Winter Offer Came In

Hi Folks,

The Winter offer from the Wynn arrived early this year. Normally I don't see an offer until the end of November. Are things getting slower again in Las Vegas?

There are a few tweaks this year. The most surprising and welcome one is that the offer extends from November 22nd until the end of March 2016. In the past, the offer wasn't available to me in March initially. The Wynn would amend the offer to extend into March sometime in December or even late January. It made for anxious moments in the past as I had to book a backup room in case the Wynn didn't extend the offer as my plane tickets are often booked well in advance.

This offer is $139 per night Sunday to Thursday and $229 Friday and Saturday with a free buffet for two if you stay 3 nights or more. Prices for busy times like the Super Bowl weekend or March Madness bump up to regular room rates. They have February 29th at $409 probably trying to catch those that want to propose that day. No offer at all during CES. I'm glad to report that our annual March Break trip --the 13th to 17th this year -- is covered by the Wynn's offer.

The other wrinkle is that they are offering $10 off per night if you pre-pay for the entire stay. Since we're all booked for the plane tickets and car rental, I went ahead and pre-paid. Heck $40 is $40.

We are staying at the Wynn property this year. We stayed at the Encore last year as they had a big booking at the Wynn and couldn't fit us in. We actually like the layout of the room at the Encore a tad better, but the Wynn is 5 minutes closer to any spot on the strip when walking so we chose the shorter distance this time around.

--helpmespock

I guess I'm slightly confused. Why pay that much to stay at the Wynn? They're also known to have pretty terrible games and some rude dealers. It looks nice (rooms are normal though) and it's got crappy gaming... Why on Earth wouldn't you just stay more middle of the strip in a similarly nice room for either way cheaper or FREE.

Pre-paying for the room costs you more money I've got to figure. If you don't pre-pay and you play there, then you have the ability to get things comped, such as food, or even nights. By pre-paying then there's nothing for them to really comp you unless you charge a bunch of other stuff to your room.

I've stayed all up and down the strip on dozens of trips to Vegas, and I've never had to pay for a room. Why people spend half a GRAND on a room you're really rarely in is beyond me. Let alone one down at the north end of the strip with crappy games?

I'm really not trying to bring you down, just maybe something to think about? Can you cancel? If you have a host you can probably get comped elsewhere on the strip for the same time frame / trip.

I'm with you, Romes. I've never paid for a room in Vegas. But I don't knock on people who want to pay for them. The Wynn IS pretty nice. At $139 it's solid value for a really nice resort. I've never gotten the Wynn/Encore comped.

Quote: teddys

I'm with you, Romes. I've never paid for a room in Vegas. But I don't knock on people who want to pay for them. The Wynn IS pretty nice. At $139 it's solid value for a really nice resort. I've never gotten the Wynn/Encore comped.

That was my question. Can't you get a comp at all if you go every year. I guess they are pretty stingy when it comes to that.

Quote: Romes

I guess I'm slightly confused. Why pay that much to stay at the Wynn? They're also known to have pretty terrible games and some rude dealers. It looks nice (rooms are normal though) and it's got crappy gaming... Why on Earth wouldn't you just stay more middle of the strip in a similarly nice room for either way cheaper or FREE.

Pre-paying for the room costs you more money I've got to figure. If you don't pre-pay and you play there, then you have the ability to get things comped, such as food, or even nights. By pre-paying then there's nothing for them to really comp you unless you charge a bunch of other stuff to your room.

I'm really not trying to bring you down, just maybe something to think about? Can you cancel? If you have a host you can probably get comped elsewhere on the strip for the same time frame / trip.

Hey I understand what you're saying, but I think we're in different leagues as far as gambling is concerned . My gambling profile is about an hour or so of $15 minimum blackjack, a similar amount of $10 craps, and then my wife and I play an hour of $0.50 9/6 JoB per day. That's it. The theoretical on the JoB is what $10 each? I would guess similar amounts for my craps and blackjack play. Typically I only have one trip a year to Las Vegas corresponding to March Break as my wife is a teacher and it's nice to get away from the Canadian winter. We stay Sunday to Thursday so overall we're not giving the casino much to work with as far as comps are concerned.

