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First Time Staying at Lake Tahoe Marriott's Timber Lodge next week

carpie99

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Any tips for a new visitor ... haven't been to Tahoe in 25 years. Staying on an II exchange clarified that I get free parking but my friends will have to pay $29/day (sounds like Harrah's is $25 a day).

What about restaurants? Breweries? etc?

Probably do a day to Kirkwood or maybe Northstar.

I am a Vistana owner so will probably do a sales presentation to hear the latest round of lies :)
 

davidvel

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Go to restaurant.com and buy a certificate for Fire and Ice (the $50 one), hopefully with a discount code. This is the in house restaurant and really fun.
 

Wei339

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We did a lot of our own cooking in the villa for dinner. We stocked up in groceries at the Costco in Reno. For lunch we enjoyed Brook's Bar & Deck in the Edgewood Tahoe Resort. A gorgeous property with beautiful views across the lake. You get free valet parking when you visit the resort. A visit to Truckee is interesting for breweries. Of course, our favourite site was Sand Harbor and Rubicon Trail for hiking.
 

tahoe

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If you are an intermediate skier, consider going to Homewood. (Disclaimer: it hasn't snowed much in a while.) They don't have turbo lifts, but have great views of the lake. Costco offers a deal:
If you decide to try it out, make sure the road by Emerald Bay is not shut down (unlikely with current weather.)

For the kitchen, there is a big Raley's market next door to Heavenly Village with lots of everything.

For a healthier (?) local food place, consider Sprouts:
It's near a snow covered beach with a nice lake view - good photo spot.
 

BJRSanDiego

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Go to restaurant.com and buy a certificate for Fire and Ice (the $50 one), hopefully with a discount code. This is the in house restaurant and really fun.
I have eaten at about a dozen "Mongolian barbeques" and have always had a delightful experience. But I was extremely disappointed with Fire and Ice. Twice, when I was there, I waited and waited and waited for the food to be "done" only to find that it was grossly overcooked. There were about another 20 people who stood there and waited. They had the burner temps turned down and we waited perhaps 20-25 minutes. The last time I called over the manager and asked him to guess what the dark brown (charred) food was and he could not. He eagerly agreed to refund the price of our food. When I've been at other cook-it-in-front of you places, it only took 4 or 5 minutes to cook the food.

Perhaps they fired their cook or he went to cooking school and it has improved. But I was thoroughly disappointed the last 2 times I was there.

I'd recommend Garwoods and Jakes on the Lake. Plus Riva Rio was good.
 

ski_sierra

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The no snow thing is a real downer considering we normally go to Colorado

You chose a statistically great time to visit Heavenly for skiing but there is a reason why most people who ski in Tahoe come from within driving distance. The conditions are not reliable like Utah or Colorado.

Heavenly has some of the highest elevation north facing terrain in Tahoe that preserves snow well. Whether you visit other ski areas really depends on whether you want more beginner skiing (Northstar) or more expert skiing (Kirkwood). If you are happy with intermediate runs, then I don't see the reason to take the hassle of going anywhere else. You are staying 100 ft from the Heavenly Gondola. Why trade a Corvette for a Chevy?

The weather will be clear and you will have great views of the lake. There is a lot of stuff to do within walking distance of Timber Lodge.
 

melissy123

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You chose a statistically great time to visit Heavenly for skiing but there is a reason why most people who ski in Tahoe come from within driving distance. The conditions are not reliable like Utah or Colorado.

Heavenly has some of the highest elevation north facing terrain in Tahoe that preserves snow well. Whether you visit other ski areas really depends on whether you want more beginner skiing (Northstar) or more expert skiing (Kirkwood). If you are happy with intermediate runs, then I don't see the reason to take the hassle of going anywhere else. You are staying 100 ft from the Heavenly Gondola. Why trade a Corvette for a Chevy?

The weather will be clear and you will have great views of the lake. There is a lot of stuff to do within walking distance of Timber Lodge.
Which is why I always add Eplus to my Lake Tahoe ski trades. Last year at this time was great. And the year before that. But not always reliable.
 

carpie99

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Which is why I always add Eplus to my Lake Tahoe ski trades. Last year at this time was great. And the year before that. But not always reliable.

