

Should you want to start being “real” yourself, the decked-out, 5,000-square-foot, 3-bedroom penthouse is available for a stay. It’s latest claim to fame is that the Oasis was home to the 31st (!) season of MTV’s The Real World (yes, that show is apparently still running). The courtyard pool is a bit on the small side, but not too small for a hotel with fewer than 50 rooms. The bathrooms are more spacious than normal, with spa showers, but no tubs. Ultra-contemporary touches include co-working space in the lobby, bike rentals, and turntables with a selection of vinyl. Look past the fact that the rooms are referred to as “crash pads” and appreciate that they’re custom designed with beautiful minimalist art, comfy furnishings, and solid walls to keep them quiet. It’s a serene, 44-room getaway from all the millennial-oriented fun downstairs. I have to say: the Oasis lives up to its name.

Oasis is the hotel portion of Gold Spike, a formerly sketchy hotel and casino that was transformed into a trendy bar and playground (the Living Room offers pool tables and shuffleboard, while the Backyard features giant Jenga blocks and boards to play cornhole). That initiative, called the Downtown Project, hasn’t yet created the promised Las Vegas utopia (in fact, the success of the endeavor is still being hotly debated), but one of the results is that the “Project” went into the hotel business. When Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh moved his company into Las Vegas’ old town hall and invested $350 million of his own money into buying properties and backing small businesses who promised to move into Downtown, it looked like the area was on the verge of a total turnaround.
