Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

luci

September

adampeek wrote: »

I am going on my honeymoon next July to Vegas. We are booked in to the Wynn - Encore. Does anyone have any experiences with this hotel?

Also, I am considering upgrading our flights and room - would it be worth doing? It will cost £750 each to upgrade the outbound leg of our flight to Virgins Upper Class. Has anyone been on this? Worth the extra?
Is it worth waiting until I arrive to upgrade our room?

Thanks in advance

The Encore has the comfiest beds of all the hotels we've stayed at in Vegas, and that includes the Four Seasons, Bellagio, Palazzo, Caesars, etc. Some of those hotels have had really comfy beds, like sleeping on a cloud, but the Encore was even more so.

I wouldn't worry about upgrading as the hotel is only 12 months old and the regular rooms are pure luxury.

You can read my review HERE

The only slight niggle I would have about the Encore is that it is quite far north. However we are going back again in May before moving elsewhere on the strip.

duchy

August

I rather enjoyed staying North of the Strip and walking down-was a decent walk but very do-able. No walking this trip -it's a flying visit literally so I'm back at the Flamingo tomorrow. Just had an email from MintMan (bod on another forum who helped me out with a free room another trip)arranging the Smint pick up and warning me the winter storms are heading for Vegas.
Think I may need to check in mega early in case there are bumps to be had at Heathrow tomorrow.

stoneman

September

adampeek wrote: »

I am going on my honeymoon next July to Vegas. We are booked in to the Wynn - Encore. Does anyone have any experiences with this hotel?

Also, I am considering upgrading our flights and room - would it be worth doing? It will cost £750 each to upgrade the outbound leg of our flight to Virgins Upper Class. Has anyone been on this? Worth the extra?
Is it worth waiting until I arrive to upgrade our room?

Thanks in advance

Not worth upgrading the room IMHO. As ferf says just a higher version of faboulous which you have nothing to compare to. Upper on VS is only really worth it if flying from LHR and doing a hop from SFO. you get the clubhouse in London and the one in SanFran. Some have said that because there are only 14 upper suites on the Vegas flight they get better service, but the thing is all about the whole experience and LGW is a dump at the best of times.

pennylane99

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

duchy wrote: »

I rather enjoyed staying North of the Strip and walking down-was a decent walk but very do-able. No walking this trip -it's a flying visit literally so I'm back at the Flamingo tomorrow. Just had an email from MintMan (bod on another forum who helped me out with a free room another trip)arranging the Smint pick up and warning me the winter storms are heading for Vegas.
Think I may need to check in mega early in case there are bumps to be had at Heathrow tomorrow.

I'm at McCarran at the moment, its raining, cold, very dark and grey outside. Looks like the winter storm on its way

neilbond007

pennylane99 wrote: »

I'm at McCarran at the moment, its raining, cold, very dark and grey outside. Looks like the winter storm on its way

Flew from CVG to LAX this morning. Never saw the ground from going through the clouds at CVG to landing at LAX! Normally it's 2000 miles of clear skies!
LA got dumped on last night / this morning.

Was in Vegas 2 weeks ago. Temperatures were mid 60's. Very nice in the sun. Needed a fleece in the shade.
I 1000% prefer it when it's 110F too....
Stopped at the Strat. Used $20 trick and got a Jacuzzi room.
Ate at Bellagio buffet (superb), Mirage buffet (distinctly average), Main Street Station Brunch (Excellent)
Also Pampas Brazillian in the Desert Passage shops. Got a 2-for-1 so worked out excellent value ($43 for 2).

bobbyo

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

ferf1223 wrote: »

we always make 2 bookings as it works out cheaper for us at HET to book part on my account and part on my husband's - with HET properties you can email them beforehand and link them. The only thing to remember is if you're going to use TR credits to pay for part of the room or anything charged to it (like internet access, etc) to do it before the end of the first booking as they will actually check you out of the room and back into the room on the designated day - so the first account will be settled at that point and so only the 2nd booking will be open when you check out.

But if using an offer with extras included, I'm not sure if asking to link them beforehand might result in loss of the extras for the 2nd booking or not as we've not tried that.

I have a similar situation.

Heading to the MGM Grand on 24 Dec - 3 nights booked in a Celebrity Spa Suite (£200 on lastminute for 24,25,26 Dec)

Added the 4th night (27th) for $112 direct with MGM, and expect $50 credit plus drinks & 241 spa passes.

Whilst, I doubt there will be a requirement to shift rooms mid stay, should I leave it till check in to mention it, or, email them in advance?

Also, the resort credits I have (technically for 27th) will I be only able to use them on 27/28th or will I be issued with thenm on check in?

Any advice / opinion appreciated.

Then heading to Luxor for 3 nights for $198 (3rd & most expensive night was free)

adampeek

July

Thanks for all your comments/tips. Nice to know that the Encore has such good reviews.

nvh

hey all!

me again!

ferf - Thanks for trip report, enjoyed reading it... just quickly - you mentioned the Heathrow Express, how was it? is it a struggle with luggage? contemplating it next time round to avoid parking charges

Goldfish 2 as well eh!? - sounds like we have a new machine to watch out for!!!
i worried when i read this part of your last paragraph...

Overall, we took a bath this trip – the slots were not kind. Some days felt a bit weird to both of us – like, just not as special as before..just sort of over it?

thought you were going to say you were going to have a 'rest' from Vegas!


Trets - thanks for the heads-up there may be fight on in September - quickly booked a hotel (which i think i will cancel regardless as may have found better
offer already!)


Luci / Stoneman / DavidMcg2u- cheers for talking about CityAndShow, can't believe i've missed out on these guys!!! Gonna hold off booking just yet, but can get a MGM Sig - Junior Suite for £68 a night (cheaper than celebrity spa suite)... shame 4 Seasons isn't on there for the dates we want (if at all!)



(btw, if someone does spot when the fight gets confirmed, can you please post? ta!)

luci

September

bobbyo wrote: »

Whilst, I doubt there will be a requirement to shift rooms mid stay, should I leave it till check in to mention it, or, email them in advance?

Also, the resort credits I have (technically for 27th) will I be only able to use them on 27/28th or will I be issued with thenm on check in?

No point emailing them IMO, even if you could find an email address. These hotels deal with thousands of guests a day and I don't think they would have a system of keeping track of email requests. It's not like emailing a Spanish hotel with less than a hundred rooms.

I would wait till check in and then ask for the bookings to be linked. You should be able to get the resort credits at check in.

stoneman

September

ferf1223 wrote: »

Finally got around to our TR if anyone is interested - it's quite long (as normal) and probably rather boring, but hey.

http://www.slotgolf.com/vegas/tripreportsept2009.doc

I'm going to also paste it in at Vegas Trip Reports but haven't gotten that far yet.

ferf, loved the TR. Must say that I empathised with your view of being "over it". If you remember earlier when we came back from our last trip I said the same thing, this was despite staying at the fabulous Four Seasons. Maybe it was the mess that Vegas is in at the moment, unfinished City Centre, derelict building sites, !!!!!! slappers everywhere, dust from the building works, road works absolutely everywhere, and service just going down the tubes. We have been going 3-4 times a year for the past 6 years and never felt so uninterested in going back again after September. Our next trip isn't until May so hopefully mid strip will be cleaned up by then. unless something comes up like a nice £300 air flight we are resisting it till May. Even going to Florida in January because the cold in Vegas ruins the enjoyment for Tracy getting dolled up in the evenings.