The Stratosphere hotel ruined our Las Vegas trip in so many ways. My wife and I had booked and planned our trip 5 months in advance, with the primary focus on seeing Barry Manilow at the Hilton (my wife is a HUGE fan and the reason we waited 5 months was so that I could get her the best seats, which turned out to be 2nd row center). Needless to say she was as excited as a little child on Christmas morning during the 5 month waiting time! Now, let me break down this horrible place by category for easier reading...
CHECK IN PROCESS - We arrived at the Stratosphere hotel on Thursday afternoon and we had to wait 40 MINUTES in line at the registration desk due to the fact that they had only 3 clerks, and what made things worse was they would help anyone who just walked up and skipped the line. After about 10 minutes I was fuming and decided to just walk up myself, and was promptly told to get back in line since I wasn't checking out or switching rooms, or that I wasn't a gold card member of the hotel. Finally got to the clerk after all that time and asked why it took almost as long to stand in line for check-in as it took to fly down from Washington State! All I got was a smile... no apology or even a caring look.
THE ROOM - I had anticipated a small room with the package I booked so I called in advance to upgrade to a larger room, that according to the hotel web-site had a minibar, room safe and a coffee maker. This room was not only a dump with a view of the parking garage across the street, it didn't have the above mentioned items. I called the front desk to inquire about this and was again promptly and rather shortly told that only the suites had these items in them, and "if" she could find one available it would cost an additional $275!!!! I just hung up in disbelief, I mean come on folks... we're not rich and snobby people, but at least a coffee maker would be nice to have, right?
FOOD POISONING - Friday night we ordered a sample appetizer plate from room service that contained 2 chicken wings, 2 chicken tenders and a couple quesadilla's. My wife ate the wings and we shared the rest. Within 2 hours she became VIOLENTLY ILL and was up all night and into the next day vomiting, in obvious pain and discomfort. She was only able to get out of bed all day on Saturday to use the bathroom. Very typical signs of food poisoning.
OTHER CASES - At the airport returning home, I mentioned this to the ticket gal at the gate and asked if my wife could get her seat early so she could sit and rest while the other passengers boarded - and she told me she'd heard of MULTIPLE cases of food poisoning from the Stratosphere, and that we should contact them and let them know they have yet another case.
FOLLOW-UP - When we returned home on Sunday my wife saw her doctor the next day and he confirmed it was indeed food poisoning.
BARRY MANILOW - Of course we missed the show, the whole reason we were in Vegas to begin with. She was devastated, to say the least.
HOTEL STAFF - Other than a couple bartenders and waitresses, they were all very indifferent to us - almost to the point of being rude. Like I said before, we're not old, rich or snobby people - we're just a couple of regular folks in our 40's who like to have fun, a few drinks, dance a little and gamble. The dealers at the tables seemed like zombies to me, no personalities and all of them acted like they totally didn't want to be there. Of course, with this hotel I can see why... they probably treat the employees like the guests.
Folks.... there's no reason on earth to stay or play at this place. They all could care less if do and they act like it. Vegas is a wonderful town and there are many great hotels that's worth the prices they charge! Either that, or stay at a Motel 6 while you're there... at least you'll have hot coffee in your room in the morning.