I get your point about choosing a different spot. I could take that $500 into my bankroll and play long enough at a cheaper property to get free room/food offers, but my wife likes the rooms at the Wynn/Encore and likes to be comfortable. When I mentioned your points to her she said, "I wouldn't get anything out of the trip if we didn't stay at a nice place because I only play video poker." 8-) Also we don't mind that north end. The pace is a little slower there and we don't mind that. If we want the hustle and bustle of centre strip we just walk up there.

We've stayed at the Golden Nugget, Caesar's Palace twice, and Harrah's. The Wynn rooms are uniformly nice. We did have a nice room the first time at Caesar's, but the second time not so much.

I've never had a host and when I asked one of the hosts how much I would need to gamble to get comped at the Wynn they told me a minimum of 4 hours per day of at least $50 per hand of blackjack for food and beverage comps. No room. Yikes.

I saw Mosca's posts about his recent trip staying at the Wynn and was surprised to hear about the rude dealers. That's disappointing. I've had good luck with the dealers at Wynn/Encore, but I hear things are changing. The Wynn stopped x3-4-5 craps and finding a true 3/2 blackjack table for $15 is tough. If things have degraded then certainly the Mrs. and I will start looking elsewhere.

--helpmespock

For some reason I thought you played more than that. If that's all you play then your idea of getting a good deal is the way to go. Even that play with another 500 probably wouldnot get you a room at most strip places.

Quote: GWAE

For some reason I thought you played more than that. If that's all you play then your idea of getting a good deal is the way to go. Even that play with another 500 probably wouldnot get you a room at most strip places.

Interesting. What level of play would you say qualifies for room/food/beverage at an average strip property? Let's assume the game is blackjack. Would 4 hours play per day at $25 per hand get me something? Would I need more? Could I get away with less?

--helpmespock

Quote: helpmespock

Interesting. What level of play would you say qualifies for room/food/beverage at an average strip property? Let's assume the game is blackjack. Would 4 hours play per day at $25 per hand get me something? Would I need more? Could I get away with less?

--helpmespock

IMO that level of play will get you free rooms at CET strip properties except Caesar's, PH, and Cromwell, they might be Sun-Thurs: probably no food but will get you a few RC's you can spend on food, get you nothing from MLife, nothing from Cosmo or Venetian/Sands or Wynn, and will get you offers from TI (low), Strat (decent), SLS (not sure how good), Palms (low), Trop (ok), and all downtown casinos except GN. I'm not in marketing for any of them, could be wrong. It would also get you offers from off-strip properties like Station/Boyd/Orleans, Tuscany, and Ellis Island. Don't know enough about Boulder Strip but I think you'd also get rooms from them. You might get buffet passes from quite a few of the lower-tier properties. Don't know anything about Sam's Town but some on here really like them.

Huh. I got an offer from the Wynn as well. Three free nights Sun-Thurs, $300 in casino credit, and free breakfast for two. Same dates.

I play table minimum, Mrs plays slots @ $2-$3 per pull. We were there a couple years ago for 5 nights and played quite a bit at those numbers though. Lost a lot, too, not like this last trip we just completed.

Quote: helpmespock

I saw Mosca's posts about his recent trip staying at the Wynn and was surprised to hear about the rude dealers. That's disappointing. I've had good luck with the dealers at Wynn/Encore, but I hear things are changing. The Wynn stopped x3-4-5 craps and finding a true 3/2 blackjack table for $15 is tough. If things have degraded then certainly the Mrs. and I will start looking elsewhere.

