Postcard Cabins Big Bear, Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy — Hotel in Running Springs

This was my first time taking a trip with Getaway house and I absolutely recommend it. I know when I was looking to book I scoured the web looking for good information and helpful reviews of the cabins so I hope this helps!

The Pros: I booked my cabin very last minute for a 24 hour trip during Memorial Day weekend and they were able to accommodate. Getaway House offers both early check in and late check out for $25 additional each. This was SO worth the money, I really recommend it. I wish all hotels had these two options.

The drive to the campsite from the highway is through the most beautiful windy mountain (drive carefully!) and once you're up the mountain you're only about 10 minutes from the site during which you'll pass plenty of businesses and homes so fear not, you're not totally off grid ha.

The view!! I totally lucked out and was given the cabin "Martha." Martha is situated on a small lot with one other cabin and has a beautiful view of the trees when standing in your cabin and when in bed it has a marvelous view of the sweeping canyons and mountains around (best of both worlds!). I had no immediate neighbor for the night so this cabin was incredibly peaceful, I was able to really relax and getaway.

They supplied a wonderful goody basket for my dog and a personalized note for me -- very cute.

They also provide a great heating and cooling system (seriously that cabin cools down FAST), books to read, games to play, pots, pans, cups, mugs and common kitchen needs like salt, pepper, sugar, creamer, olive oil etc.

The hot water in the shower was great in my cabin and my cell reception with verizon was pretty strong! Even though it was nice to avoid social media and texts (as is recommended) it was really comforting to be able to listen to a podcast and watch Netflix in the evening with my hotspot especially when traveling alone.

Oh, and the night hours are so quiet because of the strict 10pm sound curfew. That was wonderful.

Cons: Communication. I'm not sure what was going on but it seemed as if they avoided responding to any concerns I had along the trip, even to help dispel them. Weird.

Booking: You cannot choose your cabin when you book online and attempting to call their phone line was futile, after 3 attempts. I left voicemails however, and maybe they listened because I did in fact get close to what I wanted, so can't really complain!

Beware, your neighbors might really make or break this experience for you (being that the cabins are so close together.) I lucked out in my area because my neighbors were amazing, kind, and quiet.

There really was no element of "seclusion." I could see 4 other cabins, multiple cars and a road from my cabin window plus anyone on a casual stroll walking by my cabin could make direct eye contact with me if I was sitting on my bed. I didn't necessarily mind, but if you're really wanting to have a trip where you don't see anyone else, I'd keep that in mind. The best cabins for some seclusion are the ones that are on the outer parts of the loop.

Price: I wonder if the price has gone up? I've watched reviews of these cabins from only a year ago that quote them at $125/night. They are now around $450. While I still think the stay is absolutely worth it, it would be great, at this price, if they stopped charging for things like firewood, s'mores, coffee, tea, swiss miss etc. Half of these are items that come included at much cheaper hotels around the country.

All in all, would I stay here again? 100% I'm already planning my next (much longer) trip and will probably snag one of their "cabin packs" which is a much better deal. This was the most fun solo trip ever, I didn't want to...

After seeing so many friends’ photos at Getaway Big Bear, we were super excited to visit! We planned to visit earlier, but delayed our plans due to the pandemic. But by August, with contactless check in and the distance from other cabins, we felt comfortable having our visit!

The cabin is super cute. Everything is small, but functional. I appreciated the hooks along the walls to store things, but a couple more would’ve been helpful (we were traveling with pups, so we had leashes and pup gear to hang up and a few extra hooks would’ve been magical). The giant window overlooking the trees was lovely. The bathroom was expectedly small, but it’s a bit difficult to close the door once you enter (which you need to do in order to get to the shower) give the placement of everything - a pocket door would’ve been a great solution for that and made the cabin feel less cramped.

The kitchen had the essentials - salt, pepper, olive oil, and heavy duty foil - which was great. The campfire set up was good and there was firewood available (for purchase). The cabin information doc did say there would be starter wood / kindling (or something of the sort - can’t remember the wording) available, but we didn’t find any. We managed to start our fire regardless, though.

We were a bit disappointed to discover that some of the dishes were dirty (covered in grease) when we went to cook our first meal. Given the pandemic, we expected Getaway would have ensured cabins were sanitized thoroughly between guests, particularly when it came to things like eating and cooking utensils. The Getaway team was very responsive and apologetic when I texted about it, but didn’t really offer any resolutions. I followed up the next day and asked for a credit towards the firewood we used, which they agreed to, so we felt a bit better about it.

Resting by the window felt like resting under the stars… but more luxurious :). We did end up having to close the blinds though, as one of our pups didn’t seem to enjoy having them open in the evening. He spent hours panting, tossing and turning, so we ended up not getting much sleep. We ended up leaving a night early because our pup has a lung and heart condition and we were worried about his breathing being exacerbated by something in the evenings… We got to squeeze in an early dinner the second evening before leaving, though, which was still lovely.

The only other thing I think that could be improved is the local tips provided by Getaway. We looked on the website and info felt a bit limited. As newbies to SoCal and first time visitors to Big Bear, we would’ve loved a more comprehensive idea of what there was to do in the area (hikes, lakes, trails, restaurants (in normal times), etc.)

All in all, we had a great time. We loved spending time outdoors and cooking over...

I have been to the Getaway cabins two times and have enjoyed them dearly. However, this time. from the booking and all the way to the stay, I had a less than OK experience. Below are the reasons why:||Booking-||I accidentally booked with full price for 3 nights from 12/17-12/20 while there is a promotion of 25% off Fall Savings going on. I contacted their customer service via email multiple times on the same day, asking if they could refund and let me rebook using the discount code. The responses are textbooks and never solved my problem. And when I kept checking in on the process. They simply never replied. It is a mistake I made that they could have easily helped, but they chose not to. The customer service is not there, and I was disappointed.|| Contact methods-||Per last point, you will never have someone to truly speak to when you run into problems. Either email or text message. And I think they share the same phone line, so sometimes when I ask for a question, their answers are not coherent.||||*The stay and safety issue-||#1 Information accuracy:||We got there according to the route direction that 330 is closed. However, later on we found out it was not. ||We confirmed there's no burn ban in the area. However, when we spoke to the locals at the grocery store, they confirmed they claimed otherwise. ||# Lack of service:||We asked for a lighter as both lighters from the cabin were out of gas; the text customer service said it would be delivered, but it never happened. ||# Safety-||I had a slip and fall incident on the property right at the grill bench. We stayed in Renae cabin. The grill bench is at the edge of a slope with gravals. The distance from the bench to the slope is less than 1 foot. Due to the lighting and the dangerous set-up, I slipped and broke my knee. I told them right away, and the response is nothing but robotic and disgeniune. No follow-ups, check-ins, or next steps on how to improve the setup to be less dangerous. ||||It's the service. ||Also I'm posting the same exact comment on TripAdvisor because I don't trust their official website on how to...