Ever dream of being a high-roller in Vegas, but always seem to find yourself in a ratty room miles off the strip? Worry not, thrifty traveler. Las Vegas's top hotels are marking down their once off-limit suites, which used to start at $400 a night.
Encore at the Wynn is the city's newest five-star resort property, an angular high-rise hotel and casino equal parts art and entertainment. Improving on an already successful Wynn platform, the new Encore Las Vegas features a main floor casino with towering columns and canopied pavilions that divide gaming areas into mini parlors. Five restaurants and a shopping arcade surround the main casino, which is camouflaged in Marie Antoinette architecture, salon seating areas and chandelier-strewn ceilings. The pool atrium is home to a family-friendly and European-style beach club, the latter offering weekend DJs and a singles cabana scene.
The signature curve design of the hotel offers seemingly endless hallways lined by carved doorways and sparse walls. Rooms are designed with a contemporary deco-inspired aesthetic with oversize LCD-television screens, black sofas with cream-colored piping and modern art lithographs. All rooms feature automatic drape controls, signature Wynn bath products, and well-equipped bars with gourmet snacks and top-shelf alcohol. Floor-to-ceiling windows throughout bespeak the architectural quality of the hotel, framing the Western-Las Vegas strip and its endless neon horizon. But perhaps best of all, rooms are currently available for select weekends for as low as $219 for entry-level rooms and $750 for Resort Suites.
Its bronzed '90s high-rise facade does little to advertise the sedate and stylish world found within Mandalay Bay's THEhotel. The entrance is almost impossible to find, located behind the Mandalay Bay Resort through a labyrinth of underground parking garages ultimately leading to a hospital-like valet area. Don't judge it just yet. Just past the glass sliding doors is a Metropolis-theme masterpiece that unfolds with rich mahogany woodwork, marble floors and artwork from Richard Serra. Stylish guests in strapless Dior catwalk the lobby, defying the image of all-you-can-eat Vegas, into a '20s theme martini bar or rooftop Mix Restaurant home to Michelin-star Alain Ducasse.
THEhotel is still one of Vegas' most stylish hotels, with oversize guest rooms boasting multiple plasma-screen televisions, in-room cocktail bars and deep-soaking spa bathtubs. The 43-floor hotel tower offers some of the best views of Vegas. It has apartment-minded living rooms more about size than plush, with its utilitarian sofas, club chairs and masculine writing desks. The modest bedrooms of the Deluxe Suites feature king beds with poly-cotton sheets and European duvet covers, connecting to the main bathroom with house-branded toiletries, deep soaking tub and marble vanities. Normally priced upwards of $399 per night with a mandatory two-night stay, weekend rooms were found from $169 per night with no nightly minimum.
