My wife and I stayed at Bellagio this past weekend (3/5-8). We've stayed at Wynn before and enjoyed it so we wanted to check out Encore while we were in town by having dinner there. We chose the steakhouse, Botero.

As our reservation was at 8 pm on Friday we took a cab from Bellagio about 7:30. When it arrived at the Encore entrance off LV Blvd. about 7:45 our cab was the only car in the entryway! We entered an essentially empty lobby and felt like we had the place all to ourselves. It was almost like you could hear a pin drop (if they turned off the Sinatra sound track that is). This is NOT the "buzz" that we seek in Vegas!

I've been receiving some pretty good offers from Wynn/Encore (at least for low rollers like us) that included 3 free weekday nights or weekends at about $149 and now I see why. I realize the whole city is slow, but Bellagio was fairly busy as were other places we visited. As we walked around Encore, we noticed most of the restaurants were only about two thirds empty..though they may have filled up more as it got later. Much of the table games were closed and we had our choice of BJ tables with limits as low as $10-$15. Decor was clearly high quality...but not really our taste with the red satin chandeliers and overall Asian feeling theme.

Dinner at Botero, however, was excellent. Great looking restaurant serving well prepared food. The staff was well-trained and efficient, though the average was about 25 (so it seemed at least). My wife and I asked to share a bone-in NY strip that was cooked 1/2 medium (her) and 1/2 med-rare (me). Our waiter checked first with the kitchen, which agreed to the split, and then the chef cooked the steak perfectly.

We were shocked at the basically empty casino floor at Encore and hope it was an anomaly....but I fear that it further confirms the difficulties that Vegas is having and will continue to have in this economy.

That's definitely not what I experienced at Encore when I was there on two seperate occassions in January. Then again, both stays were within a month of open and the place was VERRRY busy with both onlookers and guests. I was able to find $10 and $15 blackjack on Sunday evening and Saturday afternoon though.

The current financial situation and decrease in gaming, notwithstanding, I have seen this over the past year at Palazzo as well.

I call it the new smaller casino next to big brother casino affect.

Even last year, when things weren't as dire, there were often times when none of the dice tables @ Palazzo had any action, but right next door at Venetian there were 2 or 3 crowded tables. I'm not really sure why this is. Maybe people tend to return to where they have gambled previously, and it just takes time for a new "wing" to attract the gaming folks. Though, until recently (Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo) you didn't really have this "new" casino opening adjacent to the older casino as a separate property. [and still a decent walk to separate the two] Previous expansions at other properties, Caesars comes to mind, just involved more dining, rooms, and convention space. The casino floor was only expanded in small amounts, and then directly adjacent to the old casino floor.

My experience last week, also showed a rather quiet Encore (and a slightly more busy Wynn), but I don't make very much of that, since it was Wednesday/Thursday.

Probably, the bigger sign of the times are the table limits, though this is also a bit YMMV. Baccarat limits still tend to stay high, but dice and blackjack limits have been reduced substantially.

My barometer is based on dice, and the visible presence of $5 tables (at Mirage, and once even at Palazzo), and the regular $10 tables at Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo are most definitely a sign that gaming is off. It's almost like we're back in the 1980's, well without the really "cool" clothes.

Ya know I've been wanting to get into shooting dice but the $10 and higher minimums have kept me away. Even when I was at MGM and Palms a few months ago it was $10 late on Sunday night. I'm comfortable with higher limits at blackjack but don't want to blow through a few hundred when a bad streak comes the craps table. Maybe I'll find some $5 ones next week...

I'm staying at the wynn right now and there is no question that the wynn is busier than the encore. The encore does sell itself as having a more intimate feeling and they are certainly trying to fill up the wynn rooms more than the encore. As bellagio, I've always found it to be busier than the wynn. But the encore and the wynn seems to attract more high rollers at least at the craps tables.

For what it's worth I got approached by a host within a minute of making my first bet at the encore. My bet was $60 on 6 and 8 each. I was flattered but i do see that as another example of casinos trying to lure more low rollers to the casino.

FWIW,

My brother in law, who just arrived back in London (on the VS non-stop) reports that Palazzo was very crowded this past weekend. He specifically spoke about the casino floor @ Palazzo, though he did mention the restaurants were not that crowded.

I go to LAS often, and even in good times, as you deviate from center strip (Bellagio, Caesars, Ballys-Paris) the crowds seem to decrease. South of MGM (since there are only 4 casinos: Trop., Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay) the decrease is even more. I stayed at MB, this past weekend, and the slots were not heavily used. MB (at least for the weekend of 3/6-3/8) seemed to have groups in their early 20's with lots of cases of beer.
[But, if someone passing through plays $3.00 for a few minutes, this is not a "money maker" for the casino.]
PS: The tram from MB to Excalibur was not in operation, so maybe fewer people ventured as far south as MB.

I understand what you mean. We've stayed at MB/THEHotel & 4S often enough and, as I mentioned, we've stayed at Wynn before as well.

But maybe I wasn't clear enough...Encore was EMPTY. As in, no cars/cabs pulling up EMPTY. 2/3 of the tables and slots closes EMPTY. Restaurants 1/2 EMPTY. Bunches of low limit tables EMPTY. I've been coming to LV for 3 decades and especially as it was a brand new, high end property, it was startling that, on a Friday night, that there weren't at least a bunch of folks curious to see the newest joint on the strip. Perhaps it was an aberration for the 3 hours we were in the property, but I thought it said volumes about the economy's impact on LV.

Here's to hoping that it's empty when I'm there on my honeymoon March 22-26. We're staying at Skylofts so I'm banking on MGM having $5 BJ tables available so we can play together. I hate going to Wynn and playing $25 tables when she doesn't like playing that much $$.

I would not expect $5 BJ after the late morning, even though you'll be out there midweek. Should be plenty of $10 BJ, though.

Fortunately you're right across the street from Hooters, Tropicana, NYNY and Excalibur, all of which should have $5 BJ as well.

With all the wedding money, you guys will be all over the $200/$300 tables @ Wynn/Encore. I seem to recall they have a pretty good double deck game @ Wynn at that level anyway.

Encore is pretty dead during most nights. You actually see a whole lot more people during the day. The wynn is another story. It gets more packed at night in part due to show and dinner visitors. Most of the people you see at encore are young people in their way to clubs or back to their rooms.

He just got married so his days of $5-$10 BJs are over. They will cost him LOTS more than that in the future!

If it is dead at night, then Steve W. wasted skads of $$$$ in bringing Danny Gans over to headline the show at Encore. I thought the point of having a big name in the showroom was to get people in the "house" that might just end up losing some money!

$100 double deck at Wynn is the worst game in Vegas...

When I was playing double-deck at the Wynn, there were plenty of 21s, 20s, 19s, etc. The only problem - it was the dealer getting those numbers, not the rest of us. He was certainly having a good time.