Nita Lake Lodge — Hotel in Whistler Resort Municipality

I’ve been fortunate to stay at several 5 star hotels, including those in Whistler, and Nita Lake Lodge blows them all out of the water. I’ve visited twice (once pre-pandemic and once last weekend), and I’m convinced this is one of the top stays in North America.

The staff are the friendliest, most genuine, and helpful I’ve encountered in Whistler. We came for our anniversary and the staff left lovely hand-crafted chocolates in the room with a hand-drawn note that clearly took time to make. I honestly can’t say enough about how kind and engaged they all were, from the front desk person who baby talked to my dog and gave her a huge biscuit to the maintenance staff who made sure the pool and hot tub were at the perfect temperature to the FANTASTIC barista at Fix Cafe who made us delicious (and adorabe - see pics) grizzly bear lattes! To be honest, I was a bit surprised how great the staff’s morale was given the pandemic and the staffing crisis etc. It seems like they actually enjoy the guests, the job, and each other.

The rooms are stunning (even the standard ones), with super high ceilings, beautiful cozy fireplaces, and a great mini “kitchen” which makes it easy to have snacks or drinks in the room. We actually made a charcuterie board and just stayed in the room chilling by the fire the first night. The lighting is warm and inviting. The tub and shower are some of the nicest I’ve ever seen - a massive tub big enough for two adults and a separate extra-large, glass-encased rain shower. They even have heated bathroom floors - such a nice touch for cold toes! Best of all, it is extremely quiet. We did not hear neighbours or people in the halls, even on a busy weekend. After years of staying around Whistler and paying a LOT for high-end hotels, I still haven’t seen anything as nice as the rooms at Nita Lake.

The lodge itself is beautifully decorated (especially at the holidays); the epitome of Pacific Northwest without being cheesy. It has a casual and welcoming feel, never stuffy or pretentious despite the obvious quality and attention to detail. All facilities were extremely clean and well-maintained. The lodge is easy to navigate, from the multiple restaurants to the many secluded outdoor sitting areas with heaters and fireplaces to the tranquil spa. We especially loved spending lots of time in the outdoor hot tub and plunge pool, both heated. Watching the snow fall while sipping drinks in the hot tub was truly unforgettable - like being in a snow globe. We were very surprised that it was basically empty for hours every morning - it was like having our own personal “Scandinave” included in the price of our room.

We brought our dog and I cannot express enough how dog-friendly this lodge is. There were many well-behaved and adorable dogs, and the staff were definitely “pet people,” very happy to have them there. They have a generous pets-in-the-room policy and also have pet sitters/walkers available for hire. The snow-covered trails surrounding the hotel were picturesque and very accessible for dog walks and exploring.

The spa staff were also very kind and accommodated us for a last-minute nail appointment the day of. The spa is modern, fresh, and tranquil - again, unpretentious but refined.

For us, the location was perfect. We were looking for a quiet, peaceful mountain retreat away from the typical Whistler tourist/party culture. We don’t ski/snowboard, but Nita Lake is about a 6 minute drive to the main village (and ski areas), and we did chat with several guests who drove from the hotel to the village and/or took the free, on-demand shuttle.

Lastly, the price. All other hotels that had even half of these amenities were nearly double the price. Having stayed in some of those hotels before, I feel that Nita Lake Lodge could charge far more and still be an excellent value.

This is definitely a place we will recommend to friends and revisit...

Check-in: I understand it is busy season and early check in was not possible. We were told that we will be notified if our room was ready before 4pm. We waited and waited, however we were not notified via any channels until we came up to front desk to ask at 4:08pm. Since we were here 3 hours early and have completed the check-in process, it could be a better communication that notify us whenever the room is ready even it has been passed 4pm. I was trying to give a fair feedback to the front desk but the blond lady was acting impatient and reluctant to pass the message to the management.

