- Hotel Website: Encore at Wynn Las Vegas
- Location: Google Maps
- Book: Check availability
- Room: Grand Teton Suite – One king bed, Living area, marble bathroom, gas fireplace, spa soaking tub
- Review Score: Results of our review
- Hotel Fact: Encore Las Vegas opened on December 22, 2008 — and Steve Wynn kicked off gambling by playing a recording of Frank Sinatra’s “Luck Be a Lady Tonight” over the microphone. It holds both a Forbes Five Star and AAA Five Diamond rating — though our stay suggested those awards reflect the best rooms and experiences rather than the full property consistently.
Other Local Luxury Resorts
- Casa Playa restaurant – Coastal Mexican cuisine from a James Beard finalist chef. The best dining experience at Encore — and one of the better restaurants on the Strip.
- Encore Beach Club – The best day club in Las Vegas. Fifteen years of attendance confirms it — no contest. Close proximity to the DJ sets it apart from every competitor.
- iPad + Alexa room controls – The only hotel we’ve stayed in that uses an Amazon Alexa for room controls — lighting, TV, and more by voice command. Genuinely useful.
- XS Pool (21+) – The larger adult-only pool has good energy, a swim-up bar, and attentive service. Skip the small café pool entirely.
- Early check-in possible – Pre-check-in by phone the day before unlocked an 11 AM room ready notification. Rare for Vegas — and genuinely appreciated.
- Quieter than the Wynn – If you want the Wynn complex without the full energy, Encore is the calmer side. Smaller casino, quieter lobby, less hustle.
- Active renovation underway — lower floors (5th and 6th) are being gutted. Rooms, walls, furniture, and decor are all being replaced. Expect a different experience post-renovation.
- Check-in is via kiosk — scan your license, get your keys. No front desk interaction. Useful for speed, but removes any upgrade conversation.
- Bag drop is outside at valet, not inside the lobby. Easy to miss on arrival if you walk straight through the front door.
- Restaurant reservations fill quickly — but calling from your room phone tends to unlock more availability than booking externally online.
- Booking through Classic Travel via The Luxury Travel Atlas unlocks Preferred Platinum benefits — credits and discounts especially valuable for non-gamblers.
- Encore and Wynn are fully connected — all restaurants, pools, and shopping across both properties are accessible to guests of either hotel.
- Every room access route passes through the lobby bar — unavoidable. A minor inconvenience in the morning when the lobby bar isn’t worth looking at.
- Encore shopping is boutique-level only. For Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Dior, walk next door to the Wynn Esplanade.
🕛 24‑hour room service
🍸 Bar
⛳ Golf
🏋️ Gym
🚗 House car
🏢 Meeting rooms
🏊 Outdoor pool
🍽️ Restaurants
🔥 Sauna
💆 Spa
The Luxe Atlas Rating
Design: 8.5/10
Vibe: 8/10
Romantic: 7/10
Air Conditioning: 8.5/10
Room: 8.6/10
Food: 8/10
Location: 8.7/10
Gym/Fitness: 9/10
Cleanliness: 10/10
Wow Factor: 8.5/10
Overall Experience: 8.84/10
Encore Las Vegas Review: An Honest Take on Another Strip "Luxury" Hotel
Las Vegas has a way of making you think everything feel more luxurious than it actually is. The lights, the energy, the scale of it all — it’s designed to blur the line between what’s genuinely great and what’s just expensive. After 15 years visiting Vegas four or five times a year and staying at most of the serious properties on the Strip, I finally checked off the one that had remained on the list: Encore Las Vegas.
The short version: Encore is an excellent Vegas hotel. Personally, it is not an ultra-luxury hotel in the way that word tends to get used. At its price point and with the right room type, it delivers an excellent, well-run, visually impressive stay — but guests expecting the depth of the Four Seasons or the polish of the Waldorf Astoria will find it falls short in several areas.
This review covers all of it honestly, including the newly announced renovations, the food (some excellent, some genuinely bad), the pools, Encore Beach Club, and exactly how it stacks up against the Wynn next door.
Checking In — Kiosks, Luggage Confusion & the 58th Floor Surprise
Our arrival at Encore didn’t go as one might expect when pulling up and whipping out 4 large suitcases. We pulled up around 10:30AM on a quiet Wednesday and nobody approached the car to greet us or help with luggage. Valet was present, just passive, more or less helping others or busy doing other things. The valet wasn’t busy with cars, it was just limited staff and simple valet commotion going on.
