Tamarack Sierra Lodge — Hotel in Shaver Lake

I realize that in 2025 $180w/tax isn't considered a lot for a hotel room in CA but it still felt like a bad value. Add in the fact that there's also a $25 fee for a pet it's downright overpriced. The room is large but quite outdated. Poorly patched marks on the walls, musty smells. The floor creaked and sagged in spots and the wooden flooring was cracked and broken around the non-functional fire stove. The fridge wasn't turned on so it smelled terrible and I had to wait a few hours before It was cold enough to use. How cheap and easy is it to jus throw in a box of baking soda?

The bed was rather nice, eastern king and comfortable with really soft sheets. The bathroom was adequate but again when you're in such an outdated I was constantly looking for mold. I didn't find any but it felt like you could at any moment. The amenities provided were minimal and I'm pretty sure the liquid soap was the same liquid that was in the shampoo bottle. The water pressure was good and no problem with hot water. The water has a chlorine smell to it but that's probably just what water in this area is like.

The heating worked well, and I didn't have any problems with finding outlets. There are some plates, cups and silverware. I did find it pretty funny that in the "coffee bar" there was literally a sandwich baggie of coffee. I bet that's fresh.

The outside of the lodge was pretty bad. There's no attempt to make it nice. It is, what it is. Which is a run down lodge basically. The wooden deck is uneven and sags as you walk on it. Not sure how much longer that will be attached to the building. There's rusty tools and buckets and just junk all over the property. This has no feel of a commercial property acting as a business and just looks like a lot of the poor homes you see on the drive up the mountain. This property would fit right in in Madera.

In terms of location, it's literally in the middle of Huntington Lake and Shaver Lake so unless you're entire trip is to visit one of the snow parks you'll be driving 20 minutes each direction. Seems like it makes a lot more sense to just stay at one of the lakes.

The woman I made the reservation with on the phone I'm assuming was the manager. She was always pleasant and nice but she is clearly managing multiple properties. I called the phone number listed on the website but she asked me which property I was interested in. When I arrived there was a note on the office door telling me, and another guest arriving that day to just go to our rooms and that our keys and wifi passwords would be found inside. This didn't necessarily cause any problems for me but just know that this is how this property is being operated.

It's really had to imagine that I paid the cheap mid-week non-seasonaI price for this place. I would expect a property like this to be closer to $100 a night and even then you'd still feel like you were only just getting your money's worth. When I head back to the area I'll stay at the Lakeshore Lodge/Resort next time. Wish I...

BE WARNED - there is some sort of scam going on with this company and the several companies linked to them.

Trying to keep our long story/nightmare as brief as possible: We arrived to The Tamarack Lodge at 5pm, 10 month old and 2 year old in tow, to find the office closed and no one inside. Another guest at the lodge came out and told us to check our room, the key should be in there - red flag number one. We were never issued a room number upon booking, so we immediately called the owner. He said he overbooked and did not have a room for us, acknowledging it was his fault with no real apology. He said he would call his buddies at other cabins, in a small overbooked town, to see if they had space for us. An hour later we call him again to check on the progress and he tells us to meet a guy named Jay at a gas station 20-25 minutes down the road - red flag two. At first we can't find Jay, so we try to give the owner of The Tamarack Lodge back and he no longer responds to our calls - I suppose he felt like he had handed us off to his friend and we were no longer his problem. We eventually find Jay at the gas station, that seemingly does not appear on Google Maps or Yelp - red flag three. Jay gives us directions to meet a guy name Dave at Musik Creek Inn and that Dave will show us two rooms and we can pick which one we like. Not showing at this point, Musik Creek Inn comes up as permanently closed on Google Maps and Yelp - red flag four. We meet Dave down "just pass the stack of wood", and he shows my husband two barren rooms in this desolate lodge we can choose from. Lost count of red flags at this point. He tells us we have to drive back to the gas station to pay Jay to get the keys. We're 2.5 hours into this nightmare now, hungry and tired babies and an early morning of hiking ahead of us, we begrudgingly drive back to the gas station to talk with Jay. He claims Dave should have given us the keys since we already paid the first guy, so we should drive back and tell Dave that... and I'm out. We frantically are calling around and eventually find what seemed to be the last available room in the town at a quaint little B&B (a HUGE thank you to Joanne & Greg Elliott) and didn't pay a dollar to The Tamarack Lodge or any of their questionable affiliates.

Of course, we were still charged despite not staying there. When we called to ask the owner to refund the charge, he said he would and did not. So this all ended in us disputing the charge with our credit...

I stayed one night in Tamarack Lodge in Dec 2024. The hotel pictures are not entirely clear in illustrating the characteristics of this hotel. I chose it because of the limited choices available in terms of price and distant to my destination Mono Hot Springs.||The hotel looks old and average from the outside, but to my surprises, the inside is very clean, from the carpet, the blanket, the restroom, and the towels etc. The kitchen is dated but you can tell they try keeping it clean, simple, and functional.||I saw comments about the Kitchen being dated and price is slightly high etc. I usually do not write comments but have to do some justices for this hotel, perhaps because the hotel manager is such a nice lady who is kind to me and gave me the best room... But honestly speaking, given the high cost in this area, we should appreciate the opportunities we have to enjoy the beautiful natures around the area such as Mono Hot Springs, Huntington Lake, Shaver Lake, and China Peak Ski resort etc. That said, I believe the price is within reason and I had a good experience there. I also provided some feedbacks to the hotel manager and hopefully they can improve few minor things.||I hope the information is helpful and I would recommend this hotel to...