Just a couple, and that was one day and on the early day shift, around noon - 1PM. The bad thing is that those are the ones I remember the most. The rest of the time they were fine, but again, that is kind of what is expected, and I never expect bad dealers at a place like The Wynn. Caesars AC maybe. That's what they were like.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Overall my problem is I don't think I have the stamina for 4 hours (or more) of gambling per day. The Mrs. only plays video poker and she's fine to sit and chat with the dealer and other blackjack players when it isn't busy, but when it is busy there won't be a seat for her. Our pattern is such that I'll go out before she's up and get in an hour of craps in the early morning so she doesn't have to stand with me. Then we go out shopping/site seeing for the morning, grab something to eat while we're out. I might play a little something on the way back into the hotel in the afternoon. Then maybe get some pool time in or go out again in the afternoon. In the evening, it's catch a show or eat at a nice restaurant, and maybe get in a little gambling at wherever we're catching a show/eating. Taking an entire morning, afternoon, or evening for gambling won't be a priority for us.

Babs if I did boost my level of play to 4 hours @ $25 per hand blackjack would we get a room from Paris on that kind of play? I'm surprised to hear that TI would only get me low offers at that level of play. I could probably talk the Mrs. into the Paris. I'd probably have to lessen my other gambling activities to ensure my bankroll survives at that level.

Mosca your trip report sounds like you're easily meeting that 4 hour mark per day between you and the Mrs. On top of that, you're playing higher house edge games -- UTH and slots -- so you present much better theoretical loss to the Wynn than I do.

I'll post a trip report in March 2016 and let everyone know how the dealers were.

--helpmespock

Quote: helpmespock

Thanks for the replies everyone.


Mosca your trip report sounds like you're easily meeting that 4 hour mark per day between you and the Mrs. On top of that, you're playing higher house edge games -- UTH and slots -- so you present much better theoretical loss to the Wynn than I do.

I'll post a trip report in March 2016 and let everyone know how the dealers were.

--helpmespock

After reading what your level and offer was, I thought it would be helpful to see what play the next level would be. (And the loss isn't usually theoretical!) I would consider us low roller recreational gamblers, but Vegas visitors for whom the gambling is nonetheless a major attraction.

We actually like The Wynn quite a bit, and we're very strongly considering taking that offer early next year, late January/early February. The only thing keeping me from jumping on it is that I hate flying. It has become so... demeaning.

Okay, here is another choice. Wynn for free, or Mirage for $37/night? Of course The Wynn is the nicer property, but The Mirage is no joke, and it is more toward the middle of the Strip and the action.

Quote: Mosca

Okay, here is another choice. Wynn for free, or Mirage for $37/night? Of course The Wynn is the nicer property, but The Mirage is no joke, and it is more toward the middle of the Strip and the action.

I'd take the Mirage and then ask if I played enough at the end of the trip to get the $37/night taken care of.

spock - It might be a bit situational, but most everyone I've seen if they even play at all at CET properties they'll at least give you rooms to come play. Even with your level of play I'd think you could get rooms with CET. Might not be glorious rooms like CP or Wynn's nicer rooms, but like I said before, you probably won't be in the rooms "all that much" anyways =P.

Quote: Romes

I'd take the Mirage and then ask if I played enough at the end of the trip to get the $37/night taken care of.

spock - It might be a bit situational, but most everyone I've seen if they even play at all at CET properties they'll at least give you rooms to come play. Even with your level of play I'd think you could get rooms with CET. Might not be glorious rooms like CP or Wynn's nicer rooms, but like I said before, you probably won't be in the rooms "all that much" anyways =P.

If the roof doesn't leak, the shower works, the toilet flushes, the bed is sleapable, then it's an acceptable room I guess, especially if it's free. That's the way I look at it, but I'm easy. Now Sparkles (Mrs 2F) is a great deal more discerning about just what is and what is not acceptable. I almost always let her have her way, I'm always a little bit afraid she will hurt me if I don't ;-) That being said, my experience with the CET properties, yes limited experience, is that they are quite liberal with their rooms in exchange for play. The rest of their offerings, not so sure.

It does sound like you may be close to the 'targeted clientele' for many of the stores in LV, and maybe the city itself, so look around a bit before you commit. No telling what you might discover. And I do truly wish you the best of 'luck,variance,odds'.

