Sierra Lodge, Mammoth Lakes

When we checked in we were greeted by a helpful and friendly staff. I love the location; just a minute or two to the Village and right across the street from Angel's restaurant. It's not a luxury hotel, so don't get your hopes up. It's a place to stay and sleep when you are busy all day having fun on the mountain. If you want luxury (and I do from time to time) go to a resort, but if you want a budget hotel in a town where everything is pretty expensive, then the Sierra Lodge will do just fine. I especially appreciated the refrigerator and microwave (prefect for Angel's leftovers) in the room. My husband and I stayed in a room with a king-sized bed. We had a roomy balcony perfect for storing our bikes. The free continental breakfast was plain - bagels and danishes with coffee and orange juice. I have stayed in various Mammoth Lakes hotels, cabins and condos over the years and I understand what they all have to offer in terms of amenities and services. There are times when I prefer heated pools and saunas, there are times when I prefer a home-like setting and there I times when I prefer to crash at the end of a long day playing on the mountain. In summary, if you are visiting Mammoth to ski or ride the bike park and are only interested in lodging as a place to rest, then this hotel will be a good value for the money.

A week before my trip to Mammoth, I booked a reservation for 2 nights for nearly $100 (not including tax) the weekend after Thanksgiving. Making reservations during this busy weekend was a good idea especially since upon arrival we noticed there was no vacancy at the Sierra Lodge and nearby hotels. The Sierra Lodge is efficient. The rooms are in desperate need of painting and the furniture is old, but the place was clean and the people at the front desk were very nice. Our stay included a continental bfast which really was coffee and bagels, but this is more than other places. The one thing to be warned about are the especially thin walls. I stayed in room 112 right next to the stairs and could hear everyone at all hours of the night. Voices and noises are so clear it's difficult not to think people are in ones room. The lodge is centrally located. There is a very good restaurant across the way from the lodge and there is a shuttle stop which provides service to the lifts every 15 minutes.

How do spell rude? G-E-O-R-G-E. The front desk people are so rude it's unimaginable! Their website totally misrepresents the "lodge". You would be better off staying at the Motel 6. "Tastefully decorated" rooms? Not even close to even decorated. Unless you call stained bedspreads, stained couches, chipped would furniture and peach laminate decorated. Kitchenette? No, your kitchenette is a counter, no coffee pot or any of the other kithcen appliances. The decal on the door of the room stated the last time the fire department inspected the room was 1989. I think that was when the room was" tastefully decorated" and the last time it was cleaned. We pulled back the sheets and we found hair! Yes, the small curly ones! Gross. We called the front desk and they said, "We’ll then just leave". So we did (at least they didn’t charge us for the 30 minutes we were in the room). We went to the Holiday Inn for only $10 more and it was awesome!

My family is a skiing family and we travel extensively for competitions throughout the West. Sierra Lodge has always been more than cooperative with our "flakey" schedules and is always happy to try to give us our "favorite" room if it is available. The lounge room is so pleasant in the morning especially if a fire is burning and the snow is falling outside. Their covered parking is a real blessing in heavy snow storms. They have been a part of our Mammoth experience for years with reasonable rates, comfortable beds and room extras that make our crazy travel requirements easier. The only thing I dislike about Sierra is that the hallways echo quite a bit and the noise is very loud in the rooms when people talk and laugh etc loudly late at night. Not a frequent problem usually.

We checked in early and were able to look at a couple of rooms. Good thing: we were able to get a room in the front facing the hills. It also faces the street, but it was not too noisy. The woman at the desk was somewhat rude. When we asked for a different room, she said, "you can go and stay somewhere else." We asked them to clean the following day without scented products, and they had not. When we complained about it, she said the same thing! Other than that, the room was clean and comfortable. A separate dressing area next to the bathroom is a plus. The "breakfast" is packaged bagels and sweet rolls with orange juice and coffee and a selection of teas.

I booked my room for two nights. We checked in about 3:00pm to a rude front desk person. She chose not to answer the phone 3 times and stopped helping me to chat with the maids. There was no air-conditioning in this hotel just a fan and a broken lock on a screen door which I was afraid to leave open all night. How safe is that? The back hallway had wet carept with mold visibally present and had a really foul smell. The next day, the continental breakfast consisted of three bags of bagels (20 bagels at the most)for the whole hotel. The next morning, the whole hotel was being woke up by the maids wanting to clean the rooms. We were woke up at 8:48am. Many small things did not work in room but could overlook if you don't mind leaking toilets and noisy bed springs that creaked everytime you moved. That same morning, being dis-pleased with the accommodations, I went to check out (not wanting to stay another night) and the front desk man was flat out nasty to us and escalated the conversation into a yelling match. He would not reimburse our money for the second night and told us to speak with the owner who would be there later. The owner would not give us are money back. He stated he wouldn't because we booked in through Yahoo Travel. He hung up on me before I could say too much. Paid $133.33 for one night. Charged another $133.33 for the second night that we didn't even stay. Way too much for the service you get.