this was our second time staying at the Stratosphere and we spent a week there from the 11th-16th of September 2011. overall we like the Stratosphere and for the price its not that bad. had an upgraded room on the 17th floor with views of the beautiful parking structure (yes, that's sarcasm). paid $399 for the whole week.
we enjoyed Roxys diner, the grill cheese is amazing but consider sharing a plate if you're not very hungry because the portions are huge. also, if you have the ace playing card you get a 10-25% discount in almost all the stores/restaurants in the hotel.
the buffet was pretty good. cost about $21 (with the discount) and it had a lot of different choices. for the price it wasn't that bad.
we liked our room had a nice comfortable and clean king size bed. 42 inch plasma TV and great working AC. bathroom was big but it did have a faint unpleasant urine odor. if you really looked you could see where the cheap upgrades were made but you get what you pay for.
the hotel is far from everything and unless you're wearing super comfy sneakers and even then we strongly suggest you get a deuce deuce pass depending on how long you're going to stay. we purchased two 3 day pass for $20 each.we did however see an advertisement where you could get a 5 day pass at any Albertson for the same amount as the 3 day one.
checking in was a complete hassle. our credit card has the visa logo that debit cards usually have. why my credit union does this I do not know but I do know that that specific card only works as a credit card and if we try to run it as a debit it gets declined. well, when checking in I wanted to leave the card open b/c we knew we were going to get Internet at some point in our stay ($11.99 for 24 hrs). the receptionist who had a very pleasant attitude told me that she would get in trouble if she left it open b/c it was a debit card not a credit card. I explained to her the way my credit union works and the way the card works but i asked if i could speak to a manager to see if he could give her the OK because i also didn't want the girl to get in trouble. he came over and from the beginning gave me attitude as if It was a great inconvenience to have to get up off his a**. I explained to him the situation and he told me that he helped develop the software therefor he knew that my card would not work as a credit card. after about 10 min of arguing and asking him to just try it he did and guess what? it went through as a credit card like i told him it would. I didn't even get an apology from him. the week went on without any other unpleasant incidents. we decided to check out a day early because we had done and experienced everything we wanted to. I was told that we would be charged a late check out fee of $20 and be reimbursed the rest which was about $60 plus tax. when we went to check out the reservation clerk was the most genuine and friendly person in that hotel. he didn't charge us the late check out fee and refunded the whole extra day which turned out to be $97.
overall this hotel is good for the price. too far if you want to be at the center of the strip.