Boreal Inn

We went there (with 2 kids), because it was recommended by soda springs. Sure it’s not the best hotel in the world but it’s good enough given the price and the location. There were a few minor problems with the room (some light bulbs not working, some left over clothes under the beds, not enough hangers, …) but the staff was quite accomodating in fixing them. The breakfast is better than the average motel breakfast: they have oat meal, all sort of cereals for kids, fruits, bread and bagels, etc.
Overall I will definitely go back to this hotel next time I’m going to Boreal or Soda Springs

2 words: BED BUGS!
This place is more like a filthy weed-​stink dirtbag hostel than an «Inn» or hotel. After a single night at this dump my 2 little girls have bedbug bites all over.
DISGUSTING.

We stayed here with our 2 small children. Our first room was standard because the upgrade was sold out. The furniture is old, but it was clean and didn’t smell as bad as the other experiences on here. It had a working microwave and fridge and was perfect for our family. The second night we were able to upgrade and the room was a lot nicer and the bed was very comfortable. I think for the price you can’t beat it. Everyone was very friendly and the breakfast was perfect for the kids. I would absolutely go back.

The only reason this place gets 1 star is because it’s close to the slopes.
The front desk staff are friendly, but the hours of operation are the worst I’ve ever seen. I should of gotten a hint when I first called to make a reservation. I called numerous times over several days and no one answers the phone. I had to leave TWO messages for a call back until someone finally replied. Apparently there is someone only there from 4pm to 5pm for checkin… Any other time they make «special «arrangements… Luckily I didn’t miss that one hour window… So, during check in I requested a crib for my toddler… they stated they don’t have cribs. Ok, how about a rollaway bed? Um… Nope… Are you kidding me?
So we then went to the room… And that’s where the gross factor begins. The room is super outdated. I’m talking your great grandparents outdated. The walls haven’t seen a paint brush since the place was probably built. There were cracks, stains, scuffs, marks… You name it on the walls. The carpet also was pretty nasty. Felt like I was on the game show, «Name that Stain»…
The bathroom was also filthy. The grout around the tub was lets just say NOT its originally intended white color. The stopper in the sink was broken. The faucet was wobbly. The shower head was the perfect height… Um… For my wife who is 5’1» !!!
The microwave was busted, there gummie Bears included free of charge though… You just had peel them off the chair and under parts of the furniture.
There were actual mold spores on the bathroom ceiling… A bunch of them. It was like a little mold party and I was the guest of honor.
The dresser had two missing drawers!!! Why?!
Let’s see, what else? Oh… The curtains were too short!!! Did I mention we were on the first floor and facing the parking lot? Um… Hello World, these are my boxers… Enjoy the show…
My first and LAST time I ever stay here. I wouldn’t even stay here if it was free. Did I mention I checked out one day early and ate the cost just so I wouldn’t have to suffer in the place any more.

Pros:
1. We selected this resort because it is close to Soda Springs Planet Kids and they recommended it.
2. There is a very basic continental breakfast. Although basic it did get us through the first couple hours of the morning. I wish there was some protein offered.
3. The front office staff were very friendly.
4. Parking was free and close.
5. Bathroom appeared clean.
Cons:
1. We selected the Superior/​upgraded room and thank God we did! Even with the upgrade the room was dingy and suspect. For example, as soon as we walked in my oldest daughter said, «What’s this?!» It was a dirty washcloth that was just under the bed. So that pretty much set the tone for the comfort level in the cleanliness of the room.
2. The curtains were ½ assembled. My husband had to rehang them. And even still I’m certain that anyone looking from the outside in would be able to see the person lying in bed… creepy.
3. While they upgraded the bathroom counter they certainly did not take the time to upgrade the moldy and mildew smelling carpet. We were on socks only status.
4. After the washcloth incident from above we if not have confidence in the cleanliness of the duvet. Particularly after noticing a spot on it and not being sure if it was just an old stain or an unwashed duvet. Thus, we just took those off of the bed.
5. Noise level– it sounded like a large group was having a card party in the hallway for half the night.
6. We had to watch the television on blast status because they had not programmed the remote to change the volume. Finally we discovered we could adjust the volume on a hidden button on the TV monitor.
7. Internet was down.
All in all we had fun on our trip, but we would stay somewhere else next time.

