Guest User
April 17, 2023
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 tub options.