Cedar Crest Cottages — Hotel in Tahoe City

Cedar Crest Cottages is a small collection of individual housing cottages in Homewood, CA on Lake Tahoe. The hotel is located just off main road W Lake Boulevard (Route 89). It is literally a pull into the driveway off the road and each cottage has its own parking space. This makes for great travel planning as this main road will take you to all of the hotspots (Emerald Bay, etc.) The Homewood ski resort is a 1 minute drive south and Tahoe City is a 10 minute drive north. Each cottage is locked through a security system that allows only those with room cards to enter. Also, the managers of the cottages stay on site and have an office as well for easy access any time of the day. The lake is a 1 minute walk across the road, where you can view the sunset/sunrise on a small stretch of private beach. You could also access a variety of trails by foot, and the popular ones were a short car ride away.||||One of the main pros to Cedar Crest was the organization. The staff had everything written out on one sheet and they also went over all of this during the into tour. They were very welcoming and personable; we visited their office various times throughout our stay. We stayed in the Osprey cottage and it was the perfect size for two people. The amenities included washer/dryer, full kitchen, spacious living room with couch/chair/TV, and even a bath and a half. This luxury is often overlooked, but awesome when two people can occupy separate restrooms. All rooms were incredibly clean and made you feel like this cottage was prepared just for you.|| ||Location (5/5) ||+Amazing location that is in just off a main road, but tucked away from all the action of the tourist areas||+Tahoe City 10 minutes away, Emerald Bay 20 minutes away; lake is right across the street||+Walking distance to the top restaurant on our list, West Shore Cafe. Driving distance to Fire Sign Cafe, our favorite brunch spot||+Private porch and shared fire pit area makes staying outside enjoyable||+Parking lot right outside your cottage|| ||Room (4/5) ||+High quality furniture and King size bed||+Plenty of drawer space for clothing||+Thoughtfully decorated so it felt like your room and not just a rented space.|| -No air conditioning, ceiling fan and window still allowed for nice breeze|| ||Bathroom (4/5)|| +Large space with shower, vanity space with large counter, and hanging area for clothes; all separated||+Large mirror to get ready in front of||+Up to date counter top and fixtures; giving the bathroom high end elegance|| ||Additional Space (5/5) ||+Living room couch and chair were very comfortable and nicely spaced. ||+The kitchen was spacious and had everything you would want. You could cook meals here, prep food, etc.|| +The fridge was brand new and large. You could store food for 8 people.|| +The out door seating in the front and back of the cottage allowed for peaceful morning coffee. The intangibles make your stay worth remembering.|| ||Comfort (4/5) ||+All areas of the stay were very clean. The lighting, artwork, and overall ambiance makes you feel at home.||+Soft bedding and large bed. Lots of space throughout all the spaces.||+Quiet floors and walls; and never heard noise from the neighboring cottages. || ||Service (5/5) ||+Smaller/family owned, so personalized service reacts quickly||+Assisted with any questions we had whether it be by phone or a quick visit to the on-site office. Did not intrude on our stay at all.||+Made you feel safe whenever you left; you knew they were watching over and caring for all...

Summarized review: The reason I am giving this lovely hotel 3 stars overall is largely because of the wifi, and shower pressure/heat. The wifi was just, incredibly slow. And the shower pressure was very low. If that doesn't bother you, this could easily be a 4-5 star hotel. This hotel had incredible amenities, besides the wifi and lack of A/C.

Pros: The hotel buildings themself: they are lovely. Since the hotel "rooms" are more like little homes separated from each other, this makes for a potential romantic area, as well as a family area. The amenities: the hotel provides cooking supplies, including a tea kettle, coffee maker, and range of tools even going as far as a potato peeler and ice cream scooper. The wildlife: In my trip there may have been a lot of spiders spotted in the bedrooms, but outside the room we saw a bunny, and three mice. Walkable distance to the lake Laundry machines and Dishwasher Fans to make up for no A/C.

Cons: No A/C. No extra set of sheets incase you used the feature of the beds to split them into twins (in woodpecker) For the lack of housekeeping, some kind of cleaning tool for the floor would help for longer term stays As previously mentioned: the wifi. The wifi was so slow that I couldn't even connect my Nintendo Switch to it. This aspect is especially inconvenient considering the low network in the area. No physical office to ask for assistance. No bathtub (in woodpecker) The shower pressure was very low, and the heating was not very strong either.

Would I recommend this hotel? Yes. If you want to stay at Tahoe in a nice room that's not overly expensive, this is a great option. However, the cons mentioned could be a nasty inconvenience for some, and I think that...

My family rented the 3 bedroom Sparrow cottage at Cedar Crest over the 4th of July weekend. The day before arrival they called to inform us that our refrigerator was broken and let us know we could either move to a different cottage or they would move in a dorm sized fridge for us. I appreciated the call and that they check things like that before your stay. They also gave us a discount for the inconvenience! The cottage was well equipped with everything you need. Pots and pans, cups , plates , silverware , toiletries . All the sinks had liquid soap and lotions which I appreciated. It was very spacious, nice and clean. We loved opening all the windows to let the fresh cool air in. It was a perfect location on the west shore with a beautiful bike/ walking trail right outside the cottage that went all along the lake. It was close to some really good restaurants ( Firesign, WestShore Cafe and the Tahoe bakery.) The only drawbacks to our stay were that our particular cottage was the closest to a busy road . It was pretty noisy when you had the windows open , but didn’t bother you when they were closed. The WiFi did not work at all during our stay. They reset the internet several times but it never worked . The cell phone reception is terrible in the area so it was difficult to look up trails, directions, activities etc without WiFi. You couldn’t get any reception at all if you were downstairs . Also, if you were In the bedroom downstairs you heard a lot of noise from the bedroom above you . Overall, it was a great stay with very accommodating and responsive hosts . The cottages are beautiful and in a great location . We would stay here again but would make sure the WiFi was fixed...