Quote: Mosca

After reading what your level and offer was, I thought it would be helpful to see what play the next level would be. (And the loss isn't usually theoretical!) I would consider us low roller recreational gamblers, but Vegas visitors for whom the gambling is nonetheless a major attraction.

We actually like The Wynn quite a bit, and we're very strongly considering taking that offer early next year, late January/early February. The only thing keeping me from jumping on it is that I hate flying. It has become so... demeaning.

I hear you about losses. The first several trips to Las Vegas had the gambling bankroll between $500-800. The first year my wife and I agreed that it could hit $1000 I had the worst luck with relentless losing for pretty much the entire trip.

The offer you got looked really good to me and I'd be thrilled with that kind of offer. Would you know what part of Wynn is extending that to you? Marketing? Casino? Room Reservations? I understand my offers are coming from Room Reservations.

--helpmespock

Quote: Romes

spock - It might be a bit situational, but most everyone I've seen if they even play at all at CET properties they'll at least give you rooms to come play. Even with your level of play I'd think you could get rooms with CET. Might not be glorious rooms like CP or Wynn's nicer rooms, but like I said before, you probably won't be in the rooms "all that much" anyways =P.

Thanks Babs and Romes for the advice about CET. Like Mosca, I've also noticed the Wynn rooms are in need of a refresh. The Encore rooms are in slightly better shape. If our experience at the Wynn degrades due to this and other factors like crappy gambling we'll certainly start considering other properties.

--helpmespock

Quote: TwoFeathersATL

Now Sparkles (Mrs 2F) is a great deal more discerning about just what is and what is not acceptable. I almost always let her have her way, I'm always a little bit afraid she will hurt me if I don't ;-) That being said, my experience with the CET properties, yes limited experience, is that they are quite liberal with their rooms in exchange for play. The rest of their offerings, not so sure.

It does sound like you may be close to the 'targeted clientele' for many of the stores in LV, and maybe the city itself, so look around a bit before you commit. No telling what you might discover. And I do truly wish you the best of 'luck,variance,odds'.

Both of our Mrs. find a nice room important. I'm in the "Happy Wife Equals Happy Life" category.

We probably spend more time in the room than a lot of other Las Vegas visitors. My wife often relaxes in the early morning or late evening in the room when I'm out playing craps or blackjack.

We'll certainly shop around if we become less comfortable at the Wynn.

--helpmespock

I had been getting good slot tournament offers from the Wynn for year's. I haven't had any in a while now. Is anyone else getting them anymore?

Quote: helpmespock

I hear you about losses. The first several trips to Las Vegas had the gambling bankroll between $500-800. The first year my wife and I agreed that it could hit $1000 I had the worst luck with relentless losing for pretty much the entire trip.

The offer you got looked really good to me and I'd be thrilled with that kind of offer. Would you know what part of Wynn is extending that to you? Marketing? Casino? Room Reservations? I understand my offers are coming from Room Reservations.

--helpmespock

There is nothing on the letter, but I would guess marketing. It is offer WinterCheer15.

I've heard it said - "Happy wife = happy life". With that in mind, you did good.

Here on the gulf coast, that level of gaming would at least get you a free buffet or two - and probably a small amount of free play.

My mother stick $100 bucks in one of those penny slots (that eat up about 2.50 a spin) and plays it until it's gone or she's gotten $10 more than 100. She gets varying amounts of free play offers every month, depending on how busy it is. Winter months they seem to expect more vacationers - so they give a little less. Mine dropped from $100 bucks to 60 a week, plus the usual bonus that went from $40 to $20.

Nicely enough, Boomtown and IP chip in enough to bring my winter totals to $200 a week free play. So, in a way, it's like a small part time gig - which I feel like I earn - an hour drive there, an hour back, plus the play time.

Hope you "wynn" big.

Quote: AxelWolf

I had been getting good slot tournament offers from the Wynn for year's. I haven't had any in a while now. Is anyone else getting them anymore?

