Last fall I decided to take GG up on their offer of two free comp'ed nights (and some free play) to attend a Southern Nevada Chip Club meeting. My train of thought was, the GG is "historical" and I should stay there at least once.
I checked in and received an old fashioned room key with a stern lecture "not to lose this, as these keys are not easily replaceable". Up to room 411 I went and within 2 minutes I was on the phone with Darrell telling him that I had probably made a mistake...and should have at least thrown a sleeping bag into the car trunk.

Room 411..were people really this small back then? You have to go outside to change your mind..
....and what was with the 3 foot tall furniture?..you couldn't watch TV from the bed if you wanted to (the TV was lower than the foot of the bed!)
Note the dark spots on the walls - everything that had ever been spilled/sprayed on the walls in 50+ years was still there...ewwww!

Since I had to be at the Chip Club meeting in less than 2 hours I decided to just take a shower and head for the meeting. I'd figure out what to do about the room later.
The bathroom...EEEEK!......notice the layer of "yuck" everywhere, missing tiles and mold....

When I got out of the shower, I did my best Olympic skater impression to prevent my tootsies from touching the filthy floor by "skating" around the floor on a thread-bare towel. I then noticed no blow dryer was in the bathroom. I called downstairs and found out that I could "borrow" a hair dryer for 30 minutes with a $5 deposit. Yup, I was real happy to hike downstairs with wet hair to be given another lecture about "do not steal the hair dryer".
(Yup, I'm in Vegas buddy and I have no intention of holding up a casino cashiers cage for thousands of $$ - I'm here to swipe hair dryers! Yeesh!)
Actually I was lucky (according to the desk clerk) as the hotel only has FIVE hair dryers to loan. (At this point I'm wondering what the Nevada penalty is for beating a hotel desk clerk over the noggin with a hair dryer!)
I finished up my hair... noticed I still had a few minutes before I had to leave for the meeting....went downstairs, got my $5 back and headed straight to the Fremont....where my host laughed hysterically when I told her I was at the GG and she kindly comp'ed me 2 nights at the Fremont.

As a parting shot, when I was leaving the GG with my luggage, the elevator got stuck between floors and it took several firm jabs to the button to get the elevator going again. I literally RAN to the Fremont!

Just one more picture....the wall plug next to the bed...yup, SCARED to sleep here now! Again, notice the "wall sloppies"..gross!

So yes, I have been to the Golden Gate...Once...for 2 hours!

I have heard the GG has remodeled most of the rooms - but not all....and they're still tiny rooms.
$20 a night isn't a bad price, if you can get a remodeled room - if not, plan on a stop at Walmart for a cheap sleeping bag (I never was brave enough to pull the bed covers back), disinfectant and a hair dryer .

After the end of last years' convention, Darrell and I took Terrible's (Flamingo & Paradise) up on an offer of 2 comped nights...VERY nice room (they even had coffee makers and Nintendo in the rooms) and their prices are excellent....great pool and decent coffee shop too!