I stayed at the El Cortez about a month ago when I was in town for a friend's birthday. It's right in the middle of downtown Las Vegas - so it's really accessible if you're going to be hanging out down there. We had dinner at Park on Fremont and went to the Commonwealth and the Griffin, all are within walking (read: stumbling) distance, and the Beat coffeehouse is right next door. We valeted our car, it was complimentary (remember to tip!) and were able to check in about an hour early. Our room was on one of the higher floors and was probably around 600 square feet with two beds. The beds were very comfortable and the room was clean - I thoroughly inspect every room I ever stay in and didn't find one thing wrong other than the mini-fridge wasn't plugged in so we had to do that and wait for it to cool down. The room itself was really nothing to write home about - didn't seem updated, but it wasn't super old. The chest of drawers and bathroom could use a revamp. But we paid a pretty low rate, so I can't complain. Check-out was a breeze - we dropped our keys in the box by the front desk and wandered around for a little while longer, we took our car out of the valet at around 3:00 on the Sunday we checked out.
TLDR: If you're looking for an inexpensive room while you're downtown, the El Cortez will do. It's clean, safe, in a great location, and I would absolutely stay here again.