We strongly recommend to NOT stay at Northstar. Even if you have money to spend, you will be much better off staying off-resort and driving there. We stayed at Northstar Village for the two nights from January 7, 2012. When I made the reservation for my family in early December, all Web sites including Northstar's own Website, northstarattahoe.com, and all the travel sites I visited such as Travelocity and Expedia showed no availability. I became suspicious as all other snow resorts showed much availability given the lack of snow this season. So I called Northstar central reservation and was indeed told that there are ample availability. At this point, I assumed that they may be having some difficulty selling their rooms online due to their recent acquisition by Vail Resort and resulting system merger. I asked the reservation agent accordingly but he said he has not been informed about anything regarding the online reservation.
I proceeded to reserve a room with him, and asked him specifically for a room that fits a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids) in the NEW village, close to or better in the same building as the overnight ski storage facility, which is located right next to Chocolate Bar if you know where that is, because my wife and I did not want to walk any long distance with our ski boots on as we both have been suffering bad lower back. The reservation agent at Northstar assured me that we will get a room very close to the locker facility. By the way, the previous time we visited Northstar during 2011 Thanksgiving week, we stayed at Village at Squaw Valley. They accommodated the same request and put us in a room very close to the chair lift (ski lockers are located within each building in Squaw's case). We intended to ski at Squaw the whole week but ended up driving to Northstar everyday for half of the week because Squaw had only limited slopes open due to lack of snow whereas Northstar had more slopes open. So we did not stay at Northstar the previous time. Anyway, I completed the reservation with him and received a confirmation email for a room with 2 queen beds with a request for 2 sleeping pads to be in the room (for our two boys). The room rate was at $309 per night. I visited back Northstar's Website and confirmed that the price is within the range for a room at the Village quoted on Northstar's Website - Northstar Village Rooms + Lofts: $175 - $405. This was on the "Lodging Rates and Description" page where they listed comprehensively all the lodging types and their price ranges. I looked for the lodging type "NEW Village" on the page but I could not find it and thus assumed that "Northstar Village" meant the NEW Village. As of today, this has not channged and I have saved a copy of this page. So on January 7, 2012, we picked up our kids from school and drove up to Northstar. And as we checked into the room, we found out that we were booked in the OLD Northstar Village building room #9207. Not only the room was not in the New Village close to the ski locker, but also very run down to say the least. There was water leaking from bath shower squeaking glass door. The room carpet was kind of moist and had lots of hairs left from prior guests. There was even a Christmas card to a mom and a jacket hood lying like left over trash from previous guest on the floor behind the curtain. The noise from upper floor corridor as well as the voice of another guest talking loud on cell phone in the elevator lobby was coming down loud and very bothering. The room was extremely cramped and virtually no room to use the sleeping pads. The server glass kettle for the coffee machine was broken and leaked water. Worst of all, the room was totally outdated and not equipped like a $309 per night accommodation facility. It was like a run-down cheap Motel room and obviously far from what's been described in the Northstar lodging pages. It was late at night that we arrived and had no energy left to go back to the front desk driving for minutes. We had early morning to get the kids to the ski school. So we decided to bear the uncomfortable for this stay. Upon check out in the morning on January 8th, Sunday, I complained to Adam, the front desk clerk who checked us out. His comments made our aggrevation worse - he said "what do you want? some kind of compensation? The New Village room would have cost you twice as much" I could not believe my ears. "You mean six hundred eighteen dollars a night !?" Adam said "Yes." I did not tell him that the price he was quoting was far higher than the range shown on their Web page. I asked him to talk to the management of Northstar Lodging about our unpleasant experience and get back to me. Adam said, "I will and send you an email TODAY." I did not receive any mail from Adam. The only thing I received from Northstar is a request to fill out a survey which I received this morning. We totally feel rediculed by them.

