Palisades Tahoe Lodge Rentals — Local services in Tahoe City

My friends have been recommending that we stay here for the convenience of being right on the mountain for ski trips, and having a kitchen so that we could make meals if places are closed or to save some money. On those fronts it works, and the studio lofts are decent and offer some privacy, with a functional kitchen and 2 beds and a decent sofa bed.||The main lobby is the one place that feels somewhat elegant, with a nice fireplace, but the entire place has an antiseptic, soulless quality, which also applies to the staff, that it feels transactional far more than special.||My biggest objection is with their cancellation policy, which is absolutely unyielding. On our first time trying to go, Highway 80 was closed on the days that we had the reservation, and we had to cancel since there was no reasonable way to get there. Even under these dramatic circumstances (no skiing or travel possible), we still had to pay for the trip, which felt wrong and left a sour taste in our mouths.||Then on the next trip we went up ahead of a storm, paying for nights while we were snowed in and most of the restaurants in the village were closed, but we got some great skiing in. My biggest objection on that trip was that we'd requested early check in as we had to get in by ~10:30 am to beat the blizzard, and they made no accommodations for anyone (even after the cleaning crew had left), not letting us or any other people waiting into our rooms until 4.||On our planned trip this week, my friend had accidentally booked a 2-night stay for Mon-Tue for spring skiing, where the place is likely pretty lightly booked. We realized our error on Sunday and asked them if we could change it to Tue-Wed, as Monday wasn't possible for 2 of us, and we were all riding up together, with me not having a car available to get there without going with my friends (family emergency where my wife had taken the car that can go Tahoe). They said we could add Wednesday night, but they said the policy is absolutely strict and that we could not cancel Monday to shift the dates by 1 day. This destroyed what was supposed to be a great spring skiing trip with my favorite ski friends, as I had to drop out and they had to pay for a 3-bedroom place for 2 of them because we just didn't want to reward the place for their corporate greed and lack of empathy for a simple change request.||People complain about the corporatization of skiing, and Palisades Tahoe Lodge is the essence of this. Just offering a little flexibility when circumstances really warrant it rather than clinging to any profits they can make on rooms that people can't use would make a huge difference, but they're at the mercy of corporate policies that put profit miles ahead of hospitality. I'll never step foot in the place again, even with their convenience and limited amenities like a ping pong table room and indoor/outdoor hot...

My friends have been recommending that we stay here for the convenience of being right on the mountain for ski trips, and having a kitchen so that we could make meals if places are closed or to save some money. On those fronts it works, and the studio lofts are decent and offer some privacy, with a functional kitchen and 2 beds and a decent sofa bed.||The main lobby is the one place that feels somewhat elegant, with a nice fireplace, but the entire place has an antiseptic, soulless quality, which also applies to the staff, that it feels transactional far more than special.||My biggest objection is with their cancellation policy, which is absolutely unyielding. On our first time trying to go, Highway 80 was closed on the days that we had the reservation, and we had to cancel since there was no reasonable way to get there. Even under these dramatic circumstances (no skiing or travel possible), we still had to pay for the trip, which felt wrong and left a sour taste in our mouths.||Then on the next trip we went up ahead of a storm, paying for nights while we were snowed in and most of the restaurants in the village were closed, but we got some great skiing in. My biggest objection on that trip was that we'd requested early check in as we had to get in by ~10:30 am to beat the blizzard, and they made no accommodations for anyone (even after the cleaning crew had left), not letting us or any other people waiting into our rooms until 4.||On our planned trip this week, my friend had accidentally booked a 2-night stay for Mon-Tue for spring skiing, where the place is likely pretty lightly booked. We realized our error on Sunday and asked them if we could change it to Tue-Wed, as Monday wasn't possible for 2 of us, and we were all riding up together, with me not having a car available to get there without going with my friends (family emergency where my wife had taken the car that can go Tahoe). They said we could add Wednesday night, but they said the policy is absolutely strict and that we could not cancel Monday to shift the dates by 1 day. This destroyed what was supposed to be a great spring skiing trip with my favorite ski friends, as I had to drop out and they had to pay for a 3-bedroom place for 2 of them because we just didn't want to reward the place for their corporate greed and lack of empathy for a simple change request.||People complain about the corporatization of skiing, and Palisades Tahoe Lodge is the essence of this. Just offering a little flexibility when circumstances really warrant it rather than clinging to any profits they can make on rooms that people can't use would make a huge difference, but they're at the mercy of corporate policies that put profit miles ahead of hospitality. I'll never step foot in the place again, even with their convenience and limited amenities like a ping pong table room and indoor/outdoor hot...

Palisades Tahoe Lodge (formerly SV Lodge) has been my winter go-to for many years. The rooms have always been a bit beat up and sometimes not as clean as one might hope, but we have many great memories of staying here with our children, multi-family group trips, and other ski adventures. And the stellar location made up for the negatives. Unfortunately, the current, utterly inflexible reservation policy has ruined this place for me.

I've rarely ever changed or cancelled a hotel reservation, but this year has been a tough one. In January, when we were dealing with catastrophic storms, flooding and a week without power at home, we finally decided we had no choice but to cancel a planned ski trip. Palisades Tahoe Lodge refused to help in any way with rescheduling or modifying the reservation. We had to pay for an unused night and cancel the rest of the reservation. Yes, I guess we should have gotten the trip insurance, but who does that to a customer in the middle of a natural disaster? They claim it's "their duty to their owners and customers alike". Hmm... I don't see how this benefits customers, the owner lost two nights out of a three night reservation, and the management lost much goodwill.

Now I have a reservation again, but my friends and I had our wires crossed and I made it for one day earlier than they expected. Realizing the error, I tried to move the reservation out by ONE DAY (the next day is available). Again Palisades Tahoe Lodge refused to make any change, saying our only option is to forfeit the full night's charge. Clearly my mistake, but again how does this serve anyone? Instead of taking advantage of a chance to take care of us despite our screwup, and leave us happy and grateful, we are left dumbfounded at such poor service. Hopefully I can find others to go or some other way to salvage the mess.

I contrast this with a very nice hotel with owner rooms at another resort in the Eastern Sierra where I stayed two weeks ago. We had reservations for early March, but as you know, this season has been one for the history books. Bad weather and road closures were a problem for the dates we reserved. When I asked about the situation and whether they recommended we try to keep the reservation, they said we were welcome to try and make it but offered to let us cancel free of charge or reschedule to a later date. We rescheduled, and it was a fabulous experience.

As one of our party put it "I really don't want anything to do with Palisades Tahoe Lodge after this. I'll have spent as much on cancellations as...