We ended up pulling out our own bags and carrying all four roller bags + two duffle bags through the front door. Even worse, one valet pushed the handicapped button to auto-open the doors vs offering to help. Once inside, we realized the bag drop was actually back outside at the valet — oops. It was a step clearly marked by a small sign we clearly hadn’t stopped to read. It’s a minor friction point that valet didn’t participate in our arrival, but at a hotel that carries five-star designations, it’s the kind of thing you’d expect.
Check-in is now handled via small kiosks — scan your QR code once its texted to you that check-in is ready, scan your license, collect your keys. No front desk interaction needed. It’s fast and efficient, but it removes any possibility of an upgrade conversation, which traditionally happens at the counter. Granted, I could have went to the desk and still chatted with someone, but in this moment I didn’t care much and moved on. We got our room number and headed up.
We thought our keys were assigned to the 5th floor, but nothing worked in the elevator when pressing 5. After a few attempts and a conversation with security, it turned out we were actually on the 58th floor (5831) — yay!! Way better than the 5th floor.
The correction came with a pleasant surprise: the view from the 58th floor over the Strip is genuinely excellent. We did not get a formal room upgrade, but an early check-in at 11 AM and no rush on check-out were both appreciated. I imagine the 58th floor was due to our booking through Classic Travel and being a Preferred Platinum booking.
Encore Las Vegas Room Review — Comfortable, Sleek, and Currently Being Renovated
The rooms are starting to be renovated — and that context matters. The bellman mentioned on arrival that floors 5 and 6 are being completely gutted: walls, wallpaper, furniture, all of it. What exists now will be replaced within the year. It’s worth knowing for your future travels.
With that said, the room didn’t feel dated in a way that bothered us, we actually thought it was beautiful. It’s a standard king with a sitting area separated from the bedroom by a partial divider — a layout that works for a weekend but feels tight on a 12-day stay.
We were short on luggage racks (only came with one) and space for four roller bags, and the bedside tables were crowded enough with lamps and tech that the pull-out shelf became the most functional surface in the room for phones and chargers.
Another unique add, which reminds me of a miniature Venetian, was that they had a split between the bedroom and the living room area. So pass the bedroom, you wind up there in the sitting area. One odd thing was the large couch had no pillows on it — super weird for a luxury property. Maybe that was kind of a health/clean thing to make sure that people don’t have nasty ass pillows sitting on the couch, but it did take away from the relaxation feel of sitting on a couch.
They did have a nice size little desk that you could sit on both sides of, which was nice if you wanted to sit down and play cards with someone or work on your laptop with someone across from you.
There was one television in the room and it flipped 180° so whether you’re sitting in bed or you’re sitting on the couch, you have the ability to watch television. This was a nice touch because usually most hotels will just put two televisions in the room — well now that I’m thinking about it I don’t know if that was a good or a bad thing because if you’re someone’s trying to watch TV in the bed, then you’re screwed to watch too if you are sitting in the living room/desk area working.
Bathroom
Standup shower and Jacuzzi tub — standard for Vegas at this level. Well-maintained and functional, if not design-forward. Le Labo-style toiletries throughout. Its a great setup, way more up to date then the W Las Vegas around the corner.
Rotating TV
A single TV that rotates 180° between the bedroom and the sitting area. Clever on paper — but if two people want to watch from different areas simultaneously, it’s a limitation.
iPad + Alexa Controls
Full room automation via iPad — lights, shades, temperature, TV. Plus an Amazon Alexa dot for voice control. You can set lights to exactly 20%, 50%, or 80% by voice. The only hotel we’ve stayed in that uses Alexa. Genuinely useful — unplug it if you have privacy concerns.
Minibar
Pre-stocked for purchase only — no space for personal items. 500ml Whispering Angel was priced at $40 (vs $15 retail). Steep, but still better than what the Ritz-Carlton Maldives charges.
- If you’re staying more than a few nights or traveling with significant luggage, book a larger room type. The standard king is optimized for a two-night stay. We would book a suite next time — that’s on us for not planning ahead.
Encore Las Vegas Restaurants — Many Greats, One Skip, and Everything In Between
The food at Encore at Wynn are a mixed experience. The range runs from genuinely one of the best meals on the Strip to some of the most disappointing cooking we’ve had for the price. Here’s the full breakdown with hours.
