This was a very nice place. Most of these little inexpensive hotels are really geared just for the summer and are not good during the winter. But this place is an exception. I booked on line and typed in my reuest to have the room heated up before we got there, and they mentioned to me at the desk that they had taken care of it! So the service was excellent and the room was very clean and the beds were comfortable. The things I would improve are: The shower area had some paint peeling and could have used a little attention there...and the "continental breakfast" was just store-bought individually packaged muffins in a basket and the littel juice envelopes with the straws in them that you put in kid's lunch boxes...and coffee from one of those pump coffee machines. It was not sufficient for us to go skiing on, so I had to plan to get breakfast when at first I hadn't put that into my plans. But we will stay at this place again I'm sure. The only other slight drawback is if you are skiin at Sierra, it is still a good hour to get to the slope, so it's a bit far down 50 for that mountain.

My husband and I are retirees who have lived in Pollock Pines since 1996. Because our home is small, we have occasionally stayed at the Westhaven Inn so that visiting friends or family members could occupy our single bedroom. Conversely, our guests have sometimes stayed at the Inn rather than "bump" us from home. Everyone we know who has stayed at the Inn has agreed with us that it provides clean, comfortable accommodations at reasonable rates.

We are therefore at a loss regarding one reviewer's extremely negative description of the Westhaven Inn; Pony Express Trail, the road upon which the Inn is located; and the whole Pollock Pines area. While we do not own a business along the Trail, nor are we related to anyone who does, we feel compelled to defend the reputation of this impugned local establishment, as well as that of our beloved community.

First, seven of the eight other posters offering opinions on the Inn indicated they resided outside the Pollock Pines area, so we presume this reviewer, who gave his/her location as "Camino", actually lives in that town. However, since Camino is located adjoining Pollock Pines just three miles west of the Inn, it seems reasonable to question whether this reviewer actual "traveled" to our vicinity.

Second, the reviewer describes our local segment of the historic Pony Express Trail, which runs directly through a pine and cedar forest, as "the trashiest road (he/she has) ever seen". However, having traveled this byway hundreds of times over the past 14 years, we have never had occasion to view it in this light. In fact, as native Californians, we've found the whole Pollock Pines community to be more "roadside junk free" than 95% of the areas we've visited up and down the state.

Third, given the reviewer might have meant "trashy" in some other sense, but assuming he/she would not have been referring to our sometimes-homespun local residents, we urge potential visitors to view these photos of homes and businesses along the Trail (if necessary, please cut and paste the urls into your browser window):

http://www.noehill.com/eldorado/cal0704.asp
http://www.golyon.com/mlsphotos/81/4/29/2581369.jpg
http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20100327/162209_PET_1.jpg
http://media.point2.com/cdr/listing/cbe4/4c9c/edc8/84fc3f8afb1163a91205/w475h356wm.jpg
http://spyhunter007.com/paul_dean_family_album.htm
(please scroll down to the Pollock Pines Library)
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/16744088/6458-Pony-Express-Trail-Pollock-Pines-CA/
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/16436383/6091-Pony-Express-Trail-Pollock-Pines-CA/

We acknowledge rusticity, but trashiness? Come on!

And, fourth, we can only say the reviewer's recommendation that travelers "pass right through Pollock Pines" smacks puckeringly of "sour grapes". This is a town of about 5,000 in which a "major traffic jam" means more than two cars are "backed up" at the bottom of the Sly Park Road off-ramp (which usually happens only when campers are flocking to Jenkinson Lake on summer weekends). So, OUR recommendation is that you take a look at these photos of the lake and some of the nearby homes currently offered for sale:

http://everywheremag.com/places/1314
http://www.eid.org/recreation/sly-park-camping.htm
http://aboutpollockpines.com/slyparkrecreatio.html
http://www.directhomes.com/Property/111441414/3263_Gold_Ridge_Trail_Pollock_Pines_Ca_95726
http://www.directhomes.com/Property/109730312/3431_Sly_Park_Rd_Pollock_Pines_Ca_95726
http://www.directhomes.com/Property/111266246/5603_Sierra_Springs_Dr_Pollock_Pines_Ca_95726
http://www.directhomes.com/Property/115248989/4645_Dio_Linda_Ct_Pollock_Pines_Ca_95726

And NOW tell us, do you really want to "pass right through Pollock Pines" based solely upon this "independent reviewer's" advice?

P.S. For history buffs, the following website outlining Pollock Pines' interesting past may also be of interest:

http://www.thepollockpinesepic.com/

We stayed here for one night during a short weekend ski trip. We expected it will be very basic accomondation. It would be a fine stay if the room temperature was not below 50 when walked into the room.

The room we stayed is well kept up. The room is much bigger than most hotel rooms, it has two Q beds, a table, a desk and chairs, frig, microwave and coffee maker, these will be useful for extended stay. We only stayed ther for one night so we can go ski early next morning, we encountered one problem: the room is below 50 degree when we checked in at 8:00pm, it took two hours to warm up to 63 degree, made the stay very uncomfortable.

I have never seen such great customer service from an Inn before. The owners were very easy to talk to and understood my needs. The rates are very reasonable for stay in this area. The room was clean and towels were stacked nicely. The hotel has high speed internet access for customers for free! I was able to do my reports without having to connect my laptop to my phone for access. Over all I had a great experience at Westhaven Inn. It will defiantly be on my list for future stays on my trips to Tahoe.