We always buy flights on miles way before the trip making cancellations difficult anyway.
 

davidvel

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I have eaten at about a dozen "Mongolian barbeques" and have always had a delightful experience. But I was extremely disappointed with Fire and Ice. Twice, when I was there, I waited and waited and waited for the food to be "done" only to find that it was grossly overcooked. There were about another 20 people who stood there and waited. They had the burner temps turned down and we waited perhaps 20-25 minutes. The last time I called over the manager and asked him to guess what the dark brown (charred) food was and he could not. He eagerly agreed to refund the price of our food. When I've been at other cook-it-in-front of you places, it only took 4 or 5 minutes to cook the food.

Perhaps they fired their cook or he went to cooking school and it has improved. But I was thoroughly disappointed the last 2 times I was there.

I'd recommend Garwoods and Jakes on the Lake. Plus Riva Rio was good.
It's certainly not gourmet by any stretch, but we haven't experienced what you did in half a dozen visits. But if anyone goes it's better to get 35% off than to pay full price.
 

BJRSanDiego

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It's certainly not gourmet by any stretch, but we haven't experienced what you did in half a dozen visits. But if anyone goes it's better to get 35% off than to pay full price.
We'll be at the Timberlodge late this summer. I'll check out the Fire and Ice one more time to see if they have improved their cooking technique. I wasn't aware that we'd get 35% off. The typical discount for the Marriott card is quite a bit less - - like 10 or 15%. Perhaps with 35% off, it might make sense (assuming that they didn't overcook everything). Perhaps they are offering such a deep discount to bring back some of the disenchanted customers (like me) that they had lost.

Btw, I'm in North County also. Not too far from Lawrence Welk.
 

davidvel

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We'll be at the Timberlodge late this summer. I'll check out the Fire and Ice one more time to see if they have improved their cooking technique. I wasn't aware that we'd get 35% off. The typical discount for the Marriott card is quite a bit less - - like 10 or 15%. Perhaps with 35% off, it might make sense (assuming that they didn't overcook everything). Perhaps they are offering such a deep discount to bring back some of the disenchanted customers (like me) that they had lost.

Btw, I'm in North County also. Not too far from Lawrence Welk.
No not a Marriott discount, restaurant.com (see post #2).
 

tahoe

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I think the concierge card is worth 10% off. Also I don’t believe you can charge to the room anymore for hotel points.
 

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Even though the ski conditions are poor we have really enjoyed our week here. Will definitely try to make it back again.
 

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We just got back from Timber Lodge about 10 days ago. It was great. Our room was a little far from everything, but it was a fun resort. We ate in a decent amount as well. The Base Camp pizza place was great. I heard many mixed reviews about Fire and Ice. We rented everything from Heavenly, which was great, but we could have saved a couple of bucks by going next door. Everything you need is within walking distance. Including another Marriott, that has a wine tasting one of the nights we were there.
 

DAman

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Even though the ski conditions are poor we have really enjoyed our week here. Will definitely try to make it back again.
Ski conditions got better today. We had some nice powder runs and some decent tree skiing. Ok visibility was bad later in the day for me and it was cold. And yes the snow is a little thin in spots even with 9 inches today.

Tomorrow should be good and there is a possibility of more snow in mid March.

My group will try Fire and Ice tonight after a craft beer or two in our unit.

I do like the Timber Lodge.
 

carpie99

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Ski conditions got better today. We had some nice powder runs and some decent tree skiing. Ok visibility was bad later in the day for me and it was cold. And yes the snow is a little thin in spots even with 9 inches today.

Tomorrow should be good and there is a possibility of more snow in mid March.

My group will try Fire and Ice tonight after a craft beer or two in our unit.

I do like the Timber Lodge.

Hit the trees this AM under sky chair before heading to airport. Was excellent
 

zentraveler

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Reviving this thread to ask about which area to request for an upcoming visit. We will be in a 1 bdrm and have booked 2 weeks in mid November. It is hard to tell from the resort map what to request: https://tinyurl.com/marriott-timber-lodge-map. We would be interested in quiet, view of something that is not restaurants or pools (i.e. greenery of any kind) and ideally not "far from everything" as rcm87 noted in. post #15. Any suggestions?

Restaurant reviews above very helpful!
 

tahoe

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The loudest place by far on weekend evenings (pre Covid) is the area near Fire and Ice. I don't think the pool gets too loud (especially in November), but the quietest area is likely the mountain view off Bellamy Ct.
 

