We had booked this hotel for 2 nights of the weekend preceeding Martin Luther King Day. We paid $223 which seemed to be the going rate at most motels in the area for that weekend. On arrival at about 4 in the afternoon we were greeted by the owner, a singularly unhelpful and surly person. The hotel from the outside looked rundown, uncared for and the hot tub (sat in the carpark) was filthy: covered in snow and debris. However, we had booked and felt we would have to make the best of a bad deal. On viewing the room I was struck by the fact that the inside temperature was barely warmer then the outside temperature (which was averaging about -2). Not sure how to turn the heating on (and surpised that it hadn't been put on in readiness for our arrival) I went down to talk to the owner. He seemed annoyed and irritated by what appeared in his eyes to be an unreasonable request. I went back upstairs, attempted to turn the heater on and viewed the rest of the room. On our bed we had a threadbare sheet and one blanket with large burnholes in it, totally insufficient for a chilly night let alone one as cold as this weekend was panning out to be. The room was filthy and there was no heating in the icy bathroom. When we closed the flimsy door we could see daylight and feel the draft through the gaps between the door and doorframe, the lock was a simple push button and the door so flimsy that my mother could have kicked it open! I was holidaying with my aging mother and was seriously concerned with how staying in this freezing and dirty room would affect her health. It was also the most miserable room I have ever seen and certainly the money we had paid was far in excess of the value of a hotel room of this type. I had seen several vacancy signs in the neighourhood and venturing out, I managed to find a warm and cosy room for the same money in the local Days inn. I then went back to discuss my issues with the owner.
There was a lady ahead of me asking for a room, and although I wanted to tell her not to stay there I waited until she walked back to her partner in the car before explaining to the owner that my mother and I would be unable to stay there due to the cold and insecurity of the room. Although I was calm, quiet and slightly apologetic he quickly became aggressive, unhelpful and was refusing to speak to me. Having asked me to repeat my issues with the room several times, in front of the returned potential customer, he then accused me of chasing away business and refused to refund me my money. At this point the other lady stepped in and stood up for me saying I had been nothing but pleasant and that he should refund my money. He turned on her demanding whether she wanted a room or not, at which naturally she left, apologising to me. He turned on me and the discussion escalated. He threatened to hit me with his clenched fist at one point, then in front of my husband, threatened to hit me with a stick he used to secure his windows. He kept me out in the cold and frequently shut his window and turned the lights out and refused to talk to me. I remained calm and never once lost my temper, but I was determined not to let him get away with this. Eventually, because I was demanding his business card, he called the police, reporting that a mad woman was trying to break into his property and that he needed rescuing. They then asked to speak to 'said mad woman' and he passed me the phone (hilarious if I wasn't so upset!!). Shortly after a policeman turned up and as the owner refused to let him in the office to discuss the situation he knidly remained nearby to keep an eye on the situation. Eventually he called us over and basically gave me the impression that this has happened many times before. Having read the reviews previous to mine, I am speechless that this hotel remains on Expedia and other holiday websites. We were given the impression that should we choose to sue this guy, South Tahoe police would be very happy to support us!

In short I can't think of anywhere I would least want to go back to and the whole experience was upsetting, exhausting and very unpleasant! This hotel is in an excellent location, I am at a loss to understand why this guy continues to own it rather then selling and making a lot of money and escaping from the tourists he clearly detests!!!

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS THIS MOTEL UNDER SURVALIANCE. We were staying on the 2nd floor, there is a small window with no latch or lock near the shower in the bathroom, after dark I decided to take a shower, I closed the window before I got in the shower, and when I got out the window was wide open and there was a stretch ladder leading straight to my window. Thank god I was with by boyfriend. We went directly downstairs, found some people in the parking lot and asked them if they had seen anyone, they had seen an older man walk out from the alley a few minutes earlier. We took the ladder to the owner, and told him what had happened, he was completely straight faced like this was no problem at all, he gave me the number for the police and told me to "put the ladder back where I found it" because it was not his. I spoke with the police over the phone and in person at the police station, they have had this motel on "their radar" and they told me this has happened before, and that the owner is a "drunk scumbag" PLEASE do not stay here, and please pass this information on to anyone you know that may be looking for a cheap motel in south lake tahoe. This happened on the evening of Sep. 30th 2006. We ended up staying at the Vagabond Inn down the road, it was very very nice.

During our two-day stay there, the "Will be back" clock sign had been on for several times, and the manager was never really back on time. I could understand: he just had a heart surgery recently. He walked and talked in such a way that even asking for a room with a heater from him made me felt that I was asking too much. But, the room we spent the first night in was literally frozen, as the heater did not work. The next day I told him that I stayed in that certain room and wanted a changed, but he insisted that I had stayed in another room. It took me minutes to persuade him that I was there. The rooms were old, and the office was always closed, at 8:30 AM. I knocked the office for five minutes and then went to windows to peek, while the old shaking manager openned the door and asked me: You waked me up and you are leaving??

Anyway, probably he is a nice person, but you don't want to live in a motel which is managed by a shaking, forgetting old man whose office is always closed.

This motel should have been called "The Tahoe Peasants", instead of The Tahoe Queen. We were greated at the parking lot by the owner (I'm assuming) who was rushing us because he had something "important" to do, which turned out to be a bidding war on Ebay. We were then told to go inside and sign-in; we entred and met another part of the "friendly" staff, which obviously was unaware that she works in a customer service industry...(can't even go into that one).....we were given the keys and the adventure started.....

It was as if we were stepping back in time, the paneling on the walls were so old and hideous, the rug must have been at least 20 years old, the bathroom door and window were falling apart, no remote for the T.V. that was at least 30 years old, there was even a "Magic Fingers" box by the bed (thought that was kinda funny) but that didn't even work! and best of all...NO A.C., we had to go to the front desk and ask for a fan.

Forget having the late night munchies, because the vending machine had a couple bags of chips that expired in March, the coffee machine looked as if weren't used in ages and there was no ice machine.

So needless to say...I highly recommend that you NOT even consider this motel, even if it's the last one available.