Room condition: First floor: Mini fridge appeared quite messy, the tray was tilted, milkers and creamers were scattered in the fridge. Kleenex in bathroom was on its last lag(yellow pieces) and there was no spare one in the cabinet underneath the sink. Shower gel: I was not going to write this email but realized I had to when my wife told me on Wed night that the shower gel my kid and I have been using is strangely thin and mixed with water or something. She realized the shower gel in first floor is very watery, white colored and bubbly, whereas the one on second floor has completely different texture - clear and thicker. That really grossed me out that we have been using a shower gel someone mixed with unknown liquid. We trusted Nita lake’s standard therefore felt very surprised that house keepers would leave the shower gel like this for the new guests.

Upstairs: The station where placing shower gel and shampoo was very dirty, I saw some conditioner stains on the bottle and a long hair visibly sticked on the conditioner bottle. And also a long blonde hair sticked high up on the mirror.

Front door: A screw dropped from the front entry, and fortunately none of us got hurt, including our furry member.

Check-Out: The lady who helped with the check out was unprofessional as below, She only asked me if she could process the remaining balance on my card without providing a summary of my bill. She mentioned the confirmation will be delivered by email in 10 to 15mins. Since there was a billing error during my last visit in June, I was hesitate to leave right away and decide to wait for the confirmation. After a few mins, i approach the lady again and asked if she could print out a paper copy for me. She was not willing to do so at first and ask me to wait for the email confirmation. after bugging her a couple times and eventually she provided a copy of the bill. The whole process could have been smoother if she could just show us the final bill on the Ipad (Like when we check in) to avoid all the hazard and frustration.

We spent $2,800ish on this visit and we was expecting a way better service than we received. We tried to contact the front desk manager on the Dec 15th, and sent two follow up emails on Dec 18th, but only the assistant manager Brandon got back to us on Dec 18th. However, we are not quite satisfied with how these complaints are being handled. We are getting the feeling that because we are loyal returning guests.

We used to recommend this hotel to our friends as the previous experience was deserved the price we paid. It is sad that we have to spend our time to post this review to a hotel we used to...

This is going to be a bit of a challenging review. We recently stayed at this hotel for a company party so we did not pay for our rooms. If I had paid, I would be probably a lot more disappointed. So I am going to start with all the positive things about this hotel. First off, the staff are really great, they actually made the stay for us. They are friendly and accommodating and try their best. When we arrived, we were supposed to have a one bedroom lake view suite. We were told that there was a mixup, so we were given a mountain view, one bedroom suite on the 3rd floor. We were told that the view was still quite nice, and would be a full mountain view. This is definitely not the case and we were looking out over the parking lot and some sort of structure. When we first arrived, there was no snow, so the view was not pleasant. The next day it snowed, and that definitely improved the view because things that were an eyesore were covered up. The one bedroom suites in this hotel are not cheap so my expectation would be that you would have options in the room relevant to the price you are paying. There is no minibar so if you want to have a drink when you arrive I would recommend bringing your own drinks. They have glasses and wine glasses, but there was no wine opener. There is a very small coffee maker in the room with two small pods of coffee. The coffee cups supplied do not fit in the coffee maker so you have to tip them in order to get the coffee properly into the cup. My husband and I agreed there was some very odd things about the room that just didn’t work for the price and were actually kind of irritating. I would recommend that somebody in management stay for a weekend in one of these suites, and they would probably understand the irritating little things. For example, the master bedroom has one dim light and bedside tables. If you want to get dressed, you have to take everything into the bathroom to see properly. You can’t open the curtains to get more light because the room is overlooking the parking lot and people can see you dressing. The living room has a couch and two side chairs none of which are comfortable. A very nice sectional would suit this room much better and make it a comfortable sitting area. It may seem like I am nitpicking but if you’re going to pay the price that you pay for a 1 bedroom suite it should feel luxurious. This room does not.

The downstairs lobby and the Den restaurant and bar are all beautifully decorated and again. The staff are super nice and accommodating. The food in the Den restaurant was good for dinner but breakfast was extremely expensive.

Unfortunately, the hot tub jets were not working.

The underground parking was very convenient, and we really appreciated how you could go directly from the garage to your room without having to cut through the lobby.

So as I explained there are just enough annoying things to overshadow the...