Pine Cone Acre Motel

Great Place for a 2 star Motel —
Had a chance to stay another nite. Don’t give out many 5 star reviews for Motels in South Lake Tahoe, CA, but this one is for the combination of clean laid back small property and location —
A mostly quite ranch style property nestled in Pines close to all the action near the Y. Clean, plenty of hot water, water pressure and heat — AC also in the rooms for the few Hot SLT days… Property has personality with lots of amenities.
Laid out like a big L with a pool, yard, BBQ area in the center — even small basket ball court end of the property. I like the big gas grill.- Ideal for International travelers — and Solos — looking for a more laid back 2 star experience.
Easy bus service 3 mi to casinos, skiing, but I like it here — all the great bike trails, beaches walkable and where the locals hang for the most part — sports bar, food. For Health — Try Grass Roots — Walkable — Vegis, Groceries, Herbal. Try Classic Ques Billards at the Y for the best burgers in town!
Tip — Contact business between 11 – 7 for best service. It’s a laid back 2 star motel be reasonable. If no one is in the office probably cleaning rooms.
Robert B

i tried calling two different times. The first time, it rang and then I heard the phone hang up. The second time, I was able to hear the machine and then pressed «0» to inquire about the rooms and rates. Then I hear «your call is being transferred» to only ben hung up on yet again. Worst ever. I could not even get pass the machine.

I think this place is great.
My boyfriend and I found it just passing thru Tahoe 2 years ago and made a return visit over 4^th of July weekend. Friendliest people ever are in charge of running this establishment and they sure want everyone to have a great time.
There’s a pool with a billiards /​game area outside. Next door is a BBQ spot that’s pretty good (used to be an Irish place that was fantastic!).
Both visits the rooms were very clean. Nothing overly fancy here, but good clean value for the money. Good location in lots of trees.
Gotta say I will likely stay here the next time I’m in South Lake. Just can’t help it.

Seems alot had changed over the last year, thanks Paul. We had been coming to Pinecone over the years and last year it hit a rough spot. I can say now, that the problem was removed. We stayed 2 nights on 2 occasions in the last 2 weeks in the pool house, enjoyed ourselves. burger lounge next door and red box down the road. we will be back at ski season. D&C Vacaville, Ca.

I tried to book a night at the Camp Richardson Lodge, but they were booked and we wanted to take the kids bicycling on the paths along 89. The Pine Cone Acre Motel was the only thing nearby that had a room available for 1 night. We didn’t check in until 7:00 pm and had to hunt down the desk clerk. We were given room #7 and when we first opened the door is stunk like cigarettes and the bathroom floor was full of water from a leaking sink and toilet. We tried to find another room, but they were full… we noticed that most of the people staying there looked like a bunch of meth users and the pool was full of a bunch of guys staring at my wife. We did not feel comfortable at all and the kids were crying because they felt scared. I couldn’t find the desk clerk to ask for a refund and go another place, anywhere, but here! He never even answered his phone! When it was time for bed, we found a large spider under the comforter! After a horrible night, I finally got to discuss my frustrations with the desk clerk, and he could care less! He just said «oh… sorry» and took my key. Keep driving past this dump (unless you’re a meth-​head) then you’ll feel right at home!

For a motel, pine cone did a great job! We were comfortable the heater was a angel during the chilly december nights! Their are lots of places near by breakfast, ski good dinner etc. All in all I really enjoyed staying at pine cone motel!

I think this place is great. I had a season pass at Kirkwood and stayed here with my girlfriend and dog (retriever — lab mix) basically every other weekend for the whole season. We always had a room with a small kitchenette, king bed, and bath. We could cook breakfast and dinner, chill with the dog, and get a good night’s sleep. The heater pilot light went out once and the maintenance guy was on top of it. I forget how much we payed exactly, but I think it was like $ 60 a night. Peanuts compared to most places in SLT, considering what we got for it. I compelled my dad to stay here when he visited from the East Coast once and he somehow lucked into a $ 40 huge room above the office with two beds, microwave, and fridge.
Is it the Ritz? No. But, if you want a chill place to cook and sleep with your dog on a budget before and after skiing, then look no further. Also, Burger Lounge is right next door. Yum.

Not too shady of a place and the prices are reasonable. We got a 3 bed bedroom for about 130 a night. There was also a fold out twin hidden in the closet. For an overnight stay after a long day on the slopes, it does quite well. The heater worked well and kept us warm all night and it had all the amenities of a standard hotel.
One gripe is that its just out of the way that you lose 3g/​4g reception, although you are given free wifi for everyone. It’s not a one-​person-​at-​a-​time service so its convenient. Also no continental breakfast, but they do provide a coffee machine.