The ski trail condos at North Star have arguably the best location for staying and skiing in Lake Tahoe, and the NorthStar development that manages them has definately the worst housekeeping service for these condos. We have come between Christmas and New Years for many years and have the same horrible (yes horrible) service each time. I just do not learn! We come with four other families. We go other places some years after I remind everyone how bad the housekeeping is,and then someone says - but if we stay on the ski trail condos it will be so convenient and relaxing.

So once again, the condos are not clean when you arrive. No one will respond when you complain. You ARE provided one cleaning service every three days. The cleaners came at 8:15 AM on the third day. We asked them to come back. They did in 15 minutes. We asked if they would come back in 1-2 hours, they said no. We asked if they would come back the next day and they said maybe and walked away. I should, I really should be used to this by now - see above but I was rather surprised at the brazen response. So the next day at 9 when we walked out to go skiing, I saw the same exact person who woke us up at 8:15 and asked if we please could get service and if we please could get fresh towels. She just looked at me and ignored me. Naturally nothing happened until our last day when once again, knock, knock at 8:15 - please when are you leaving, we need to clean.... So if location is all you need - these places are for you, but come with scouring pads, a vacuum cleaner, extra towels and soap. Please do not bother complaining, I do, and nothin happens - housekeeping is closed at 4 so if you check in to a dirty place and you cannot check in before 4 - you are out of luck..... I have and I hope that I can get my family to go to another resort next year. As an aside - the folks on the mountain at North Star are great! They are courteous

We rented a 3br condo and paid over $700 a night. I almost couldn't stay here. The shag carpet had pieces of food in it, the tile floor in the kitchen was sticky, there was hair in the bathroom (as well as bits of toilet paper or tissue) on the floor, the bath/shower was stained, and the sheets weren't clean. The only reason we didn't leave is that there was no other option for lodging (it was the week between Christmas and New Years).

This place is definitely on the pricier side for the actual quality of the accommodation, but we got a "3rd night free special" that came with $50 certificate to spend in the village and a free camel pack, which seemed like a pretty good deal. Let me start with the good:

Location, location, location! Northstar Village is fantastic, with great restaurants, shops, and activities. This place is a few steps away from the best Northstar has to offer (skating, skiing, swimming, tubing, shopping, dining, etc.). Everything is accessible by foot, so the convenience of this place is off the charts. Our room was clean, minus a few old carpet stains. The beds are comfortable, if you like squishy.

Now the bad:
We're staying in a hotel-like room with two queen beds (with our kids). Our room was freezing when we arrived. The heater blows out relatively warm air at the warmest/highest setting and it's very, very, loud. It is located next to one of the beds, so unless you like the feel of a blowdryer on low setting blowing on your face all night, you will most likely shut it off (ah hah! i think therein lies the hotel strategy to cut down on heating and cooling bills. :-) ) It's not as loud as the automatic hand dryers in bathrooms, but I'm not joking that it's heading in that direction.

The room is on the small side. The walls are paper thin. People started waking up around us at 6 a.m., just about when the daylight started lighting up our room through the flimsy curtain. There is no light-blocking backing on the curtain, so if you like to sleep in the dark, you'll be okay till sunrise. We got in late, our kids were very tired, and we could have used a few extra hours of sleep, but we had to roll out of bed around 7 a.m. because the loud sound of doors opening and closing around us on a steady basis, and heavy footsteps on stairways and hallways, made it pretty impossible.

The wood in the room is going for the rustic look, but it's not that charming kind of rustic. It's more like the cheap kind of rustic. The bathroom is practically the size of my shoe closet, tub/shower/sink/linoleum is outdated. But it was clean. I checked for bedbugs after reading one of the reviews and didn't find any telltale signs of the critters.

Will I stay here again? Probably not. This was our first time staying at Northstar, and I'm one of those people who has a hard time passing up a good deal. But next time, I will splurge a bit more to experience quality that's on par with the rest of the Village. With that said, I know we'll still have a fantastic time because, hey! It's winter break! We're ready to have some fun! I'll give this place a "3" because the "5 of the location with the "2" accommodation quality averages out to "3" total.