Pros: It was awesome to get off the slopes and wander our tired bones the short walk back to the Inn. So points for proximity. The room we finally ended up with (more on that in the cons) was clean enough and quite large. The shower was hot and the breakfast was… well, it was there… can’t really screw up a couple of oranges and some corn flakes.
Cons: Dark, dingy, rather abysmal common areas. Low ceilings, poor lighting, the lobby (if you can call the small dank entry a lobby) certainly doesn’t give you any sort of ‘welcome’ feeling. The receptionist on our arrival put us in one room. We started to unpack and she came a knocking to move us to another room. We went up and walked into an occupied hotel room… so that was awkward. Finally the third room was a winner.
The evening receptionist gave us the tubing vouchers that came with our room. Only the tubing guy decided to close early so we didn’t get to go. The receptionist said she would re-​issue them but when we tried to take her up on the offer (admittedly it was a full day later in our 3 day stay), she refused. She said we’d waited too long. I mean come on Boreal Inn management, a couple of cheap vouchers would have made us so much happier with our stay. As it was we left feeling jipped and grumpy.
So to recap:
+ 1 star for proximity and room size
— 4 stars for cleanliness, design, and general poor/​incompetent customer service

Disgusting is all I can say, we went down the road, paid an extra $ 40 and did not scratch ourself all night! Smelled like a frat house! No real Internet! Continental breakfast my ass! Bagel and coffee that taste like soap! Sure it’s close to the ski area, but if you did not get sleep the night before, it does not help trying to go ski the next day! I would even go as far and give the place ½ a star just for location! Otherwise burn it down and start over!

Horrible. Your only paying for the location to boreal mountain. Room only had 1 working light, blood on the door, bed and sheeting were horrible, holes in wall, unpainted patches, the list goes on.

Worst place to stay at.
Not worth your money.
This place is a piece of crap.
Rooms are nasty. Foul smell.
As soon as you enter the lobby door.
And the worst is the room we checked in — smelled like spoiled garbage.
Not safe for kids.
Bad customer service.
Supposed to be non smoking.
But we saw the guy cleaning the room — smoking in the room. WTH!
Trust me, we went with our 2 kids, we left with asthma coz of the foul smell.
Definitely will never come back. And for sure will tell everyone about how nasty this place.

I was expecting a hell hole based on the prior reviews but this place has a room and bathroom area that is larger than most motel 6 type places I’ve stayed before. Flat screen tv, a fridge, table and microwave plus breakfast from 7 – 930. My kids were amazed when they walked in. Bathroom counter and floor are stuck in another decade but are in good condition. This is a motel within walking distance to boreal one way and a sno-​park the other way. They have snacks and other items for purchase in the event you came without. They also let you borrow board games. Being the day after Christmas so cool we got a pretty decent room. If you’re looking for a hotel/​4 or 5 star resort then this isn’t the place for you but also know you’re not likely to get this close to snow area at an awesome price cuz 80 a night peak season means you’re crazy if that’s what you’re expecting

Dang bud! Some of these reviews are HARSH. If you want the Ritz but are balling on a budget, you are better off going into Truckee or slipping down to South Shore.
The facts: Boreal is the closest resort and opens 1^st ALWAYS. The lodge is old yes but it is a roof over your head and a bed under your bum. I went up here with 2 friends over NYE 2013 – 2014 this past year and we knew exactly what to expect.
That is why we drank hella in the room, passed out, then woke up and rode.
Sure it is old fashioned but the fact is this: you did not spend over $ 200 per night per guest, you got to ride their mountain, and you made it home with out having to give up your 1^st born child.
Too many 1 star reviews for the reality that this place is: an older ski lodge next to a small mountain. what did you expect?
If they renovate the prices are going to be in the upwards of $ 250 – 350 per night and that wont fly.

This is an old facility. Reminds me of the dorms in college. There are no elevators, walls are thin and rooms could use some serious updating.

If i could give half a star i would. First of all stopped by two weeks prior to ask if they allowed pets. i was assured they did and that i could leave my 17lb dog crated in the room while i hit the slopes. When i checked in was told that we were the people that we were the only guests there. As we were loading up to hit the slopes i was told that my dog could not stay crated in the room because he mite make noise. When i said he also had a bark coller on they would not budge. We would have only been able to get back $ 20 of our $ 140 fee for our second night so we kept the dog in the car the three hours while we snowboarded. In short we left with the feeling of being ripped off

Note: this review is based on a nine-​year-​old experience, so some parts may no longer be accurate.
We booked two nights at Boreal Inn on a family ski trip back in January 2005. Dad chose this place because it was located fairly close to the major ski resorts, and that the nightly rate wasn’t too high compared to that of other nearby hotels. Regrettably, these were the only redeeming qualities of the inn.
The first thing we noticed after checking in was that our room looked somewhat dusty — as if it had not been maintained for some time. Upon powering up my laptop, I found out there was no Internet access for guests. The folks at the front desk were nice enough to let us use their connection, but only for a few minutes (to check our e-​mails) as it was intended for the hotel staff. Sure, it’s nice to be «disconnected» every now and then, especially when you’re in the mountains, but the lack of network access could still prove to be an inconvenience for many people.
Of course, the above issues could have been forgiven had our stay been comfortable, in which case it was not. As we went to bed later in the evening, the three of us noticed the HVAC unit in our room was quite loud, and none of us were able to sleep very well as a result. To make matters worse, the curtains did a poor job of blocking out the outside lights. In the end, the three of us decided to cancel our second night at Boreal Inn and book another hotel instead. Although the nightly rate was slightly lower than that of nearby hotels, I don’t think the savings were worth it.
– TL;DR version –
Highs: Located conveniently close to Boreal Mountain Resort; rates weren’t too high
Lows: Unclean rooms; no Internet access; noisy HVAC units
Bottom line: Steer clear of this place and stay at one of the many better nearby hotels instead.
Final verdict: 1.6 stars (rounded up to two)