Robert D

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Reviving this thread to ask about which area to request for an upcoming visit. We will be in a 1 bdrm and have booked 2 weeks in mid November. It is hard to tell from the resort map what to request: https://tinyurl.com/marriott-timber-lodge-map. We would be interested in quiet, view of something that is not restaurants or pools (i.e. greenery of any kind) and ideally not "far from everything" as rcm87 noted in. post #15. Any suggestions?

Restaurant reviews above very helpful!
I'd suggest a room overlooking the pool on the 2nd floor (2nd floor is actually 3rd floor in Alpine) in the middle of the Alpine building near the stairway. You can walk down the stairway one level and cut through the pool area or go out the back door and get anywhere very quickly. You'll have no highway noise and noise from the pool is no problem.
 

zentraveler

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Just talked to them about our Nov 8 arrival and for future visitors, they start assigning villas 2-3 days in advance of arrival and she was happy to hear from me 12 days out. No particular person or department to talk to; whoever answers the phone will note preferences and send them on to the room assignment department (who apparently does not take direct calls).

Also an interesting note about housekeeping: even though we have two separate week long reservations, they will not do a room clean between the two weeks if we stay in the same unit to "protect the safety of the staff". They will do this, however, for $100. The logic of this seems not to warrant comment.

And also note that at least as of now in covid times, Fire and Ice does not show up on restaurants.com. I know all of these resorts and restaurants are hurting from all the months of shutdown so it seems like paying full price for these goods and services is the right thing to do. (And will hope the chef does not overcook our Fire and Ice meal which we will get for take out some night.)
 

Robert D

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When we were there for 3 weeks this summer, they did a full clean once a week. We had to vacate the room before they would enter but they did the clean at no extra charge. I think whoever you talked to didn't have a good grip on what they were talking about. Be sure they understand that you have the right to get a full clean one a week if you're staying for multiple weeks.
 

zentraveler

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When we were there for 3 weeks this summer, they did a full clean once a week. We had to vacate the room before they would enter but they did the clean at no extra charge. I think whoever you talked to didn't have a good grip on what they were talking about. Be sure they understand that you have the right to get a full clean one a week if you're staying for multiple weeks.

Thanks RobertD. I tried to talk to her about this (and how little sense it made) but I suspect you are right and she just doesn't understand. (We are happy of course to vacate the room and would pick a day when we are going to be away all day.) Or they have just changed the policy. I will talk to them when we check in and at the very worst we will be out $100. And will report back on the room we received.
 

zentraveler

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Reporting on our room assignment with advice for anyone staying in the future. We had a dedicated 1 bdrm from II (as opposed to the 1bdrm portion of the lock-off units for some reason) and were assigned unit #6265, which we love (and given that there are floor above us 6365, 6465 etc probably have similar views).

We are on the second floor poolside, odd numbered units of the Sierra building with reasonable access to the lobby etc, close to a staircase and next to an elevator (which we never hear). Usually we do NOT request poolside because it is louder, but not here, as it is away from the commercial side. We are the first room on this corridor closest to the lobby and as such, we don't actually look at the pools but have a few lovely snow covered pines to look at. We also look down a walk way with a view of the gondolas. The unit is incredibly quiet and beautiful to look out of. We have had larger Marriott units in our day, but it is quite adequate and has a washer/dryer and a full kitchen. Would have liked a king bed, but can live happily with a queen given all of the pluses of this unit. Photos below.
IMG_0028 (2).jpg
IMG_0030.jpg
 
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zentraveler

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Another note for future travelers. There is a Raley's grocery and lots of other stores right around the resort and south on Rt 50, but about 3 miles north is a lovely, peaceful, smallish shopping center that is easy to use (Round Hill Shopping Center). Has a really good Safeway, a Wells Fargo bank, a post office, inexpensive gas station and some restaurants. Plenty of parking, never too crowded and a pretty drive. And out of the crowded SLT scene.

Can highly recommend Los Mexicanos Grill and Cantina (losmexicanostahoe.com). Great food and the best "cadillac" margaritas I have ever had (truly and for $10). All available (including the margaritas) for take out. Also BaseCamp pizza was really great. I live in a city with great pizza and theirs was really great.
 
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