Top of the Tower for the Strip (Stratosphere Tower)

Member Name: HS28

Product:	Stratosphere Tower
Date:	08/03/09 (263 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The Tower and the price to stay

Disadvantages: A little outdated and location is not central

I booked my trip to Las Vegas for Easter 2007 in the January and ended up booking the Stratosphere for my stay. I used Expedia to book the hotel and flight which ended up being with US Airways. Anyway for some reason Expedia is cheaper to do a combo deal than to try to get the Hotel and flight yourself and I decided on this hotel as it was 3* on the strip and had good reviews.

Cost/Room

I booked in the January for the Easter and booked 10 days and the total cost for the flights and hotel was £700 but the hotel price was approx £200 out of this. They do good deals where some nights are cheaper or free. I booked a standard twin room at room only. Although the room we had faced the car park and no real view it was extremely spacious, cleaned and maintained well and had what you would expect in a good standard US Hotel. You can pay more for better quality rooms though if wanted and views

What's special about the Stratosphere?
The Stratosphere Hotel is an older hotel and most famous for its tower. It has the most scary thrill seeking rides on the top for the dare devil thrill seekers. There is Insanity, X-Scream and Big shot but I was too scared to go on any though. It also has a dining room at the top and an observation tower which has fantastic views of Vegas. Everyone in the other hotels comes here specifically to the hotel to go to the tower. Staying here you have to pay a small resort fee to but in the booklet you get free passes to the observation tower as well as to use the hotel swimming pool which is on the roof. The pool was nice and refreshing and it is themed to make you think you aren't on a roof and there are breath taking views of the mountains in the background.

Location/Amenities
The hotel is one of the older on the strip and only 3* but I was happy with the accommodation and amenities in the hotel and nearby. It was on the north of the strip and we got there by mini van from the airport. You could easily use the hop on hop off bus which stopped outside the hotel to get to the main strip or Freemont Street. Some days we ventured down to the monorail station or even walked up to the Venetian which is in the middle of the strip and I'm not a keen walker! Taxis are not that expensive either to take up and down the strip. The Hotel has a lot of things in it which include a huge casino for those wannabe gamblers out there, where you actually get free drinks etc just for looking busy on the machines or poker table etc as long as you tip the them they come back! The hotel has many restaurants choices although we didn't eat in them as we were too busy out and about. I preferred to visit Dennys for breakfast that did the most amazing full breakfast with waffles dead cheap and there was one nearby. The hotel had its own shopping mall but not full of designer brands more down to earth shops. This is worth a trip around and is pretty big.

Verdict
I found this a good hotel to stay at as a base although it is a little out dated like the older hotels are. I think the higher starred and themed hotels are all showy in the public areas which you can visit anyway freely but the accommodation isn't that much better considering the price tag you pay. This is one of the best of the 3* of Vegas and the staff were always friendly and helpful whilst we stayed there. There are too many details about the hotel to cover here so I would recommend using expedia or other travel websites or the stratospheres own website for more detail. If you want to be extravagant though I would look for the 4 or 5 star hotels like the Wynn or Mandalay Bay. But you definitely can't miss a visit to the observation deck at the Stratosphere.

To get to the top of the tower it is under $14 for adults and under $8 for children and you can get a mock photo of you at the top in the queue to go to the observation deck. If you want the rides you add the price into you pass to the top to include a ride or more which can make it around $30 or more

Summary: A Good 3* Choice for a stay in Las Vegas with stunning views