With the opening of each new five-star resort in Macau, the bar for luxury and comfort seems to get raised a bit higher. If there is a trend, it appears to be away from ostentation and towards glamour.
There is that subtle attention to detail that doesn't always confront you when you first walk through the front door. It's only when you take a second look that you realise it isn't wallpaper - it's embroidered silk.
The Encore, which opened last April in the Nape district, is an example. With 410 suites and four villas, the property - which positions itself as a boutique hotel - has an extravagant chandelier in the lobby, but you hardly notice it at first. It's only when you step back and survey the room that you discover this dazzling array of sparkling precious rocks suspended from the ceiling - tucked away almost out of view.
What does catch your eye the moment you walk through the door is the 7.5-metre-long, 2.2-metre-high backdrop behind the front desk. You assume that it is a massive LED screen with some kind of moving display. Upon closer examination, you realise it's a massive fish tank with live jellyfish slowly moving about in playful circular motions. Creative lighting gives them an iridescent, bluish hue.
Just off the main lobby is Bar Crystal, which was designed around an antique 19th-century French crystal chandelier. Acquired at auction, it has a subtle dull sheen - unlike most of the flashy chandeliers found in these parts.
Like a jewel box, the room's walls are lined with Venetian silks in dark tones and lit with sparkling crystals and mirrors. Venetian-style mirrors adorn the walls behind the bar. There are Brno chairs, designed in 1928 by Mies van der Rohe, and crafted polished-steel orange crate tables with tempered glass tops.
The 11,500 sqft Spa at Encore has one couple's room and seven private rooms, each with its own steam shower, sauna and aroma hydrotherapy bath, and shower. The restful environment is enhanced by natural materials. The walls and ceiling, for example, are lined with what appears to be hemp. The signature treatment, a synchronised four-hand massage, is pure bliss.