Marriott Grand Residence – Lake Tahoe

Nice but NOISY!

I’m aware of the overall positive reviews for this hotel and thought maybe I shouldn’t post such a negative experience if everyone else has had such a positive experience. But, I decided, finally to just tell it like it is. I have nothing against the Marriott or it’s staff, it was just the overall environment.

We booked this hotel through our Timeshare coordinator. We’ve stayed at or near Lake Tahoe many times but this is the first time we’ve stayed here. I felt like I had done my homework by checking out Trip Advisor  and all the reviews were pretty positive so we were expecting a fine experience. WRONG!

Check in was OK, staff was friendly and helpful and we were sent to our room which was as far from the front desk as you can get. The room itself had the weirdest architecture I’ve ever seen. As you walk in there’s a bathroom and closet, then the second area is a small kitchenette and finally the sleeping area; the whole room probably 225 square feet. The oddest thing about the room is the sleeping area. In front of the window there’s a huge “box” which extends out from the window about four feet and stands around three and a half feet high (see picture). This obstruction prevented anyone from looking down out the window, in fact I’m pretty tall and I could barely reach the curtain wands to adjust the curtains. My wife couldn’t even come close. Not sure why it was built this way but it wasted about a fifth of the entire room space.

This weird set-up was not the main problem, we certainly could have lived with that but the main issue was the noise. The day we arrived a small rock group set up outside our window and blasted music until around midnight. It was so loud the window actually shook. These music groups became a daily occurrence and quite annoying. After a day or so of this it was obvious it wasn’t going to get better anytime soon.

The final straw was the construction noise that started around three days in. They were literally jack-hammering and it reverberated throughout our whole floor. It was at this point I called to request a different room. The manager had a long-winded explanation about how each room was deeded to an individual and they couldn’t just give me a different room without an act of congress. What she did agree to do was to abate the $26.00 a day parking fee, which I felt was a rip-off anyway.

As you can see from the other reviews this is probably a good place for people with kids as there is a lot of activities within walking distance. Overall it was not a pleasant experience for us, however, and it was more like being in downtown LA than the beautiful mountains. From now on I’ll rent a cabin or a condo that has more of a mountain feel and is more relaxing and quiet.