Encore Poker Room Schedule
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If you are planning on playing poker at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas starting next week, you will need to change course slightly and head next door to the Wynn. Wynn Las Vegas, the company that owns both casinos, announced on Tuesday that Encore is will only be a part-time property beginning Monday. Its poker room will still be open every day, but it will move over to the Wynn.
The reason: the COVID-19 pandemic has slashed visitor traffic. Because of this, Encore will close at noon this coming Monday and then only be open from Thursdays at 2:00pm through Mondays at 12:00pm.
On Monday, the poker room will move to the Wynn in a space on the casino floor near the parking garage. It will be open seven days a week, so it sounds like, aside from the change in venue, things will be relatively normal for poker players. Why is the poker room continuing to operate every day and not the other games? Likely because it can. For the most part, all they have to do is move the tables (or borrow some from Wynn), chips, and cards, and they can setup the poker room. Not a ton of space is needed, either.
There is no set date for the Encore to get back to normal. The company said the schedule will be Thursday to Monday “indefinitely until consumer demand for Las Vegas increases.”
And consumer demand is understandably terrible in Las Vegas right now. In February, before the nationwide pandemic shutdowns, 3.3 million people visited the city, among them 760,300 conventiongoers. Though most casinos are now open, Las Vegas casinos only had 1.5 million visitors in August and absolutely zero people attended conventions.
In February, 83 percent of the city’s hotel rooms were filled midweek. In August, just 34 percent.
“There’s a threshold that properties are likely crossing at a point here where the income that they’re getting from weekend travel just isn’t enough to sustain normal operations,” Greg Chase, CEO of Experience Strategy Associates hospitality consulting group, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
It is entirely possible that partial operations will continue to be a trend in Las Vegas. Of course, casinos haven’t opened all of their services for safety reasons, but hotels seem to be the next option for shutdowns. Planet Hollywood’s casino floor is still open daily, but it is only taking hotel reservations Thursdays through Sundays. The Palazzo’s hotel is not taking weekday reservations.
UNLV hospitality professor Amanda Belarmino told the Review-Journal that without a vaccine, people just don’t want to hop on planes and head to Vegas for business or a convention. Remote learning is also keeping parents at home to be with their kids, rather than traveling for work.
She also said that the decision by Wynn is a responsible move and while it is clearly not a good thing for employees, it is better than uncertainty, allowing them to plan for downtime better or find other employment.
© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logoOne of the most exclusive resorts on the Las Vegas Strip is drastically reducing its operating hours due to low demand for rooms during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Encore at Wynn Las Vegas announced the change on Tuesday, saying that it will operate on a five-day, four-night schedule beginning on October 19 and continuing 'until consumer demand increases'.
Guests at the five-star hotel - where room prices have fallen from a pre-pandemic average of $350 per night to around $169 - will be able to check in beginning at 2pm on Thursdays, and final check out will be noon on Mondays.
The Poker Room at Encore will temporarily move to the main building for Wynn Las Vegas, where it will be open seven days a week.
All other amenities at Encore, including its restaurants, day pool and nightclub, will operate under revised business hours from Thursday to Sunday.
Experts are predicting that other resorts could follow Encore's lead to save money amid record-low tourism levels in the city that was known as a party capital of the world before the pandemic hit.
© Provided by Daily Mail The Encore at Wynn Las Vegas is drastically reducing its operating hours beginning next week due to low demand for rooms during the coronavirus pandemicAccording to the regional tourism agency, the continued closure of arena shows and clubs and a change in customers from air travelers to drivers from nearby states left the city's nearly 124,000 hotel rooms less than 50 percent full as overall tourism dropped more than 60 percent.
'We've never been in this situation before,' David Schwartz, a hospitality expert and gaming historian at University of Nevada - Las Vegas, told KLAS.
He speculated that low visitor numbers have likely meant that hotels are seeing higher operating costs than revenue streams.
'With most conventions being on hiatus, we don't have a lot of mid-week occupancy, so it makes sense to close hotels, or even the entire resort during the week,' Schwartz said.
'If the current conditions continue, we could see more properties do this.'
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority appeared to challenge Schwartz's prediction in a statement to KLAS, saying: 'There are plenty of hotel rooms available both weekdays and weekends in Las Vegas.
'Our resort partners look forward to welcoming larger trade shows and conventions back to the destination when it's safe and feasible to do so and they will adjust their weekday room inventory based on visitor demand.'
DailyMail.com has reached out to Encore for comment about the circumstances that led to the schedule change.
© Provided by Daily Mail Experts are predicting that other resorts could follow Encore's lead to save money amid record-low tourism levels in the city that was known as a party capital of the world before the pandemic hitEarlier this week Las Vegas police blamed the drop in occupancy rates for the city's recent rise in crime, saying that cheap hotel deals have attracted undesirables.
Police said famous three-mile Strip, which includes more than 20 resorts, has seen a surge in aggravated assaults including fights, stabbings and shootings since its reopening in June.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said the crime spike may be linked to lower hotel rates that are drawing visitors to the city who are unable to visit nightclubs and entertainment venues that remain closed.
'The type of customer that is showing up… they're more interested in creating chaos than entertaining themselves or engaging themselves,' he said in August.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police earlier this month revealed nearly 1,500 people were arrested in August and September in the city's Convention Center area alone, with 40 percent of arrests being felonies and misdemeanors.
© Provided by Daily Mail Las Vegas is currently experiencing an increase in violent crimes, particularly on the Strip, where hotel rates have plummeted due to the coronavirus pandemic© Provided by Daily Mail Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo blamed the surge of recent violence on out-of-towners who come to the city but are unable to visit shuttered nightclubs and entertainment venuesPolice Captain Dori Koren said the crime wave comes amid an increase in 'gang members from other states' and incidents involving out-of-town individuals.
Over the weekend, the LVMPD made about 85 arrests and 700 stops which comes after it ramped up its police presence on the Strip last month, Fox5 reported.
Police said the crackdown has reduced aggravated assaults by 30 per cent, however, those crimes are still up by more than 35 per cent from the same time last year, according to KTNV.
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, average hotel room rates are only $10 lower compared to last year.
A KLAS report on Tuesday however revealed there are several hotels on the Strip that are offering rooms for less than $100 a night, including the Excalibur for $73 and The Stratosphere for $74.
Meanwhile, rates downtown are even cheaper, with some hotel rooms as low as $50.
© Provided by Daily Mail Local media reports on Tuesday revealed there are several hotels on the Strip that are offering rooms for less than $100 a nightIn late September, authorities said the spike in violent crime around the city's marquee tourist area had led to at least 1,100 arrests since August 1 and the seizure of more than 60 weapons.
'It's just a lot of people in a small condensed area and you infuse their desire to have a great time and infuse things like alcohol and drugs and it's a bad combination,' Sheriff Lombardo said at the time.
His comments came hours after police said a woman sustained a minor leg wound after a shooting among a group of more than 80 people who gathered outside the Aria hotel and casino while rap music figure Moneybagg Yo celebrated his birthday.
Social media posts by the rapper, whose legal name is Demario DeWayne White Jr, said he was not the target of gunfire.
White was at the event when a fight broke out and more than one shot was fired, police said. No immediate arrests were made.