I got one two years ago.

The last thing I got was the Porsche giveaway in May of this year -- get a ticket in the draw for every 1,000 points you earned during the contest period.

--helpmespock

Here is an interesting addendum to all this. My rates changed. I booked at $139 for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with $159 for Wednesday night.

I'm looking at the rate calendar now and they want $169 for Monday and Tuesday. Sunday and Wednesday stayed the same.

Weird. I've already pre-paid my stay so the increase doesn't affect me.

Dates during CES opened up too where before it was un-bookable. The rates range from $799-$999. Jan 18th-20th also have high prices of $499-$699. Don't know what that is.

--helpmespock

Just got back from staying at the Wynn W, Th, F nights. I received offers since playing 1/2 hour of $25 pai gow poker years ago. First one I accepted. 129/129/219. Plus daily resort fee and taxes. They give two free LaReve tix, face value around $300, and $50 resort credit. I usually stay at Rio, with usually at least two and sometimes all 3 nights comped, but when I booked Wynn Rio was offering 'low rates' of like $50 and I figured I'd try and upgrade to the Wynn since I figured GF would like it more anyway. Days later I got my free Rio offer but decided to pay the Wynn anyway. I LOVED the view from the 56th floor room (there were no rooms in the 40's...., so how high was I?!?1?) I LOVED the fact that an entire wall was a floor to ceiling window.
I did my usual pai gow tiles and pai gow poker gambling. I usually play $25 and occasionally go up a bit, so my usual average is around $30. At the Rio this gets me maybe $5 in comps for many hours of play. This trip I decided to 'go crazy' and bet $50 per hand. When I went to check out the Red Card guy said I did 9 hours and 42 minutes at an average of $62 per hand. The kid (he looked 15) said since I was there on an offer I probably wouldn't get anything additional comped. He said I could go talk to a host. I did. The host, an older gentleman, chatted with me, looked at his computer, and said he would comp all my meals (was around $220).

Summary..... I just feel more comfortable at the Rio. I'm a shorts and T shirt guy, and it just doesn't seem to fit at the Wynn. The casual restaurants at the Wynn cost more than the upscale restaurants I usually frequent (I know I eventually was comped...). I am pretty sure GF liked the Wynn more, but I don't think substantially more. I don't know where I'll stay next trip, but hopefully it will be in January!

Quote: SOOPOO

I LOVED the view from the 56th floor room (there were no rooms in the 40's...., so how high was I?!?1?) I LOVED the fact that an entire wall was a floor to ceiling window.

Nice. The offer I have gave an option for a Deluxe Panoramic room so we've booked that. We'll have to see what floor we end up on.

Quote: SOOPOO

When I went to check out the Red Card guy said I did 9 hours and 42 minutes at an average of $62 per hand. The kid (he looked 15) said since I was there on an offer I probably wouldn't get anything additional comped. He said I could go talk to a host. I did. The host, an older gentleman, chatted with me, looked at his computer, and said he would comp all my meals (was around $220).

Three plus hours per day and the house edge on Pai Gow Poker is around 2%? What are the hands per hour on PGP? 45 or so? Your theoretical probably looks a lot better to the Wynn than mine. Let us know what offers come out of this play.

Quote: SOOPOO

Summary..... I just feel more comfortable at the Rio. I'm a shorts and T shirt guy, and it just doesn't seem to fit at the Wynn. The casual restaurants at the Wynn cost more than the upscale restaurants I usually frequent (I know I eventually was comped...). I am pretty sure GF liked the Wynn more, but I don't think substantially more.

Fair enough. Go where you're comfortable.

My wife enjoys the pace and style at the Wynn and I need to keep her happy if I want to continue my trips to Las Vegas. 8-)

--helpmespock

I'm late to this convo but just posted my Encore review in a different thread I started. I'm a "Mrs" who does put higher priority on the niceness of the room. ;) I'm also the gambler in our marriage but I am not a big gambler by any means. I had previously been a MGM guest on my previous 5 Vegas trips and this time, I got a great rate for Encore and I was more than ready to try it there. Have had them on my radar for over a year but always thought the pricing was out of my budget.

