The Pines Resort

So rad. Reminded me of an 80's warm feeling camp movie. We just got in from visiting Yeosimite and it was night and day difference in customer service, yeosimite in general was a little tudy, but pines resort was like walkin into grandmas house and not like facade. It was nice turn around and feel!We stayed at a chalet and the that was very nice.

We booked a 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom chalet and overall it was a good experience. When we first got here, the front desk lady warned us about bears being active at night right now. We were concerned a bit but didn't think we would encounter any. She gave us a map to our chalet but the map was a bit hard to read so we struggled to find our chalet a (plus we arrived at night). Our chalet was close to trash can and after we unloaded our stuff, we already saw one bear! So be careful when you stay here to not leave any food inside your car and also keep distance from them.The rooms are decent. When we walked in, it's upstairs bedroom. There are bedroom and bathroom with a balcony. Then there's stairs on the side leading to downstairs bedroom and bathroom but no balcony.There's one fridge and one microwave upstairs in the chalet. I wish there was an actual desk so I could eat my breakfast on. The rooms are cute but not the cleanest. We saw one towel with a dirt spot. If you are on the bedroom downstairs, you can pretty much hear people upstairs walk or get up on the bed. We could also hear weird noises when someone upstairs flush toilet for a bit. Not sure what caused that but the noise kept going on for a bit even after the flush was completed.There's a market and restaurant onsite. Market doesn't have a lot of options for food to pack to eat inside Yosemite. I am not a big fan of the staff at the market. I went there a couple times already and each time I met different staff and their attitudes weren't very nice at all when I asked questions. I suggest training them more on customer service. Front desk and other hotel staff were so helpful and friendly. Two front desk ladies helped us with planning for Yosemite (because there was no service so we couldn't use our gps, and we had trouble finding a way there). And other hotel staff helped us with the bear situation because we were concerned. So all the hotel staff are super nice and friendly. If you could train the market staff to have a service mind like your hotel staff, it would make guests' experience much much better!We did not spend much time at the lake near the hotel because we spent most of our time inside Yosemite. Next time I would like to come here (ideally during summer) and spend more time at the lake!

The good: It is right in the lake. The restaurant food is good (although a little pricey. Staff are friendly. The bad: The rooms are very outdated and worn out. In the room we stayed in, the tile was cracked in several places the walls were dingy and chipped. The faucet at the wet bar was wobbly and had to be turned on with two hands. The Jacuzzi tub had seen better days. We were there in 2020 and it was really nice. It seems to have gone downhill since then.

The one thing I loved about this resort is the convenience. They have their own store, coffee shop, pizza, restaurant, boat ramp, and you could rent boats and all kinds of other water toys. The front desk staff was very friendly checking in and out. We reserved a Chalet with lake view. Trying to get to the chalet was difficult. The road is very narrow and parking was tight, especially with a large truck. The Chalets are old and a little run down. It is 2 stories with a full kitchen. As soon as you walk in the kitchen on the right, and a living room with a sofa bed and a tv on the wall. Which did not work. Down stairs are 2 queen beds, a tv and one bathroom. Downstairs was not very big. There was also a door to exit out downstairs. We were surprised when we opened our door and there was 2 bags of trash and linens left behind by housekeeping. By morning, critters got the trash bags and there was trash everywhere The beds were pretty comfy. I asked for pillows for the sofa bed and they were never delivered. On the property they have a decent size pool. I was definitely disappointed in the "beach" size. It was right next to the dock. Not very much room for people to enjoy their day on the beach. Note: there were a lot of people trying to launch their boats. If you are going to launch, bring lots of patience's.

We stayed one night last weekend and it was such a wonderful experience! We got drinks at Duceys grill and then dinner at Duceys downstairs. Food was excellent and all the staff were incredibly friendly and helpful!

My family and I had such an amazing time at the Pines. Their hospitality is what really did it for me. Every employee we encountered was over the top helpful and kind.The chalets are cute and have a very homey feel. They have a great park which our 2 year old loved. The park was right outside our chalet, so if you have kids, I would recommend reserving one of those chalets.They also have a restaurant on-site that we love to eat at.We stay here every time we want to visit Yosemite.I highly recommend staying here!

