Panorama Mountain resort

The Pine Inn is awful!

Normally we stay as timeshare owners at the Horsethief condos at the Panorama resort, but due to a last minute decision, we could only find lodging after Christmas at the Pine Inn. We’d stayed there over 10 years ago as students, but didn’t realize just how bad things had gotten until this most recent stay with our two toddlers.

It’s unfortunate that Intrawest has allowed this property, as well as the other facilities at Panorama, to slide downhill. We arrived at the resort and promptly checked in with staff – who were all quite nice.

The first thing we saw was the dank fluorescent lighting from the one bulb in the room. Lighting was no better, and rather hazardous, in the washroom – the overhead vanity light wasn’t working, so they’d taken a bedside lamp, removed the shade, and plugged it in next to the sink. Nice.

The sheets were worn thin on the beds, with no blanket save for the ugly bedspread. The pillows, without exception, all appeared clean but smelled so strongly of mildew that in the morning all of our hair smelled like a dirty shower stall.

The carpet was atrocious, and I forbade the children to walk barefoot on it.

The real icing on the cake was when a drunken college-kid mistakenly came through the sliding glass doors that led through to the exterior at ground level – only then did we realize that they did not (and would not) lock. A very nice maintenenance guy came by and provided us with a 2X4 to prevent further surprises. The track of the door was still filled with old cigarette ashes and old nut shells. Delightful.

The quality of the food has gone downhill at all of the restaurants on-hill, which is a shame.

The mountain, however, still has a fabulous ski hill, and as previously mentioned, the staff were all very nice and as understanding as they could be. I think they are all aware of the derelict conditions of the Pine Inn but can’t disparage the resort as they are staff.

You’d be better off pitching a tent at the base of the ski lift than staying at the Pine Inn. It was truly one of the most vile hotels I’ve ever stayed at.

Run away!