The space was like something out of a bad movie - wood paneling on the walls, green shag carpeting. Come to think of it, it kind of looked the basement rec-room in my house when I was kid. Only there were no homeless people playing penny slots in my basement.

If you have any kind of similar memories or heard stories about The Gold Spike, erase them from your head. What has happened to this Downtown hotel is nothing short of a miracle and it’s hard to believe it’s even the same place.

New owners have redone the Gold Spike from top to bottom, basically gutting the entire facility and starting over. The casino, the rooms, the bar, and the restaurant got an extreme makeover and they added a pool, a gym, rooms, and more to create what is probably the most charming boutique hotel in Downtown Las Vegas.

The casino is small by Las Vegas standards, with only about 200 slot and video poker machines, a handful of gaming tables, and a bar that doubles as a sports book. But every hint of the wood paneling and shag carpeting is gone, replaced by stone and marble modernity. It's vaguely retro but more mid-century modern than '70s disco gone to seed.

Most of the machines are of lower denominations - yes they have penny machines still but they are the modern video style instead of the clunky reel versions of yore. Ditto the table games where you can find yourself a cheap blackjack game if you want one.

A 24-hour restaurant off the casino serves up basic American grub at bargain basement prices. Looking specials like $5.99 prime rib? This is where you can find them. They also have a pizzeria serving up slices until the wee hours of the morning.

The 110 rooms in the main building are small but completely updated with simple white, green, and brown color scheme, tasteful retro furnishings (a platform bed, a leather club chair, etc.), flat screen televisions, iPod compatible radios, wireless internet, and more. The bathrooms are even smaller but they have the important things plus soft towels and nice amenities.

The top level of the main building was converted to seven luxury suites that have everything from billiard tables to stripper poles and each comes with a gigantic outdoor balcony.

A second building next door was purchased and added 54 more rooms to the property, connected by an outdoor, landscaped walkway. The Oasis at the Gold Spike, as it is known, was once a seedy dive of a motel. Now it has updated rooms with the same decor and amenities (albeit in even smaller of a package) plus a big new pool where the parking lot used to be. It's not the landscaped wonder of The Flamingo but it's surprisingly nice and since not every Downtown hotel has one, a bonus.

A very small gym with a couple of machines and some free weights is available for guests as well.

Although it's certainly no Wynn Las Vegas, The Gold Spike is nicer than it has any right to be considering what it used to be like - an oasis in the Downtown wasteland, a hidden gem.

And I'm saying all that before I even get to the prices. You can get a standard room here for as low as $25 and if you ever pay more than about $60, there's probably not another empty room in the entire city. Even their pimped out suites start as low as $119, which means you could rent out the entire floor for you and several dozen of your closest friends to party in and probably not pay much more than $1,000 for the experience.

And if you're a member of AAA, AARP, or in the military, you even get discounts off those already low rates.

I want to make sure I'm being really clear here... despite the miraculous renovations, The Gold Spike is not a luxury hotel. It's nice but basic. And it's Downtown, about a block from The Fremont Street Experience in a neighborhood that can best be described as "having character."

But sometimes money is the deciding factor. For these kinds of rates you have two choices... stay in some crappy no-name motel where you have to drive to get to any of the fun stuff that Vegas has to offer, or stay in a nice, but basic Vegas hotel casino just a block from all of Glitter Gulch.

I know which one I'd choose.

Recommended for: people on a budget, singles who don't need to share a room.

Not recommended for: families, people who care about thread count.

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