The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe

I really enjoyed my short stay and would happily return. It’s a beautiful hotel in a quiet, cozy setting, with good food, a relaxing atmosphere, and excellent staff who were friendly, professional, and genuinely helpful. The gondola ride to the village was a nice perk, with a bit more to do there. My room was smaller than I expected, though adequate, and the view was decent. For events, plan ground transportation in advance. The property is remote and across state lines, so rideshare drivers from Reno can be reluctant to make the trip, and Sacramento is a bit far for convenience. I noticed a couple of bathroom details that should be fixed to meet Ritz-Carlton standards. The shower-head pipe wasn’t sealed properly to the wall, which looked unfinished and seems easy to fix. There was also a sharp, broken edge on the small shower ledge. It’s unlikely to cause injury because of its height, but it looks sloppy and should be replaced.

We were there during a snowstorm at what was probably the busiest time of year, School Ski Week, and the team’s care and proactive effort really stood out. The atmosphere and food were wonderful, and the staff went above and beyond with my food modification requests. For a spicy meal after a cold day on the mountain, try the Ritz Carlton Burger with sourdough and jalapeño as the only substitution. We also loved mixing the cheese fondue with focaccia, beef from the burger, pickles from the cheese board, and onions from the bar, then dipping it in a botanical gin martini. It felt like dipping Schnapps in the Swiss Alps. Heaven! :)

The s’mores platter was plentiful and absolutely exquisite, with four kinds of chocolate bars, two kinds of graham crackers, regular and chocolate marshmallows, strawberries, and cakey madeleines. My partner and I had recently shared that we were pregnant and hoped for a romantic, peaceful snow day since we couldn’t ski. The Ritz-Carlton’s online description of the Fireside experience sounded perfect, but when we arrived, the fireplace setup didn’t quite match what we’d expected. We explained that to food & beverage operarions manager Renzo Escobedo, who, with his staff, made the experience we’d hoped for. They created a peaceful fireside lounge fitting the online description. We relaxed there for a couple of hours, then friends joined us after skiing, and they enjoyed the service too. One friend has a gluten intolerance, and the staff brought gluten-free graham crakers when asked, so she could have s’mores as well. The lounge faced the hill beside the slopes where families played in the snow. Though it was outside their usual service area, Renzo and his team checked on us regularly to make sure we had everything we needed. It was a magical way to celebrate the start of bringing our new life into the world.

Check-in went amazingly well, but room servicing was hit or miss. One day it was cleaned by midmorning, the next not until 4 pm. Turn-down service showed up around 4-5 pm, but never came on our last night. Checkout was awful. We called for a bellman to help with luggage and bring our car from valet. After 20-30 minutes, we dragged our bags downstairs ourselves, and the car still hadn’t been pulled. They said they were really busy, though it didn’t look that way to us.