This place was disgusting!
At first thought of the building, it looked interesting. You know what? I’m just gonna list down the pros and cons because there is just too much to say.
Pros:
Right next to the boreal mountain resort.
If you rent a room, you get free skii lift tickets.
Beds were actually decently comfortable.
The person in the front counter was very nice
Cons:
Very old fashion in a bad way.
Hallways are very narrow.
It kinda feels like abandon place.
Woke up to 2 very large and thick spiders in the room…
(One on the ceiling and one under the bedsheets…)
There’s only a tiny fridge and a microwave.
The bathroom fan makes a loud noise.
And etc.etc.
If you don’t care about room and just glad you have a roof over your head and want free skii lift tickets then this is the place. But if not, and you actually care about cleanliness and so forth, I recommend you go somewhere else.

Absolutely nothing fancy or special about this place except that it is close to boreal. That is about it. And you know what they say about location.

I stayed here with my 5yr old daughter over President’s Day wknd (Sunday night). The room was huge, the carpet looked new and they had a ton of cable channels. The hotel is located 8 miles west of Truckee so we just jumped on 80 after skiing, drove 10 minutes and ate dinner.
The cons of this place are the walls, very thin. The family that checked in above us could have been throwing bowling balls on the floor and practicing sprints and I would not have been surprised! That being said, I called the front desk and they were very nice about it. All the staff was really nice.
Breakfast in the morning was great — all we needed… mini bagels, mini muffins, whole fruit, instant oatmeal, coffee, tea, milk, cream cheese and peanut butter packs…
They also have a little store with snacks, sleds, gloves, chapstick, etc… even snow boots! They make pizza as well, in a little pizza oven. We chose to drive into town but the pizza smelled great when we got back!
All-​in-​all, it’s not luxury and it’s not beautiful but it’s a comfortable, clean place to stay. I felt safe with just my daughter and myself and we both had a great time.

$ 141.90 total for a standard room with two queens complete with cobwebs, a tv that constantly flickers, and paper-​thin walls.
We arrived to an uncleaned room, no problem, they switched us rooms. New room: remote doesn’t work tv constantly flickers. After talking to the lady downstairs, she brings us a new remote. But since we weren’t staying two nights all she did was apologize for the staticky flicker. Seriously?!
I’d never stay two nights in this place. It’s a complete rip-​off with a subpar continental breakfast.
Get it to together Boreal Inn, you should be ashamed.

People here are nice, the room is clean and spacious enough, the sheets are not itchy or smelly. It certainly has good qualities aside from the fact that it’s a 5 minutes walk from the Boreal Ski Resort. Continental breakfast was nothing spectacular but decent enough.
But I still felt like it was a rip off. I paid $ 130 for a night. Something like this should be around ~$ 50/​night I think. It is a freaking motel after all. So not worth it.

It’s like a motel 6 but in the snow. You’re paying for the convenience of the location.
I stayed in their «premium» room… which means it was remodeled. It had two queen beds with no bed skirts, no artwork on the walls, a colored accent wall, a fiberglass 1980’s beige tub/​shower, new linoleum, a new granite window sill and a 13″ television in an armoire. The TV is an old tube tv with no auxillary hook-​ups. They do have a full selection of cable channels. The room was very clean but they used cheap ikea style lamps on the corner table and the night stand. The only central lighting was in the entry hall.
The beds were plush, the linens were good quality, the pillows were soft, each bed had a down comforter & the towels were very soft.
I was on the 3^rd floor. There are no elevators so you’ll get your exercise. They serve a continental breakfast in the lobby but it doesn’t look appealing at all. They re-​use disposable black plastic table cloths and just set the cereal and muffins out from 8:00 — 9:30am.
They are right next to the day-​use snow park, so you can stay parked in their lot and walk to the snow park without having to pay the fee. They also rent sleds for $ 7 a day to use at the park. NOTE: you can buy the same sled for $ 10 at any store in the area.
The staff was nice and they sell sodas, chips & candy. You can also order pizza’s to your room.
In all, it was a pleasant experience. I had expected the worst after reading other reviews but I knew going into it that it wasn’t the Hilton and more like an older motel. The benefit of staying here was that I was close to all the snow related things I like within two exits on either side of it.