, I opted for 2 scoops of vanilla. Pretty good but we have frozen custard around my area that is better. We returned to Wynn and my wife was determined to gamble away a lot of the winnings in the slim hope we're ever invited back for even a regular room at a discounted rate. I ran to the sportsbook to check some football lines and by the time I got back to her she managed to be up $500 on a $1 slot machine. It was just getting ridiculous. We were almost trying to lose back some of the money and couldn't. I told her she should try my $5 machine so off we went. She gave back about a $100 while churning back and forth before hitting for $1000. She was now up $1400 and I told her she should stop and pocket the money for herself for future shopping. She felt she was playing with found money and proceeded to give it all back losing the last $200 on a Wheel of Fortune progressive without even getting to spin once. She looked at it as losing $100 but racking up some good play for hopefully future offers. I looked at it as losing $1400. I burned through $200 on the $5 machine that had obviously grown tired of paying out. We then returned to our great suite for our last night in high roller paradise.
We had to leave around 10:00 AM for the airport so while she was getting ready, I went to make a few sports bets for friends and to buy a $5 future wager for my freshman daughter and her roommate at U of Arkansas. I played $200 for break even at Jacks or Better and then headed back to the $5 slot for one last gasp and lost the $200. At the Tower Suite lobby, I inquired whether there should have been the internet charge on my bill and they promptly took it off. Our bill amounted to $66 in tips for the three nights at Wynn. We spent about $350 of the $600 allowed for food and beverage. Every single employee we encountered were beyond excellent. The agent at the front desk that fixed my bill was very professional and absolutely beautiful. Cocktail service was offered repeatedly while I was gambling but as I mentioned it's lost on me as I don't drink, but it was still nice to see how friendly and available they were. The combination of professionalism, talent, friendliness and beauty is just unmatched anywhere I've ever stayed.
I know I didn't gamble enough to warrant this treatment, but I hope this glowing trip report in some way gives something back to the Wynn and encourages others to stay and gamble there. It is a fantastic place that gave two average Joe low rollers the trip of a lifetime that we will never forget. My wife is now ruined forever as her expectations for Vegas have seen what the zenith offers and the view was pretty remarkable. Thank you Steve Wynn and all your staff we encountered. We'll never forget you and hope to achieve the status needed to pay our way for a future visit. And apologies go out to the Bellagio and the St Regis in Rome, Italy as the two hotels that battled for the title of best place we ever stayed having been surpassed by the sheer brilliance of Wynn Resorts.
