Alder Inn — Hotel in South Lake Tahoe

My review is of course, overall gonna be pretty glowing, but I do wanna say that if you’re driving an electric car, this location does not offer any charging stations and the ones that are nearby, the blink chargers in the Whole Foods parking lot don’t seem to be working as of October 2025. They will charge you but your charge light indicating that is receiving power from the utility never illuminates. So blink gets money and you get nothing in return. with this failure, it’d be nice to see hotels, offering ChargePoint or similar reliable level two chargers that could be left plugged in overnight.

…and Queue the superlatives! Location is top notch and just a short walk to the harbor and the beach where you can rent kayaks, etc. If you go to the other direction, uphill, you have heavenly resort which offers world class, snowboarding, and ski skiing.

About two minute walk is some pretty wonderful Himalayan cuisine at Shangri-La Restaurant! There is a Thai food place as well as sushi (Yugen Cuisine). A little further afield I have to recommend the Maria’s Mexican restaurant, specials at Tipsy Putt& Freshies Ohana on South Lake Tahoe Boulevard.

Transportation: it’s easy to get around town even if your car is charging They have bird/ Lyft scooters all over the place just a few minutes walk from Alder Inn that you can rent like $.50 a minute. that’ll get you around on the bike paths here. 🛴

I think my favorite part about alder Inn is that they have a fully fenced area where you can safely let your service animal or your traveling pet companion off leash to run around and sniff. The streets next to Alter in our nice although probably want to keep the little squirt on leash out there because of cars.

Pro tip if you have booked your stay through Booking.com or one of these other places that inserts themselves, you can negotiate additional time using text message to extend your stay and most likely it’s gonna be a way cheaper rate. It’s inexpensive because they are not staffing people here in town aside from the staff that clean the rooms and keep the premises super spiffy. Very clever and very affordable.

All in all: two thumbs...

The manager (Sam) is the ruddest manager on earth. The way I was treated by the Alder Inn property is scandalous and a complete misunderstanding.

I booked the property for one night, and for some unknown reason, my card was declined. I was asked to provide a different card, so I provided the details of my partner’s card, with whom I was traveling. The booking was confirmed, and the card was charged the amount for the reservation.

Later, while I was in a location with poor reception (I’m currently traveling in areas with limited network access), I received a message from the property asking me to get in touch. I did so, though I don’t quite understand why it’s my responsibility to communicate with the property directly. The manager explained that there was an issue with the card being under a different name and requested that I send copies of identification documents via WhatsApp (which I find unacceptable, as these are too sensitive to share through such channels). I offered to present the documents in person upon arrival if necessary.

During our conversation, which was interrupted due to poor reception, he said he would check if someone could verify the documents on-site. This was the last message I received from him. After that, I received an email informing me that my reservation had been canceled.

I called the manager (his name was Sam) again. He raised his voice at me, showed no interest in resolving the issue, and refused to help. He then said he didn’t want to continue the conversation and hung up on me. I have never been treated like this by a hotel manager.

I am unclear on what else I could have done. I updated the card information, contacted the property, and offered to present identification. I had to find alternative accommodation, which was more expensive. As you can see, I have already booked it. The payment for the canceled booking has not been refunded to me.

To the hotel owners- consider who...

The reason someone stays in a motel as opposed to a resort, other than usually lower cost, is because generally they have plans outside where they are staying, and are staying there to have a good night's sleep. We wanted to enjoy our stay at the Alder and the raving reviews on Booking.com, induced us to spend $711 including taxes, for three nights, to stay at this motel. Sadly, for all three nights, we suffered a miserable inability to have a good night's sleep.

First, the motel had a really old mattress which caved in, in the middle, so we invariably both roll to the middle. We asked the motel if they could change mattresses but of course they couldn't... they said they added a topper. It felt exactly the same. We both tried our best to adjust and sleep, but simply couldn't.

Second, the place has no air conditioning so one is forced to sleep with windows open, or suffer a smallish room with no air circulation (this seems like an old motel, likely 60s or 70s). It has an outdoor jacuzzi which it says is open from 10am to 10pm. However, on night 3, a group of people decided to throw a party in it until 3am, keeping everyone awake. We asked them to stop but they ignored us, so we called the hotel's emergency number. Someone answered and 20-30 mins later the noise stopped. The following morning, separately, another guest and the hotel's manager both took credit for stopping the late night party. Neither mattered, because we had lost yet another night's sleep.

Frankly, between the mattress and the partying, at $711, it's inexcusable. As I mentioned at the outset, we wanted to enjoy the Alder, but after three nights of weak to no sleep, we were happy to escape. Take our advice, if you want to sleep, unless you're a glutton for punishment, please ignore the Booking comments... and go anywhere else... you...