Beautiful location, restaurant was great. King spa suite left a lot to be desired. It did have a great view of the lake, however was not clean and had some deferred maintenance. Hot tub in the room was nice but water was so slow it took an hour to fill above the jets. Heater smelled like burning plastic. Had to ask for a lighter and one free duraflame log for fire (you have to buy the rest). Staff were nice

Update: email sent to "owner" with several other concerns not listed in this review.Staff was very friendly, unless something was wrong. And there were a few things wrong here.First off, we arrived and went to our chalet. No fireplace. I had read in the room description that there would be a fireplace that used DuraFlame logs. We stopped at 2 different stores before we arrived to find extra logs so we could have the fire burning most of the night, knowing that rain was expected at least on of the days of our trip. So when we arrived and realized that there was no fireplace, I called the front desk. The young lady informed me that "some" of their chalets have fireplaces, and that we did not "request" one. I explained that the website lead me to believe that all chalets had a fireplace, and that I was not aware that we had to request one. I then asked if we could switch to a chalet that had a fireplace, and I was told no - because they were fully booked for the night. What a bummer. But we decided to make the best of it.We'd brought food to cook because the website boasts, "a fully equipped kitchen."The next morning we woke up to cook breakfast.. not a single pan - only 3 pots - and no cookie sheet. The plastic cooking utensils were old and worn. We called the front desk and requested a pan and a cookie sheet. They did bring a small cookie sheet and a 6-inch frying pan, and for some reason the lady told us that it was their only pan, but they were waiting for more to arrive. Problem solved, sort of.After breakfast I decided to shower. I turned the water on in the bathtub/shower combo downstairs, and the tub was barely draining. I looked in the drain and it was disgusting - visibly clogged with muck and hair. I called the front desk to request that someone come fix it. She stated that she could send someone while we were gone, as we were getting ready to leave for the day. I said that was fine, and requested some extra hand towels and towels - as they had only left 2 hand towels and 3 wash cloths for 3 of us for a 3 night stay. She said it wouldn't be a problem.We got back to the chalet late, after hiking in Yosemite all day, and dinner. The tub drain had clearly not been cleaned, and the tub was still not draining properly.. and there were no extra towels.I called downstairs again, this time a bit upset. I was told that they had to check with the maintenance person to see when they could come. Luckily, he showed up fairly quickly. He spent maybe 10 minutes in the bathroom and fixed the drain. The towels also arrived about 10 minutes after the call. Of other note, the walls on these duplexes are paper thin. On our first night, we were connected to what seemed like a chalet full of kids / teens. They were loud, playing hide and seek, arguing and occasionally cussing each other out until about 1:30am when we finally went to bed.. and we could hear almost every single word they said all night long. The chalet itself is cute, albeit dated. The downstairs bedroom is nice, but a bit small with the 2 queen beds. We had to shimmy past the end of the beds because of the bureau that was in front of it.Otherwise, it was decent. Water got hot fairly quickly, it was clean, and the loft was a great place for my son to hang out to read books and get an education on foul language.The location is awesome, being about 20-30 minutes from Yosemite's South Gate. And the town of Oakhurst has plenty of shopping and restaurants.They have a cute "village" with a small, over-priced grocery store, some shops, coffee shop and pizza place. The lake is gorgeous, even though it was at a very low level when we were there.We ate at Ducey's one night, and it was great. Separate review for them.Honestly, with the availability of other resorts on the lake, this was our first and probably last stay here.

I have read some poor reviews on here and I am beginning to think that some people are just difficult and impossible to please. When people are upset that a resort cant make the impossible happen, like giving them a room when they dont have one, you know the reviewer is impossible. Anyway, the resort was great. The cabin, #106 was great. Yes, they are like a cabin so you have that style and you have that feel, but everything was clean, functioning and in very good condition -given that you are in the woods and please remember, everything needs to be brought in. We were extremely surprised about how good the food was as we were not expecting the food to be amazing, but it was. Huge portions too, so I recommend sharing! We especially liked the caesar salad, the Acai bowl for breakfast, pancakes, grilled artichokes, clam chowder and most of the fish options were all extremely good. The most memorable part was the staff! Everyone was warm, welcoming and accommodating. It is uncommon these days where most business feel like you should be happy they are serving you and not the other way around. I asked the staff why they go so far out of their way and they said it was due to the owner and the fact that he wants to create this warm community at The Pines Resort. I believe that because I could see it, taste it and feel it. We had an amazing time and we will be back.

super Amazing!Linda and Kim aka sparkle pony are sooo nice.great Property, superb vibes