To be honest, I held my breath when I entered my room because of the neighborhood I was in (downstown) and expected mystery stains, funky smells and a creaky bed for the price I paid......howeverrrrrrrrrr, I was pleasantly surprised and laughed at myself for the deal I had gotten. Though it's going through a renovation right now, the rooms are quite clean and pillows are nice and fluffy. Great value even though I didn't get a remote control and TV only has about 2 visible channels plus my bedside lamp was missing a bulb. I did notice most of the female card dealers and waitresses are cute 20 year olds!

Stayed at the Gold Spike bc I love the Freemont St area of Vegas. Was surprised to see that the inside of the casino has been renovated and looks pretty good. The rooms are not yet renovated but once they are I is not sure how any other hotel downtown will be able to compete. Stop in for the 1.99 breakfast. You won't be disappointed.

I stayed at the Golden Spike one night. I had stayed in Vegas for a week at the Golden Nugget and Luxor. Our flight was delayed and I tried the Plaza, they were booked, but offered the Golden Spike (one of their sister proprities). Since money was tight, the price was right.
However, the Spike is 2 blocks from Freemont Street, which means you must walk through the ghetto to get downtown. Also, the room was disgusting, yellowed, old, no remote for the TV, water was dirty and didn't work properly and there were quite a few scary characters. I don't suggest this hotel, basically you get EXACTLY what you pay for and then some. As a recommendation from the Plaza, I was disappointed, but I should have known better when I heard the price.

My friend and I had to find a hotel the very last minute and I happened to stumble upon this hotel on Expedia. The price was just right for an overnight stay. I read all the reviews here so I came here knowing that it may not be all that. So it wasn't. But surprisingly, it was pretty good too.

So here's my take on it...
REGISTRATION/CASINO AREA:
There's only one way in and out of this place; through the front door. Registration is in the back past the 4 rows of slot machines. All the broken slots are lined up by registration in front of the security desk which is an actual desk. Yes, there are no more table games either. But the signs outside say that a New Gold Spike is Coming Soon! We got there and there was someone sitting in the back who looked like she was about to fall asleep. I think i may have woken her up not seeing the sign on the counter that says "Will be back in 15 minutes". Haha. This is a first for a hotel/casino. But that was fine with us. We just walked back to the bar and got a couple of $1 beers while we watched a basketball game on TV. All the TVs are still CRT. The crowd is filled with locals waiting to go to work drinking beer. They were fun to hang out with while we were waiting for the registration desk to open.

About half an hour later we went back and the lady at the front desk was very nice. She can even write upside down which was pretty cool. It was a totally different person than the one who was napping in the back. (NOTE: everyone staying in the hotel has to show their ID. You also have to get a parking pass which is free.)

THE ROOM:
We got our room for $55. You walk in and it smells like disinfectant but that goes away once you get used to it. The TV has about 4 channels available (no cable) and you have to put a $10 deposit on a remote if you'd like to borrow one. There's no iron/ironing board. There really is no closet. There's a long bar near the door to hang your clothes. There's also an armoire where the TV is. It's just fine for a couple days. The A/C is old and it's just enough to cool your room to room temperature. The beds are comfortable. In the bathroom you'll find conditioning shampoo and soap. That's it. The water pressure for the shower is surprisingly strong.

So go down to the casino, win a few bucks and this place is paid for. There are at least 2 security guards at night outside the hotel. I didn't see one scary person outside at all at 2AM when I got back to the room.

Overall, it's a pretty good place to stay for a night when you'd rather use your money for other things while you're in LV. The people here are nice too! Check it out!