The Golden Gate is capitalizing on its history as the oldest hotel in Las Vegas by promoting the chance for guests to stay in one of the 10 original rooms at the 1 Fremont Street landmark.
“This was actually the first building in Las Vegas, so we thought there was a little bit of a history element there,” owner Derek Stevens says. “Nobody would have really known about the original rooms if we didn’t let them know.”
The Downtown Las Vegas property, which opened in 1906 as the Hotel Nevada, has more than 100 rooms, but it started out with just 10. The room promotion has been aptly dubbed the Original 10.
“These rooms welcomed ranchers and railroad men. Singers and starlets. Mobsters, middle-America vacationers and honeymooners. The Original 10 are part of the bones of Golden Gate. These rooms have seen things... They have stories to tell, but they’re mighty good at keeping secrets,” the hotel’s website proclaims.
Compared with a suite at a trendy Strip property, an Original 10 room wouldn’t stand out, but that’s not the point, says Kyle Creek, a frequent Las Vegas visitor who has stayed in one of the rooms. “It’s Las Vegas’ past that makes it such a cool place,” Creek says. “Personally, I’d always prefer to stay at a place like the Golden Gate that has some history.”
Besides boasting the oldest hotel rooms in Las Vegas, the Golden Gate also operated the city’s first casino and housed its first telephone—with the number 1. Celebrities like Frank Sinatra and other members of the famed Rat Pack have hung out there.
“It’s pretty cool to think about the fact that these rooms, this is where the whole thing kind of started,” Stevens says. “Times keep changing, too, so you need to make sure you have things like Wi-Fi while you also celebrate the past.”
Since the hotel started advertising them, the Original 10 rooms have become popular with customers, though they cost a bit more than the $1 a night they went for in 1906, Stevens says. Guests, won’t pay a premium for the rooms, however. They go for the same rate as any of the hotel’s other rooms, Golden Gate spokeswoman Angela Ciciriello said. And for a $25 upgrade, the Original 10 package can include two tickets to the nearby Mob Museum, along with a Golden Gate notepad and postcard.
“The Mob Museum is always looking for ways to give tourists more reasons to stay and play in Downtown Las Vegas,” says Ashley Miller, the museum’s senior director of marketing and sales. “We tell the story of Las Vegas, so having partners such as Golden Gate, which has preserved a piece of its history, is very fitting.”