Lake Tahoe KOA Journey — Hotel in South Lake Tahoe

Horrible Experience but could have been a wonderful camping experience for us…

In a nutshell - if you are a big group, stay away from this campsite; if you have kids looking forward to have a fun camp experience, stay away from this campsite; and if you look like you don’t speak English, stay away from this campsite.

It was Friday late afternoon when our group arrived, most are coming straight from work. We had 3 campsites at the very end of the site (2-3 mins. drive from entrance where the parking is located, around 10-15 mins. to walk). Unloading was a challenge as any non-first time campers can agree on. It was really late when the unloading and set up were somehow completed. Definitely it was a long day for us all with kids (ages from 3 years old to 10 years old, plus 3 senior elderly, 1 physically injured at that). We made a mistake, we were not able to move 3 of our cars parked at our campsite despite the initial information provided to us of the limits in the car parked. The following morning, will full intention to move the cars we weren’t able to move the 1st night, we unloaded the rest of our stuff, and before we can even move our cars a staff came to our campsite and started with high-pitched and condescending tone “does everyone speak English here!?!” we were all stumped, surprised and didn’t know what to make of the question and before anyone could answer, she continued “YOU NEED TO MOVE YOUR CARS NOW!” And told us considered that as warning as we will be fined if we commit the same again so we did as we were told and moved our cars. And that was it, we went on with our day, enjoyed the experience and brushed it off and tried to put it behind us.

Before sundown, another staff visited our camp again (despite the compliance) and sternly reminded us of the car parked on our site and at this time we are still fully compliant. Around past 9:30pm as we were quietly winding down for the night, we noticed a golf cart part in the dark just past our campsite as if surreptitiously waiting on us to do something they do not approve of and observing our actions like criminals. And then past 10pm, the staff came out of the dark stood by the road with two hands with bright flashlights waving in all our directions, yelling on top of his lungs, “reminding” (was his word) that we cannot be noisy past quiet time 10pm, the limit of the cars parked, and at this time we asked and clarified in calm inquiring tone are we being noisy now? And he answered still yelling with all the other campsite hearing this “NO, these are just reminders!” and continued on with “no car alarms can be going off” and we clarified again that the car alarm that went off was not ours as we get the feeling he was thinking or even assuming it was one of our cars just because we have cars parked more than the limit that night. Then at this point he became very defensive and saying he was not there to argue but give us reminders and then we started to speak up and called them out how disrespectful they are to us since the morning and how they could have just talk to us professionally, no yelling after quiet hours (while they were violating their own rules) and without the whole camp getting disturbed as they are so rightly overly concerned. Then when they couldn’t get the same reaction they got from us in the morning “brushing it off and not speaking up” they started threatening us with “you know what I’m going to call the Sheriff and kick you all out from MY camp now?” And another staff has joined him at this point and agreeing and nodding to that like “yeah do it manner” But for what? We were compliant, we didn’t park more than the limit at our site and we were not noisy as they have confirmed.

At the end of the day and I always say this, people always have two choices in every situation, be kind or be rude. It saddens me to see that it was always easy and quick to choose the latter. No one can demand respect from someone who it is not given respect in the...

We’ve been camping with KOA across California since 2014, this is our second time camping on this specific location and this was by far our most disappointing experience. We are in our 30s-40s trying to have a fun camping time with our kids and our elderly parents. We are not party animals by any means.

Admittedly, we may have gotten a little carried away with laughter on our first night. However, we were respectful and compliant with campground rules moving forward. The next morning, we were surprised when a staff member approached us and began with, “Everybody speak and understand English?” This was incredibly offensive and came across as racially insensitive. Still, we gave the benefit of the doubt and assumed they were just trying to ensure clear communication. The staff member then reminded us of the one-vehicle-per-site policy. Though we had multiple campsites booked, we immediately complied and moved extra vehicles to the designated overflow area.

Later that evening, another staff member approached our group to remind us of the 10 PM quiet time. We were well aware of the rule and even reminded each other around 9:45 PM to keep our voices down and prepare to wind down. We are a group of professionals — registered nurses, an attorney, a clinical lab scientist, an architect, an occupational therapist, and an engineer. We fully understand English and have every intention to follow campground guidelines.

At 10:12 PM, the same staff member returned, flashing a flashlight into our campsites and loudly calling out, “Campsites 1, 2, 3 — it’s quiet time! No music! No loud noises! No car alarms!” We politely acknowledged the reminder, reiterated our understanding, and clarified that the car alarm was not from our group. We admitted to the previous night’s noise but assured him we were keeping things quiet this time.

