On the first morning in my third-floor room, a cozy, clean, and well-appointed space with a great view of Mt. Tamalpais, the silver and white-foiled coffee package next to the coffee maker on the credenza bore the imprint Larkspur Collection. On the second morning of my visit, I noticed the name on the package was different.

What’s in a name? This question gave me pause when I realized my three-night stay coincided with a change in hotel management. As of December 15, 2011, The Lodge is no longer owned by Larkspur Hospitality, a chain of upscale boutique hotels in California, but is now in the hands of MetWest Terra.

Certainly, Tiburon, a name that means “shark,” is actually more synonymous with quiet beauty and quality. Tiburon, for example, is the first city in the world to eliminate trans-fats from all its restaurants, and in keeping with the Larkspur philosophy, the Lodge at Tiburon has long offered a beautiful kind of unpretentious comfort.

My experience at The Lodge was as positive as others have written before me. From the moment the staff at the front desk greeted my arrival, I felt as if they truly cared about me and wanted me to enjoy my stay. Sweet details, like the fire pits on the patios and the flavorful fare in The Grill, make a stay in Tiburon’s Lodge seem like a stay with Bay-area friends, even though I was in town for a business meeting in The Lodge’s conference center.

Obviously, it remains to be seen how the change in management will affect The Lodge, but I can report a wonderful three-day visit. Happily, inside both silver and white-foiled packages was the same, delicious, organic coffee from the Carmel Valley Roasting Company.

By the way, a quick online exploration of MetWest Terra’s philosophy of hotel management (“A new generation of hotel inspired to be extraordinary”) and look at the quality of the places currently in their portfolio left me very encouraged.

I look forward to my next visit!

Chose The Lodge at Tiburon because of its location. I wanted to be close to the Angel Island Ferry and at the same time close to dining. I like the restaurant/in-room service. The room is actually comfortable and everything worked well. The Internet was fast and the room was clean.

Upon arrival, we were greeted immediately. The staff was friendly and they were courteous and helpful. They had water in the lobby, which was nice.

The only thing about this hotel is that I expected a real lodge type resort but it was more of a regular type hotel. They also had outer corridors (somewhat slanted), which means you can hear the noise of the cars below. Other than that the room was quiet.

The workout room is small. There's like three equipment and almost felt like working out in a small bedroom.

Again, it was a nice stay. That's all that counts.

We stayed here for my husband's birthday recently. Upon check in we mentioned we were here for that. Within minutes of arriving in our room there was a knock at the door. A hand written birthday card and chilled bottle of champagne arrived! The hotel is very centrally located to walk the little town of Tiburon. We did not eat there but the dining room looked very nice. The large glass container with water infused with fresh apples was a nice touch (in the lobby). The rooms have DVD players and we checked out a movie for the night. Not a huge selection but good choices. Our room was clean and the large king bed was covered with a nice down comforter. The bed was comfy but a tad soft for our backs. We enjoyed the large jacuzzi tub. The only negative did not present itself until about 2:30 AM. The walls are very thin and I was was awoken by our next door neighbors...well...ahem....you get the idea. And I mean the walls seemed VERY thin with actual words able to be heard.
Otherwise a very nice place and we will return. Perhaps there are rooms situated differently so we have more space between us and the neighbors.

We stayed here on a Saturday after my 25th high school reunion, which was in San Francisco. When I looked at the value for the $$ among SF hotels, we decided to stay in quiet, beautiful Tiburon instead. This hotel was reasonable, had nice grounds and rooms, staff was friendly and accommodating, and the breakfast in the hotel restaurant was reasonable and excellent as well (our normal breakfast spot, Sam's Cafe, was running a wait for breakfast Sunday morning, but the hotel restaurant was a fine alternative). This is a great place to stay if you want to be within walking distance to the shops and restaurants in Tiburon, but also nice if you're visiting San Francisco, since you can just take the ferry or drive in to the city for the day, and return to this lovely, quiet town at the end of the day.