The STRAT Hotel - Sky Pod

Critic's Review

Previously known as Stratosphere, for some reason the new owners thought rebranding it as "The Strat" would be advantagous. To me, it just confuses almost everyone over 9 years old.

The old Stratosphere used to use "Free Parking" as a slogan, and parking is still free. It's very easy to find from Las Vegas Blvd.

The bean counters have added paid parking spots; basically the spots close to the elevators. They've had to hire people to enforce it; there's no gate so I guess they stand in front of your car if you refuse to pay? Pretty dumb stuff.

You have to walk outside to get to the hotel; no worries about rain but it is 110 degrees in June.

The entrance greets you with a store to buy souvenirs with one of the many "Welcome to Las Vegas" signs you'll see throughout town.

While most people think of The Strat as a tall building with an observation deck with great views of Las Vegas, it's actually a full service hotel and casino. They have a sports book theatre like every other hotel.

A sports book bar.

And a sports bar adjacent to the sports book. Sports are big in Vegas.

PTs is a full service restaurant; unlike some of the snack bars that serve food in other hotels.

The Front Desk can be chaotic. I've never stayed here (and never will) so I can't comment on the service.

The Casino seems fancy given the lower end clientele the hotel generally attracts.

There's a Starbucks dead center with one of the slowest moving lines I've been on at a Starbucks. It took 15 minutes to service 3 customers in front of me.

There's a casual restaurant that's not too expensive, but you're not getting eggs for less than $16.

The Re-Mix lounge is a stopping point for drinks and conversation.

Some higher end restaurants are available at the casino level.

Sky Pod

The "Sky Pod" is a multi-floor area at the top of The Strat that includes an indoor observation room, an outdoor area, a snack bar and a bar. Ths first thing to know is that the locals 1//2 price deal isn't as good as it seems. The regular price Mon-Thu is $20 and $39.95 on weekends at the box office. If you have a Nevada drivers license, You get 1/2 price, but you have to buy at the box office.

However if you buy online, the weekend price is $30. and you can buy tickets for $20 on vegas.com, so there's no discount at all on that price. Adding insult to injury, they charge a $4 convenience fee at the box office, so it's costing you $14 during the week and $24 on weekend. There's no convenience fee at vegas.com, so it actually costs a local MORE on weekends than ordering online.

Once you get your ticket you have to go through a security checkpoint; you have to empty your pockets and go through a meta detector.

You then make the long trek to an elevator, which is dedicated to making trips up to the skypod. It can be a pretty long wait; it's not a fast elevator.

There's an operator on the elevator, so you don't have to push any buttons. You just stand with the others and take the long trip to the top.

When the doors open you step out into the "restaurant", which is nothing more than a snack bar.

The decor is dated; the entire room is just lined with old style couches and chairs, where you can sit and quietly take in the view.

The view is nice, but once you've looked at it for a few minutes, the interest is over.

I take a walk down and see why most people are up here; there's a happy hour at the bar that starts at 3pm.

2 for 1 drinks, so just $5.50 for a tap beer. With a $14 cover charge.

I wasn't drinking, so why the hell did I pay $14 to come up here? There's nothing going on.

The windows are pitched outwards, so you can't even hold a camera against the glass to reduce the glare.

Half of the deck was off limits due to private parties; no discount was offered.

There are elevators that go to other floors in the Sky Pod, and there are also stairs you can take up to the outside deck.

It was a pretty windy day so wandering out to the fence wasn't something I was going to do. The view is no better than from the indoor observation room.

Also part of the Sky Pod are interior rooms that offer seating and virtually zero interest.

You have to find the #2 Elevator to get back down. And then you're done. A complete waste of $14.

Conclusion

The Sky Pod experience isn't very interesting at all; it seems the majority of people up there were just there for the 1/2 price drinks. I didn't think it was sorth $10 much less the $30-$40 they charge on weekends.

Oh, and don't bring a real camera; no "long lens" cameras are allowed without approval from management.