It's some type of bromeliad, perhaps Guzmania ?

Vriesea perhaps?

It is a Bromeliad, but there are so many. Keep the leaves wet and the roots quite dry, or at least in very well draining soil, which is usually not potting soil. Better to keep it in bark chips and water it from above.

The "red spear" is the flower stalk. The flowers are small blue or yellow (usually, other colors more rarely) things that will come out from between the scales and last for one day. The red spear will last a very long time, and the plant producing it will slowly die. Usually small plants will form at the base of the original plant and produce the bloom for the next year.