Newest resort in Vegas is betting on highrollers

Is this the worst moment ever to open a fancy new Las Vegas casino?

You're entitled to wonder that, given that Steve Wynn's 2,034-room, $2.3-billion Encore resort took its first bets in late December in the middle of a national financial nervous breakdown.

But here's a question more suited to the time and place: What's in it for me?

The answer at Encore is plenty. With its big rooms, top-notch service, Asian influences and playful design, Encore is a casino-resort that was designed to grab up the wealthiest, most sophisticated visitors in town and charge them top dollar.

In the face of the recession, however, Wynn and company have slashed nightly rates to as low as $159.

What do you get? My room was about 745 square feet (that's as small as they get), the television was 42 inches and sat on a 180-degree rotating base so I could watch from bed or from the sitting area near the floor-to-ceiling windows. Thanks to remote controls, I could open and close the drapes and dim the lights (and activate a "do not disturb" warning) without leaving bed. (Many of these features also are found next door at the Wynn Hotel, which opened in 2005.)

And because I landed on the east side of the 52nd floor, I had a drop-dead view of snow-dappled mountains, the pulsating lights of the Strip below, and the forlorn former site of the Frontier (where most recent projects have stalled) to remind me of the money trouble that stalks Las Vegas and the rest of the country.

XS, Encore's nightclub, has room for 3,000 revelers, its space spilling out into a broad pool-and-patio area where 29 cabanas can be rented by day or night. This resort is such a sidekick to the Wynn next door, with shared resources and connecting arcade, that some people might be tempted to see Encore as a hotel expansion masquerading as a new property. Whatever. More of a good thing is better.

The Wynn, where rates have fallen as low as $149, is bigger all around: Apart from its own golf course (the only one on the Strip), it has 2,716 rooms (which average 640 square feet), 111,000 feet of casino space, 22 food outlets and 47,000 square feet of retail, including Ferrari and Maserati dealerships.

Encore, a bronzed skyscraper like its older sibling, has 2,034 rooms, 72,000 feet of casino space and 27,000 square feet of retail space (the Esplanade) — its 11 boutiques stretched along an indoor walkway that connects it to the Wynn.

Even without white tigers, dancing waters or a volcano or a pirate ship — features that Wynn's previous projects have included — the more restrained Encore took 2 ½ years and an estimated $2.3 billion to build. It has five restaurants, seven bars, a nightclub, 11 retail outlets and a big spa done up in soothing celadon hues.