Despite this, he continued yelling, saying, “I’m not here to argue. I’m just reminding you. If you don’t want to comply, I’ll call the sheriff and get you all out of my campground.” One of our friends calmly and respectfully tried to explain that while we fully acknowledged and respected the rules, we did not appreciate being spoken to in such a disrespectful and public manner — especially since we were not being disruptive at that time. We even asked him if we were being too loud right now, and he said No. Ironically, he was preaching quiet time while he himself is yelling across the campground.

This entire situation could have been handled far more professionally and respectfully. We’ve always had good experiences with KOA in the past, but this left a lasting negative impression. Sadly, this will likely be our last time staying at this location — or possibly with KOA altogether.

I don’t typically write negative reviews, but this experience warranted one

7/15/25 I would like to reiterate that we are NOT opposed to and are NOT FRUSTRATED with the repeated reminders; rather, IT IS THE STAFF’s CONDUCT in relaying the reminder to us-as paying customers, the YELLING is UNACCEPTABLE . WE as nurses, we understand the importance of professionalism, even when repeating ourselves to patients; we maintain our composure and communicate professionally with everyone, regardless of the circumstances.

Also i want the owner to know this. The Bathroom maintenance staff commented to 2 people in our group saying “BASIC QUESTION? WHY DOES THE WOMENS BATHROOM ALWAYS SO DIRTY? WHEN I JUST CLEANED IT SO WELL YESTERDAY? IT SEEMS THAT THE PEOPLE WHO USED IT ARE UNEDUCATED” (what kind of staff say these to customers) I, as a nurse would never ever complain to my patient the care i have to do every day, even if I have to do it again and again, multiple times in a day, I would never let my patients feel caring for them or providing the service(my job) is a...

We as a family and group of friends have looked forward to this camping weekend at KOA. While we had made a mistake of not being able to comply with said parking rule the night we arrived at the campsite we had made sure to do so after being given a verbal warning the next morning. We as a group had respected the said warning despite of how we were approached, being asked by the lady staff as an introduction to her stern warning “you all understand English?!” We continued on our day as to not ruin our weekend.

Before the quiet time came we made sure to remind each other to keep our voices down by 10pm, which you know as a big group is always challenging too but we were able to comply so as to not upset the staff anymore. Before quiet time came, we noticed a staff cart out the road observing us for quite a long time (maybe about 15 minutes or more). which we ignored anyway since we thought they were just observing campers. Sometime past 10pm to our surprise, both staff came down their cart and stood on the other side of the road (closer to the other campsite even) and the male staff started yelling towards our direction while holding his flashlight pointing towards us. Again this was past “quiet hours” Reminding us and by us I mean just our group and nobody else in the surrounding sites of how we should be quiet (which we already were) and was even confirmed by the staff when we asked him why we were being reminded this in the first place. Instead of feeling “reminded” I felt that this was embarrassing our group in front of the other neighboring campers. I then brought back the incident in the morning on how a lady staff addressed our group, I walked towards both staff so as to not make it seem that we were yelling at them since they had placed themselves about 20ft from us. The lady staff goes “yes that was me” with this grit in her face and so I said “well that was rude”, she responded “no it’s not, I ask everyone that to make sure they understand!” So when has it been a standard to ask guests/customers if they understand English? Is this a KOA policy for staff? If so please tell me. Because even in my profession this question is never asked unless there is a clear language barrier between the people communicating. When we tried to explain ourselves more, staff became increasingly defensive to the point of threatening us of getting kicked out and calling on the sheriff on us when we were just trying to explain ourselves to them.

There are so many instances that I can put into quote in here but I believe this is enough to show how KOA staff handles their guests. They had so much time to hangout to observe us when they never even bothered to check if their bathrooms were well stocked not having paper towel since the morning. You think KOA would be a nice place to setup your home away from home but clearly this location is not.

I believe that customer service is a great part of overall experience and even if KOA may seem like a practical place to camp out on, please don’t expect that the staff will give you that welcoming experience. We were met with obvious disrespect, we were treated like we were squatting there and not a paying customer. Respect should be given both ways. This could have turned out differently had the staff here acted professionally.

So yes it is time to move on from KOA especially KOA Lake Tahoe. There are a lot more options out there that is not KOA! So we’ll definitely explore those for our next...