Review: Lake Arrowhead Resort – An Autograph Collection Hotel

You’ll love breathing that fresh air.

If you aren’t familiar with Lake Arrowhead, it’s a small resort community roughly 2 hours outside Los Angeles in the San Bernandino Mountains. I’ve wanted to stay at the Lake Arrowhead Resort for a long time, but something always came up. In the past few months I’ve visited both Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead for the first time. For someone living in Los Angeles for 10 years that’s almost heresy. It’s like living in NYC and never getting to Montauk or the Hampton’s in A DECADE.  Crazy enough, we broke the streak with an Air Bnb in Big Bear, and then a couple nights at the Lake Arrowhead Resort all within a couple months. WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS.

We drove up in some crazy fog…if you can call it that.

I looked up what was worse than Fog. It said Pea-Soup Fog. Killer Fog. Black Fog. Whatever you want to call it – it was Fogging impossible. In fact, I couldn’t see a Fogging thing.

IT WAS INSANE. We’re talking switch-backs up the mountain, in the dark, with 20 foot max visibility. I was driving up with Miles, my girlfriend, her sister and bro-in law and their newborn. It was like the start of a scary movie. I felt like I was sending out Morse code going back and forth between the gas and brake pedals. The positive side of all this is whatever muscle is on the front of the shinbone is jacked now. Like Marvel superhero jacked. You wouldn’t want to meet my right shin in a dark alley on a cold night, lemme tell you. Anyways – the fog was bad, people, and if you’re going to go up there plan accordingly if there’s a chance of fog.

The Deets:

• When: October 2016
• Where: Lake Arrowhead, California
• Rewards Program: Marriott Rewards
• Status: Gold
• Category Room – Lake Side guest room
• Other benefits –Upgrade from mountain side guest room, Breakfast Buffet voucher
• Roughly $150/night

Check-In – LOVE the lodge feel.

Very, very nice desk agent who was swift, polite, and knew we were tired from the drive. Maybe my foot did send out a morse code signal to the hotel after all? Either way my status was recognized, upgrade given (and probably would have been better but the hotel was sold out), and I was done checking us in within a couple minutes. CAN I GET A HIGH FIVE?

The hotel is exactly what I was hoping it to be, and a little more. I couldn’t believe we’d found a sub $150 rate, especially when the hotel was PACKED, but we did and I’m glad we bit on it.

In fact, I’d like to come back up here when it’s warm. We were informed that the pool is kept pretty warm and there is a hot tub. Saw many people get in and out of hot tub which was surprising as it was chilly – mid 40s at night.

The Room

What I like about Autograph Collection properties is they maintain their individuality, but also rep some Marriott vibe too. Feels comfortable, but a little different and new, like maybe you’re signing that autograph with the other hand. Your name’s still the same, but hot diggity it looks so different. This kind of different where you realize that you’re ambidextrous and that signature is as good or better with the other hand…then you tell your mom and skip 3rd grade.

The rest of the room is quaint, lodgey, and certainly 4 star qual.

The bathroom is quite nice too – HUUUUUUGE shower.

But that view is great!

Exterior and Pool:

The temperature was perfect to go on a stroll around the property. We didn’t really find any great trails, but had a nice little walk.

The Gym:

I’ve never seen a gym so full of people not staying at the hotel. Lake Arrowhead has a lot of seasonal and part time residents. They have some sort of membership program for locals and they were all up in the gym. So be prepared to throw some bows at a snowbird to get on the elliptical.

Dining: Bin 189

We had a couple breakfasts and a couple dinners at the main restaurant. It’s a biiiiiittttt pricey, and I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND GETTING THE SMALLEST POUR OF WINE. They pour heavy anyways, and on our first night we fell for an upsell and ended up getting a $20 glass of wine. It was huge but Miles was so upset he almost slapped me in the mouth hole. After that we got the smallest pours and they were good size and much more reasonably priced.

The Buffet breakfast offering: We got 2 free per room. It was tasty.

You can also order off the menu.

Overall: GREAT WEEKEND SPOT

Miles and I loved it. Weather was clear, crisp, and “mountainy.” You can’t ski here, but neither of us ski, so we didn’t really care. If you looking to ski go to Big Bear or Mammoth.  It was such a nice time away from the LA and easy. Sometimes you just need to clear the head, breath some smog-free but fog-full air and just get away. There is a nice little city center that’s worth walking to and just rummaging around, but other than that, you don’t do anything about hang out. In the summer I can imagine there are more lake activities, but if you come up late fall – plan on just kickin’ it.

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