Thank you once again to SurgRN911 for adding another listing for me.

Background:

Every year my family gets together for a family reunion of sorts in Las Vegas. Normally my aunt stays at the Golden Nugget and we stay somewhere else in Downtown. This year was going to be different than previous years. Normally every year my parents would stay at The Plaza and many times we would also stay there.

However my mother is not getting around well at all so with my father being gone she decided not to come. In addition my dad’s other sister has passed away which means my Aunt Judy is the last of her generation left alive so we wanted to be there for her because we new it would be hard on her.

Because prices are The Plaza are now higher than what I consider fair for the quality of room we look somewhere else recently. Our most recent two visits we have stayed at the Four Queens and the Gold Spike.

Being the penny pincher that I am, I checked the websites of the various hotels and the major travel sights then book a room at the Gold Spike. I was able to book us a King Room for only $30.00 per night.

After reading a couple of reviews on another site about the Gold Spike I was a little nervous but I feel that travel should be an adventure.

The Hotel:

The hotel is located in Downtown Las Vegas on Ogden Avenue one block north of Fremont Street and next block east from the Lady Luck Casino.

The Hotel is small especially by Las Vegas standards as it only has 110 guest rooms.

Getting to the hotel is easy. After picking up our rental car at the airport we just head toward downtown on I-15. We then got on US Highways 93/95 and got off at Las Vegas Blvd. After turning right on Las Vegas Blvd you just go two blocks, make a right hand turn and you are in front of the casino, then make another right to find the parking lot.

Check In:

Checking into the Hotel was fast and easy. First you do have to go through the smoky small casino and the counter is next to the elevators. The hotel counter is very small but all the people who worked there seemed to be very friendly.

The Room:

The room is pretty standard sized for an average motel room. As you enter the room there is a closet on the right. Instead of having one of those mobile metal racks for your suitcase the Gold Spike room had a wooden box to put your suitcase on along with a rod for hanging clothes and a shelf above the rod.

The bathroom was two the left that included a sink on one side, full size tub on the other and the toilet right between the two.

Once you went into the main room there was a dresser to the right with the TV above it and the bed on the left. There was a window looking out but our view was of the roof of the casino and all you could see was the a/c for the casino.

The bed was a canopy bed with the canopy having a South Seas type style. There were two nightstands on either side of the bed with lamps. One interesting feature was the canopy of the bed had three lights in it above the head post, which made in nice when first getting into bed.

If you like to have 2 billion TV stations (hey your Vegas you don’t need it!) you will be disappointed at the TV selection since they only have broadcast TV.

Positives:

-The bed was actually one of the most comfortable hotel beds I have ever slept on. The bed was firm without being hard as a rock yet it was not worn out like many motel beds even in more expensive places.

-The room was large. There was plenty of extra space to move around the room.

-The room was clean.

-There was plenty of towels, washcloths and soaps plus two bottles of shampoo.

-Not on the Fremont Street Experience so you don’t have the noise from concerts to all hours of the night.

-One block from the transit center so you have easy access to the rest of the valley and the strip.

Negatives:

-The bathroom. It was impossible for my wife and I to be in there at the same time. While most people say your only in there for a few minutes, we usually where trying to get ready at the same time which was not easy here. (They should expand the bathroom farther out since there is plenty of open space in the main room. Even taking a couple of feet for a larger bathroom will still leave a large room).

-Some parts of the room where worn out and needed updating.

-When we first checked in there was no light bulb for the lamp on the dresser.

-The A/C unit worked too good at times. I guess it would be wonderful in the summer but when we where there the temperatures where moderate to cool and the putting the A/C to low didn’t do that much.

Coffee Shop:

The Gold Spike has one restaurant and it is located in the northeast corner of the building.

My first impressions of the place where not good as my wife was not feeling good so I went to the coffee shop to get her some soup and I also was looking for something to eat. I was able to get her the soup which was $1.75 plus $.50 because it was take out but I was not able to get anything because they where having problems with their equipment.

However the morning we checked out we did have breakfast in the restaurant since we had a coupon for a buy one get one free meal.

In their coffee shop you actually have to go up to the counter to order then the food is brought out to you. I wanted Ham Steak and Eggs so my wife went up and ordered and found out that because of the coupon you had to order the same exact thing. Then she ordered a half order of biscuits and gravy for herself.

The coffee shop had two people working the counter and both of them where extremely friendly. One downside is that use plastics forks and knives plus paper plates in the restaurant instead of real plates and silverware.

Because my wife ordered the biscuits and gravy I received a complementary plate of them also. They also gave us a full order for the price of a half order and because of the amount of food we where not able to eat it all.

The Coffee Shop is open 24 hours a day and almost all their items are under $6.00. They also have many specials so if have lost all your money in the casinos the restaurant will not cost you an arm and a leg.

Checking Out:

Checking out was quick and easy. I took our keys down to the desk, they asked if I wanted to leave it on the credit card, I replied yes and we where on our way. After my experience with the Four Queens (I will be writing about that one soon), I was waiting for the other charges such as the local calls we made or the parking but they did not charge us for any of this.

Overall:

This hotel is not The Wynn but then again we only paid $30 a night for this hotel compared to hundreds for The Wynn.

It is convenient to the Fremont Street Experience but not on the street so you don’t have the noise from the concerts and other special events held there.

If you want a good place to spend the night and not break the budget the Gold Spike is a good spot to pick.





Recommended: Yes