The Lodge At Government Camp — Hotel in Sandy

I really wanted to love this place. Out of our 2 week trip to Oregon, I thought this place would be the best because it had 2 bathrooms and the kids would have their own space. Speaking with the reservations department prior to our arrival was a challenge as we were coming in from an area that had no cell service. We were instructed that our key would be in lock box 4 when we arrived. We had no idea were lock box 4 was, no emergency number that could be called and no emailed instructions for check in. Once we arrived at the property we promptly found our parking spot and several doors in from us our spot listed 6, 2, 1, 3, 5…. No number 4! I called Timberline Lodge front desk since they are affiliated with The Lodge at Government Camp. They said the lockbox was next to the door in front of our parking spot. Well there wasn’t a door, only a fence with an air conditioning unit in it. So we had to drive 30 minutes up to Timberline and back down to get their key for our unit. Thank goodness they had a key! Once we got back to the property, the key only opened a side door and not the main door by the elevator. So we get in to the building and the keys they gave us don’t actually open the unit!!! My husband shimmies with the door a bit and it able to, basically break into the room. It would have been nice to be able to call an after hours number for assistance! Once in the room, it was sweltering so we had to open the windows because the loft area (which the kids were sleeping) was so hot, it was hard to breath. Here is the biggest issue I have with this property, the back door doesn’t open. It is broken and they say as much in their welcome letter we found on the counter. We are on the second floor. If there was a fire in the hallway, we would have to figure out how to jump out a window as the back patio was completely unaccessible. Fast forward to later that night. We all shower to have dinner (4 people). The hot water runs out after the first 2 people and the last 2 are in the middle of their showers and forced to wash off in FREEZING cold water. Once that shock is over, we head to dinner and when we return the room is still boiling. We open all the windows that we could but that night was so hot. We couldn’t breath. By the end of the second day the place had finally cooled down. We had shut down the heat/fireplace immediately when we arrived, but it retained to much heat. On the last day we use the kitchen for dinner. We find plenty of cookware and plates, etc. but oddly no colander for pasta. They provide a washing machine but it is a washing machine/dryer combo which took a little figuring out (thank goodness for google). They provided very little instructions on how to use the fireplace, washing machine, etc. There were 2 keys in the room that were used to access our unit and the building since the keys from Timberline didn’t really work. On the day of check out, guess what we find…. THE LOCKBOX! It is next to the chainlink fence. It was so random and confusing getting into this unit. I really did want to like this place. The staff were friendly enough when I spoke to them but considering no one called me back when I left a message about our check in issue. Mind you we checked in on a Saturday evening, but you would think that someone would call back on Monday when they got into the office, just to see how the stay was considering the craziness of our check in ordeal, but NO. The unit itself is nicely decorated and located in a very central spot in Government Camp. It fit everyone comfortably but the heating issue, the fire safety, lack of hot water and the fact that none of the outlets worked in the loft was disappointing for sure! I wouldn’t stay again,...

A mixed review coming, but ultimately I would not recommend nor return. The primary issue is noise and condo layout both of which really impacted enjoyment. ||THE GOOD: ||* for us, the location right in the middle of town was a plus. This is a 3 story large building with the general store and offices on first floor, about 8 condos on the second floor, and some sort of housing on the third floor (small kids who ran around constantly, and it sounded like they were wearing wooden clogs from Holland -not so good).||* the general store on first floor was handy for a few forgotten things, but $$$$$.||* covered reserved parking was nice||* the unit is cute and the sofa and lounger were very nice. ||* the biggest benefit was having the Timberline VIP pass!! Being able to drive up to the resort by skipping the traffic line was seriously beneficial. ||||THE BAD:||* the noise. Poorly constructed building that shortcutted installation of good soundproofing windows, and skimped on internal wall, floor, and hallway materials. Final result is lots of noise from outside parking lots/commercial area, people in the condos and hallways, and from those on the upper floor. Based on prior reviews, I was hoping that noise levels in the winter would not be to the level of those in the summer because we didn’t have to open windows for a breeze. NOT. Poor soundproofing dooms this place. The 10 pm “quiet time” rules are window dressing only. ||* the condo layout. Our condo “sleeps nine”. Without details or pictures provided, we assumed at least two bedrooms. NOT. It is a 1 bedroom with sleeping area for 7 in the second floor open loft. It was a surprise. Might work for a large nuclear family or best best friends, but the jammed up nature of 7 beds in one open loft left a lot to be desired. No privacy and once 1 person was up, everyone else was too. ||* kitchen equipment was sparse. Minimal utensils.||* our unit was not very clean. Dirty dishes in cabinets, carpet in LR vacuumed down the middle only (pretzels and fuzz balls behind loungers and in corners), the kitchen cabinets were full of crumbs and spilled stuff. ||* the is no table to eat from! There is a kitchen bar with two chairs that bring you up to eyeball level with the bar surface. Useless, so figure that 9 people will be eating on the floor. ||* only 1 tv in main area, not sure why unit instructions talk about upstairs and downstairs TVs. We didn’t watch that much TV but did want to tune in to college bb games. Again because of the layout of the unit everybody was forced into watching the college game.||* no instructions on how to operate gas fireplace. Odd remote that we could not figure out, So we ended up controlling it manually. It got way too hot, we figured out how to turn it off, but then slept with the windows open which is insane and grossly inefficient for winter time.||||All in all, the negatives outweigh the positives, so I cannot recommend and I would not return here,...

My family and I returned after a few years when we enjoyed our stay. Can not say the same this time around. We liked the closeness to stores, and small sledding areas. But the customer service not so much. ||||1. Trash from previous people are still found in areas not visible unless you actually look ( under the couch, behind the bed, under the TV set). We have kids so we are constantly looking for lost things under stuff…. and not tiny crumbs kind of trash, I’m talking Masks, cups, USED q-tips…GROSS! ||||2. Every time we called because we needed something (towels, the initial bathroom soap, replacement for a broken bed ) they’d say “we’ll see what we can do or if we can get someone to go down there. || Why have a lodge office so far away without a 24hr area close by to attend to paying guest at the condos!? At one point I had to say, “what does that even mean!? Can you help me or is there another office that can help” they said not at that time (4pm). || House keeping should be putting soap in RR before check in, so not sure why we had none upon arrival (4pm). || ||||||3. To get a hold of the “help” desk you have to hang up and call over and over or you’ll get an automated message saying they are not available if you just press “0” instead of hanging up (sometimes over five times).|| And as mentioned above, sometimes they don’t know if they can help and have to ask a manager…. To get towels and hand soap to a paying guest...