Encore Las Vegas Will Open Tonight

December 22, 2008 at 11:42 AM | by juliana | Comment (1)

It's the moment we've been waiting three and a half long years for: Encore Las Vegas opens tonight at 8pm!

But my, my, my how things have changed since last year when we first learned of Encore's opening date. Back then, we easily expected Steve Wynn to ask for and promptly get a room rate of $300 and up during the week for one of the 2,034 all-suite rooms. Yet Wynn is deeply concerned about opening a hotel in one of the worst tourism slumps that Vegas has ever experienced and one where occupancy rates at the Wynn Las Vegas have dropped to 53 percent.

This is why room rates are starting off at a rack rate of $199 but we know you can get them even cheaper than that. And Wynn is not just dropping rates to attract more visitors--he's doing it to save his workforce too.

This is the first time I've said 'fill all 4,700 rooms'... I will trade profit on the hotel business for job protection."
Wynn repeated that he has never laid off employees and will do everything he can to make sure that guest satisfaction remains the company's No. 1 priority.
"We can overcome low room rates when the market goes up, but it can take years to rebuild employee morale," he said during the interview, held in the Encore's Frank Sinatra-themed Italian restaurant.
"The DNA of this place is in the details ... In the hospitality industry there is nothing left except to do but the basics better."

Sigh. Somewhere in hotel heaven, an angel just got it wings.

We can't make it to the Encore opening tonight but if you are on the scene, let us know what's happening.

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