The Ridge

Went to attend my granddaughter's wedding held at this resort, so, given the uncertain nature of winter weather, decided to stay at The Ridge. Booking was difficult. Called numerous times but was unable to get through to the appropriate person until about the third time. After that, everything was smooth. Check in was okey, went to our room (mid January) and found most of the windows open, water in the tub, TV not working. Went back to the desk and they quickly and graciously offered us another room. This room was much better. Living room, with working gas fireplace, made it very nice for early morning coffee. Separate bedroom, with very comfortable bed. Bath was satisfactory. Kitchen was well stocked, and everything worked. Nice dinning area. All rooms were clean and neat. Some windows in this room were also open. Windows in all rooms were old and in need of upgrading. Thermostat was very old, difficult to see and adjust. Serendipitous find was the Bistro Restaurant, at the Club House. Enjoyed several breakfasts and dinners and all meals were very good. Kitchen staff did an excellent job on preparation and food was well presented and tasty. Special favorites for dinner was the Ridge Burger, and my wife enjoyed the New York Steak. As the resort is composed of some seven or more separate buildings the lay out was a little strange and forced us into the cold for almost any evert we wished to attend. A better than average gym, with steam room, but you have to hunt for the location and then travel to and from. Views were very nice, but feel that this might be a much better and more enjoyable place to visit in the summer. Road up the mountain was twisty and steep, and fortunately we avoided snow, and thus had a safe trip for our early morning flight in Reno. Read less

Our family has been coming to the Ridge for the last quarter century. This is the most disappointing stay ever. I'm an IHG Platinum member. Note that there is no welcome gift, no upgrade, no acknowledgment at all of status. You might see advertised that you can buy high speed internet, but that's no longer true. All rooms have the same generic login and we've been unable to use ours consistently for the past few days. It crashed again as I write this, so had to resort to my phone's hot spot. Small things, like a room that hadn't been cleaned after we dragged our luggage there after check in, an inoperable instant hot water dispenser in our new room, spa lockers that don't lock, or electronic door locks that don't respond to the key so you're stuck outside in 30 degree weather until someone can let you into the building...those things make the resort seem cheap. I'm not used to that here at the Ridge. Is this the new norm? Tonight I stepped out into the hallway, which smelled strongly of cigarette smoke, and saw a woman running towards me from down the hall, quickly hiding her cigarette behind her back, dashing into an open room and closing the door. This is trash behavior (smoke if you want, but not inside and not in a room clearly marked non-smoking). And outside another door, next to mine, the guests have left a small bag containing a dirty diaper, twice - even though the garbage chute is about 5 yards away. The worst part of the stay was at check in, I got a hard sell to go to a morning one on one meeting to talk about "my benefits." You know, I already have an expensive ownership in the Ridge, and come here to relax. Getting a sales person (two, actually) trying to push me into a meeting after a 4 hour drive, with my family waiting to check in, is not my idea of accommodation. And, the lobby now has an area that's roped off labeled "owners lounge" but to get to it you have to pass through the salesmen again. Not only is this not inviting, it's incredibly infuriating. I've never considered selling this membership, but now I am. Read less

We checked in at 4:50 PM after being assured our room would have a bathtub; we were told some rooms only have a shower. Once in our room, we found NO tub in the bathroom, so we called the front desk for another room that would have a tub; Gabor, the clerk, told us he was too busy with other customers checking in but that he MIGHT have time to look for another room for us in another 4 hours. Exhausted from a 5 hour drive here, waiting another 4 hours (9:00 PM) for a reassigned room was hard to accept. We drove back to the front office and stood in a long line of customers checking in and Gabor turned to see us and said “didn’t I just talk to you on the phone?” I agreed that he had, and he said “well then YOU are just going to have to WAIT, like I TOLD you, until I have TIME to look into this — and yes, it will be around 9: PM depending on how busy I am!” For the readers of this, my husband and I are just a couple of ordinary 69 year olds who booked this room for a week of skiing with hopes of having a bathtub for afternoon soaks after working out on the slopes. I explained to Gabor that since many people don’t care about having a bathtub, we thought it best not to wait for other customers to be assigned rooms with a tub, if all they care about is having a shower. Gabor told us “we don’t have time for this kind of stuff!” His manager was not available to us and nobody else was available to help, despite 3 other clerks being present. Read less

We have been back here every year for 5 years both winter and summer; Winter is very good and summer is even better -:) The view is very beautiful in the winter, you can look down at the valley through the windows from your room and see all the pine trees blanket the white snow. When it is snowing, it is even more beautiful to just look outside from the hotel windows. We stay at the Plaza 2bed/2Bath. The room has a huge kitchen/living room combine with fireplace -- We enjoy the kitchen a lot, only eat out one day, and the rest of the days we cook. The two bedrooms are big with comfortable beds; it is an excellent place if you ski at Heavenly since it has a gondola take you to stagecoach(belongs to Heavenly on the Nevada side ) directly from the hotel. The resort has many different free activities for people who do not want to ski, or go to downtown. Free shuttle to Heavenly Village runs every hour, so in the winter you do not have to drive your own car. We normally stay there 4 nights in the winter and we dont see the need to drive our car until we leave -- For summer, you still dont need to drive because shuttle still run every hour. but it is useful with a car because you can carry things for your picnic and water activities. There are many things you can do in the summer too; picnic at the lake, biking, hiking, and etc....In the summer we normally stay for 3 nights during Labor Weekend, and it is beautiful with tons of things to do. It is true that the facility does not have A/C, but every room has a portable cooler and it keeps the rooms very cool too. At night, you can open the windows and fresh air will come. Our overall experience has been great at the Ridge !!! It is an excellent short Get-Away Destination for both Winter and Summer from the hustle bustle of silicon valley. Read less