In June 2015, I stated at Bellagio but wanted to establish a relationship with Wynn so got a players card and put about 200 points on it. From trial and error on my Dec trip, you generally get 1 point per max coin in. So my 200 points was representative of roughly $600 coin in (we were mostly playing $3 max bed slot machines). This was roughly an hour of play (or less) so I didn't think it was a lot of play time or money. I probably lost about $100 over that time frame. I didn't make a special trip out there to gamble, we had Le Reve show and dinner plans there anyway.

Other than our one night out, we stayed put at Bellagio and while I had a small idea of wanting to establish some play at a CET property, DH wanted to hang out at the pool. So I missed my June window of opportunity to get started at CET. When we were in Atlantic City for 1 night in Aug, I made it a point to go to the Caesar's there and sign up for a player card. I put 39 point on it over probably 40 minutes. DH was antsy and we left before too long. AC casinos have a very different vibe...

From that 39 points, I received comped room offers from the lower tier CET properties on select dates. I wanted to check a room out so I booked 1 night at Paris and coincided it with the night we had dinner reservations at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. The comp room that I was offered in the online reservation engine was a Red Room and that is what I received upon check in. I was willing to pay the $32 resort fee for my experiment. It confirmed that for my tastes, Red Rooms at Paris are not worth it. So if 2F and Spock's wives are like me - it won't be up to snuff either. ;)

Maybe if I had booked or been lucky enough to get a renovated room at Bally's or Harrah's I might have felt differently about my CET exploration. But I'm pretty firmly in favor of Encore as a home base hotel now. They really impressed me with their thorough attention to details in the room and in general around the resort property.

On my Dec trip, I put about 1900 points onto my player card. I was attempting to chase a baseline for comps from Encore without knowing what that might be. Probably lost about $400-500 over the course of the 3 night stay. Once I figured out that I was getting 1 point per max bet, I tried to stick to $2 max bet machines. DH has a favorite $3 max bet machine though, we spent some time playing that together on the 2 person bench seating. It's literally the only gambling he is willing to do. I didn't talk to a casino host but got some helpful instruction from Spock (TY) on where I can ask next time. :) Did talk to the Red Card desk and was told that the minimum amount of points I'd need on my player card is 5000 before I'm eligible for food comps.

I had noticed the lack of floors 40-49 in the elevator as well. I think it's because Wynn caters to the mainland Chinese population and the number 4 is unlucky in Chinese culture. So I guess they skipped the entire block of 40s floor numbers. Similar to the way 13 gets skipped in US buildings. It's silly but I guess it makes people feel better psychologically. I wonder if people might still complain about being on a 50s # floor because it's actually a 40s # floor??

Thanks for the report on the Paris rooms. My wife does enjoy the Wynn/Encore and is comfortable there. Whenever we're in a hotel anywhere now my wife says, "Well it's not the Wynn".

As far as comps are concerned, I'm probably the least experienced person here so take my advice knowing that I've never gotten a comp from the Wynn beyond the room offers and whatever resort credit/free buffet/discount show ticket offer comes along with it. I've asked and been told my level of play just isn't what they're looking for. The Wynn is looking for 4 hours per day of $50/hand blackjack to get a food and beverage comp (no room) was what I was told the last time I asked. Talk to the casino host on-duty and ask them what level of play they would expect for games you're comfortable playing. It can't hurt.

I stick to extremely low house edge games -- blackjack, craps, and Jacks or better video poker -- and I don't play that long so my theoretical loss is low. As a result, I'm not that valuable to the Wynn from a gambling perspective.

Most of what I know about comps are from what others have posted here on this board.

My approach, based on feedback from this board, is gamble however much I'm comfortable gambling for however long I'm comfortable doing so and see what offers come from that play.

--helpmespock