Bear in mind I’m not saying this is a five-​star hotel (obviously), but for the money this place was legit. As a student I’m usually scraping the bottom of the piggy bank to do anything other than sleep and study.
Girlfriend and I came up to Tahoe for New Years this time around. As usual she took a while to get ready, and we were already driving up from the bay area. Finally she comes out and announces she’s ready to go, and we head out around 7 PM.
We get to the Pine Cone Acre about quarter to 11 on Dec 30^th. It was late as hell. Luckily, the neon sign said open and the lights were still on. Unluckily, the service window was closed and there wasn’t a soul around. We knocked but there was no answer.
Losing hope we called the phone and left a message, telling them we were outside.
Success! A sleepy looking dude comes to the window and says that if we were two minutes later he wouldn’t have heard the call. I think he was just being polite and got had just gotten out of bed and put on a friendly face to help out a couple young people get a warm bed. He was a nice guy, very informative and helpful. He told us that the place was full of college kids attending SnowGlobe and we let him know that was our agenda as well.
Room was clean and cozy. Heater was off the chain and the shower water was instantly warm. I don’t go on vacation to watch TV, but if that’s your thing they have all your usual cable channels. Wifi reception was strong, no problems there. No fridge, but that was the only downside.
We had unfortunately already booked another hotel for the next couple nights (long story) and lamented that we had to leave the great Pine Cone Acre.
The only reason I can think of why the rates are low is because not too many people know about it. It’s past the right turn folks take onto Lake Tahoe Boulevard off of Highway 50. But in terms of location my GF and I had no complaints.
I’ll be staying here every time I come to Tahoe.

I stayed here with my son before a day of skiing at Kirkwood. The hotel was clean and quiet, and the staff was very friendly. We will definitely stay here again and recommend it to anyone looking for a clean, quiet hotel.

I stayed here for one night in January. It was $ 69 after tax for one room with a king size bed on a Sunday night. The room had the standard motel bathroom with working sink, toilet, and shower. It was clean and the heater was effective. I was pleasantly surprised that the room had a refrigerator and a microwave oven. There was a TV that we didn’t use. I don’t remember anything special about the bed. We slept easily enough.
My only complaint is that the door lock was a standard house key for a knob and dead bolt rather than the more secure style of door locks that you find at modern motels.
I would stay at Pine Cone Acres again. In S Lake Tahoe, I’ve also stayed at Days Inn and Park Tahoe Inn. Pine Cone is the least expensive and is my second favorite of the three. The beds at Park Tahoe Inn were uncomfortable.

Well… At first when i had talked with the management everything was great.
We had talked with them to do a wedding block and they were great about it.
A few of us went up there and decided to stay there a couple of weeks ago while we had to do some wedding plans.
GOOD THING WE DID!!!
This place was very dirty inside the rooms.
We showed up about 12:30am because we left after work, the outside was nice had a pool and other stuff. Then we walked in to see:
–2 punch holes in the closet, dust galore (now i know Tahoe and where this place is located it is dusty this isn’t just dust from windows being open it is build up)
–bathroom door knob broke
–dead spider smashed on wall and left there
–splatters of something on the lamp shades (looked like blood)
–the blinds had a square cut out of them by the bed so you can keep a look out for something… (WEIRD)
— pull the comforter back because usually hotel do not wash everytime… to see the next blanket stained and just diry
–then the other bed had hairs in it of different sizes
So now it is about 1:15am and we have to leave the motel because there is no way no how we are going to sleep in this dirty place.
We end up staying at Motel 6 on lake tahoe blvd. Which by the way was very clean.
We go back the next morning to the lady that was there and i told her i need to talk to the managers and she said maybe i can help you. I said okay so i explain it to her and she is just rude by now.
She calls the managers and lies to them saying the phone is ringing off the hook and she has 5 people in the office (there were 4 of us, phone was not ringing at all) then she was just saying irrelevant stuff.
VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!
Tammy the manager was to busy to talk with us so the husband Duane come over and her walked in the office and said we need to just end this now.
I completely agreed with him at this point. He meant the wedding block was canceled and the guests that already booked would be canceled as well. (i wouldn’t want my worst enemy to stay there)
i want to take him in the room to validate my reasoning so finally we go and he says to me on the way there a normal hotel spend 20 mins cleaning a room and we spend 1 hour… HMMMM sure you do. You need to re-​evaluate the cleaners.
So he sees what I’m talking about in the room and really doesn’t seem to bother him.
We walk out and he tells the bride with a smart ess attitude «I hope you marriage works out»
WOW is all i have to say!!!
I am being very truthful with everything i have written.
Not to mention my friend the Bride got charges 2 times and they had to refund 2 times. It was just too much!