Casa Playa
Sun–Thu: 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM · Fri–Sat: 5:00 PM – 10:30 PM · Late Night Thu–Sun from 11 PM
By far the best restaurant at Encore. Coastal Mexican cuisine helmed by James Beard finalist Chef Sarah Thompson — sustainably sourced seafood from Mexico’s Pacific coastline, house-made corn tortillas, a mezcal and tequila program overseen by a dedicated agave expert, and cocktails from one of the top mixologists in Las Vegas.
We let the server order for us and it was the right call. The sushi and fish plates were outstanding — unexpected for a Mexican concept. The design and atmosphere are equally strong. Reservations are strongly recommended; call from your room phone for better availability than booking online.
Sinatra
The most disappointing experience I’ve had in 50 trips to Las Vegas. The setting is genuinely beautiful — cream banquettes, chandeliers, Sinatra memorabilia throughout, and the only restaurant formally endorsed by the Sinatra family. Executive Chef Theo Schoenegger has the right credentials: he cooked for Sinatra himself in New York decades ago. The problem is execution versus price. A bottle of Alpha Omega Proprietary Red was listed at $400 — a wine that retails for around $110 — I think even my friends at Alpha Omega would be laughing.
The Caprese had excellent buffalo mozzarella but tasteless tomatoes that belonged in an Aldi grocery store, not a fine dining room. The penne with red sauce at $45 was flavorless in a way that would embarrass a home cook. The veal at $95 came with no sides, as expected. I asked for olive oil for the cold bread and they literally gave us a BOWL with oil in it! Lol. Wth?
When we raised our concerns, the manager offered a free dessert — missing the point entirely that we didn’t like their food — and eventually comped the ravioli, the one dish we had no complaints about! The Forbes Four Star rating on the wall and the quality on the plate did not match the evening we experienced.
Sun–Thu: 11:30 AM – 11:00 PM · Fri–Sat: 11:30 AM – 11:30 PM
Encore’s Asian restaurant offering Cantonese noodles, Hong Kong-style barbecue, and dishes from Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea. Open for lunch and late into the evening — a solid option when the other restaurants are fully booked. We didn’t eat here on this visit but it has a reliable reputation across the complex.
All hours · Near main entrance/Check-in
The bar has no particular identity and the design doesn’t create any warmth or pull. Service was good when we stopped in — the staff are professional regardless of the setting. But the atmosphere is flat by Las Vegas standards and the placement means you walk past it every single time you go to or from your room, which gets old on a long stay. Fine for a nightcap, nothing more.
- Call dining from your room to make restaurant reservations. Encore holds back a significant portion of tables for on-property guests, and the in-house reservation line tends to show availability that external booking platforms don’t.
Encore Las Vegas Pool Guide — One Worth Your Time, One Kind of Dated
Pool service is consistently attentive at the pools — staff circulate regularly for drink orders. The food here (chicken tenders, quesadillas) is the same menu as Encore Beach Club and has been reliable for years. Pool drink costs are expensive but worth the nice vibe of being day drunk.
XS Pool — 21+ Adults Only
The larger “European” pool doubles as XS Nightclub in the evenings. Music runs louder here, lily pad rentals, and attentive pool service throughout. The better choice by a significant margin. Get here early for a good spot. You can also gamble here if you are interested.
21+
Resorts Pool (All Ages)
The smaller pool adjacent to the lobby café. Dated, under-invested, and not showing its age. Skip this and walk to the XS pool instead if you do not want to be around families. This pool is in desperate need of renovations that the rooms are currently getting.
Things to Consider
Family pool
Awakening at Wynn Las Vegas, A Must See
We absolutely loved Awakening at the Wynn—it was one of the highlights of our trip. The production is visually stunning, with unique costumes, immersive lighting, and a stage that constantly transforms in unexpected ways is a bit mind blowing. The special effects and music really pull you into the story, even without much dialogue.
The performers are extremely talented, and the choreography, combined with acrobatics and technology, creates a unique experience.
We didn’t pick front row seats, but that might have played off better. Being a bit further back allowed you to take in the entire show without much head movement.
It feels modern, artistic, and very different from traditional shows. Overall, it’s a must-see if you’re looking for something fresh, creative, and visually spectacular.
Encore Beach Club — Still the Best Day Club in Las Vegas
Fifteen years of going to Encore Beach Club, and that opinion hasn’t changed. It is the best day club in Las Vegas — not by a small margin. The critical difference from every other club in the city is proximity to the DJ. At a festival or a traditional nightclub, you’re far from the stage. At Encore Beach Club, you can walk directly to the front of the booth and stand close enough that the DJ can wave back. That physical connection to the music changes the entire experience.
The food at the Beach Club runs the same menu as the pool — chicken tenders and quesadillas have been consistent favorites for years and remain exactly what they should be. The club functions as both a daytime pool event and an evening venue, and both configurations work. If you’re in Las Vegas and this isn’t on your itinerary, it should be.
Encore Las Vegas vs. Wynn Las Vegas — Which Should You Book?
The two properties are fully connected and share all amenities. Guests at either hotel can access all restaurants, pools, shopping, and entertainment across the complex. In practical terms, staying at Encore gives you full access to everything the Wynn has, in a quieter base. That’s a reasonable trade for the right guest.
Encore
Quieter, more compact, lower energy. Smaller casino floor, smaller sportsbook, boutique-level shopping. Better suited for guests who want the Wynn complex without the full volume. Encore Beach Club is the draw.
Wynn
Larger, more polished, more energy. Full luxury shopping (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior), better dining options, the full casino experience. More visually impressive common areas. Worth walking to from Encore regardless of where you’re staying.
How We Booked — Preferred Platinum via Classic Travel
We booked through Classic Travel via The Luxury Travel Atlas under Preferred Platinum status. For a Las Vegas hotel where the traditional comp system is built around gambling spend, having booking-based perks as a non-gambler is a genuine advantage.
Preferred Platinum delivered credits and discounts that would otherwise require significant table or slot play to access. If you don’t gamble, this is one of the few booking programs that actually delivers value in Vegas.
Special Note from Encore at Wynn
Dear Mr. Patrick,
We are delighted that you have chosen to stay with us.
As a participant of the Preferred Platinum program, we are pleased to provide you with a $60 Daily Breakfast credit per day valid for Caffe Al Teatro, Espresso, Terrace Point Cafe, Tableau, Casa Playa and the Buffet, as well as a $50 credit per stay for use at The Spa or The Salon at Wynn.
You will also receive a $50 Food and Beverage CREDIT valid toward items charged to your room at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore during your stay excluding all room and room tax, La Cave, Cipriani, Urth Caffe, retail items, casino play, resort fee, gratuities, Encore Beach Club and Surrender Nightclub.
Simply charge the entrees and spa services to your room and we will take care of the rest, noting that any gratuities are at your discretion. Should you decide to enjoy other offerings at Wynn and Encore, any related charges will appear on your bill at check-out.
We hope you will take some time to explore all that our resorts have to offer, including specialty stores and boutiques featuring world-renowned designers, our award-winning spas and salons, 21 distinctive restaurants, three exclusive nightclubs and so much more.
We are honored to be recognized as the destination of choice in Las Vegas by Forbes Travel Guide, which recently awarded Wynn Las Vegas and Encore with more stars for exceptional service than any other independent resort in the world.
If we may provide additional assistance during your stay, please do not hesitate to contact the front desk or concierge.
Sincerely,
Lee Long
Senior Vice President & General Manager
Applied toward dining, spa, and hotel charges throughout the stay.
Is Encore Las Vegas Worth It? The Honest Verdict
Encore is a great hotel. It is not a true luxury experience in the way that word carries at the Four Seasons, the Waldorf Astoria, or the properties we’ve reviewed at One&Only and the Ritz-Carlton. But it is the third-best resort on the Strip in our opinion, and for guests who want quality without the maximum price tag, it’s a solid choice.
The renovation is the most relevant factor right now. What exists today will look significantly different within a year (on the rooms only). The rooms are comfortable — but according to the hotel — dated, the lobby bar has no identity, the small resort pool needs investment, and Sinatra’s pricing doesn’t match its execution.
But Casa Playa is legitimately excellent, the larger audlt “XS” Pool is a great afternoon, the Encore Beach Club has been one of the best in Vegas for 15 years, and the Alexa room controls are genuinely fun!
Would we stay again? Maybe— in a larger room, after the renovation, and with Sinatra removed from the itinerary. If you like the energy of the Wynn complex and want the quieter side of it, Encore is the right call.
Encore is close to the Sphere, close to the Las Vegas Convention Center, and plenty to do onsite when the sun goes down.
Book Your Stay
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