Hotels Near Brown Bear Gift Shop in Big Bear Lake

We had a wonderful stay at Marina Riviera! The location is amazing, it’s just a few blocks from the Big Bear Village which has lots of restaurants and local shops. The rooms are beautiful and feature fun rustic furnishings. The beds are comfy and cozy. We brought our dogs and they were very happy playing outside. There was plenty of room on the property for them to explore and in the room. The staff were really friendly and the front desk was available for all of our questions/responded quickly. The views from the rooms are stunning. The back of the property showcases Big Bear Lake. The whole family has a fantastic trip and would 10/10 recommend staying at Marina Riviera for your next trip!

The lady that checked us in was very friendly and helpful throughout our stay. She had also called us earlier in the day to ask when we'd be arriving, just in case we were coming in after the office closed. We were very pleased when we walked into our king room and saw the huge fireplace and cabin decor. We found it to be clean and equipped with a mini frig and microwave. The down side for us was the very high bed which made it difficult to get into for our ”senior” bodies as well as the hard mattress with thin pillows. While some people may like a firm bed, we both woke up with back aches. There was some significant road noise early on, but it did die off to almost nothing by 10pm which ultimately resulted in a peaceful night. We were in room 2 . The shower was pretty small and the drain had a screw that stuck up above the tile floor. It was very difficult to not step on that area while showering and really needs to be fixed before someone rips their foot open.

My first time to Big Bear Lake. Lagonita Lodge was a good value. I would stay here again. It sits right on the lake. I didn't get a lakeview unit, but you can easily sit on benches in areas provided to get your lake view. It is a typical timeshare type of resort. Mine was a one bedroom with a hide a bed sofa in the living area. Full kitchen with microwave and stove, full sized refrigerator, dishwasher, fully stocked with dishes , silverware, and cooking gear. There did not appear to be air conditioning in my unit, but there was a heater and it worked. In September it gets cool at night. Around 44 degrees. There is an activity schedule of things to do at Lagonita Lodge. I went to the pancake breakfast, ice cream social, continental breakfast, and the lake cruise. Most of these have an extra charge, but it is very reasonably priced. Boat cruise $10 for example. You can fish right off the shore or their dock. Fishing license requited. There is an indoor swimming pool. Outside Jacuzzi, and exercise room. There is much to do in the area. LL is located very near ”The Village” which has many restaurants and quaint shops. I also rode the Mine Shaft Coaster, rented a bicycle and rode the North Shore Bike Path. A 3 hour zipline tour is located nearby. LL rents kayaks, stand up paddle boards, and even a pontoon boat. Their front desk is open 24 hours. Check in time is 5 p.m. And checkout on Friday through Sunday is 10 a.m. Checkout on other days is noon. They have two Internets - the basic which is free, and a higher bandwidth Internet for streaming, etc. that costs extra. My Verizon 4g on my smartphone worked great here, so I just used that. The rooms are a little dated which I have found is typical of a timeshare resort. My room had some door jams that had been jammed and needed some paint. The icemaker in the fridge worked great. There were 2 TVs. One in the living room and one in the bedroom. There was a DVD player. Mine didn't work, but I called and they sent someone up quickly to replace it. They rent DVDs for $2, and there is Redbox in Vons and Stater Brothers. The location is towards the very west end of town. The main grocery shopping centers are on the very other end of town. It is about 10 minutes to get to the other end. Because it was September, the town was not crowded except on weekends. So that part was soooo nice. I am used to Lake Tahoe and this is a much smaller lake and town. I do recommend this resort and would certainly stay here again. If you haven't been to Big Bear Lake, I recommend that you watch some YouTube videos about what to do in Big Bear. There are many with great ideas you will find. My pictures of deferred maintenance are why I did not give Lagonita a 5 rating.

We arrived on Friday afternoon. The place was beautiful and nostalgic. We checked in and the room was nice... we left and returned that evening to find out that we had no heat. I asked why the Forster heating wasn’t working because it was 41degrees, All I git was a blanket and a floor heater. The maintenance guy stated”Itsnot just a switch I can turn on and I don’t know what to do. My wife had major surgery years ago and her spleen was taken. Therefore she gets cold easy. So we cuddled up and for the next few hours, there were people upstairs running back and forth shaking the entire floor. I called the front desk many times up to 3am to get these people to stop with no avail.. We stayed one night and with no sleep, I was so frustrated that when we checked out, I wanted to be compensated for my room. I was told that they couldn’t do anything because I booked the room through you guys.. Amazing

My experience with this motel absolutely shocked me and has changed my view of Motel 6 totally & probably forever. It happened when I stayed there on December 24, 2021. Admittedly a busy time of the year and a ski resort with many roads closed because of snow, but not an excuse for what they did. All motels in town that were reasonably priced ($60 to $150) were full. Only really nice ones that wanted $500+/night had any rooms, so I was surprised this place had any rooms at all, put I soon realized why. Imagine my shock when I was charged over $400/night. You must be kidding! $400+ for a Motel 6? A total OUTRAGEOUS RIP-OFF! So why did I pay it? Because in this instance I had to, because by that time everyone was full except them, many of the roads were closed and I wasn’t sure I could make it to the next town. I have almost never paid that much for a hotel room, but when I did, it was pretty damn nice, and I don’t think I have ever paid more than $100 or so for a Motel 6. To top it off, they were an older property and NOT in good repair. I noticed and was not surprised when I saw possibly more than half of their rooms vacant that night. Of course, they were, probably because many people said “No Way”, and just took their chances to leave town. I wish I would have had that option. Had they been more reasonably priced, I have no doubt they would have been almost full and probably made more money also. There is no doubt in my mind that they GOUGED me, along with everyone else who stayed with them that night, and I will never forget that they were even WILLING to do that. I don’t want to hear anything like “What-ever the market will bear”, because that has its limits, and it is an UNCONSCIONABLE way to do business. You offer a reasonable product at a reasonable price and a reasonable profit, and it should end there. Anything more than that is gouging, plain & simply. Taking advantage of high demand in order to charge a ridicules price for maybe even a bad product. LegalDictionary.net defines and describes Price Gouging as ………… “It is this taking advantage of a bad situation, raising prices for much-needed supplies or services to an unfair, or even unethical level, that is considered price gouging….…PRICE GOUGING IS AGAINST THE LAW, though the laws vary by state”. No doubt in my mind that this is exactly what they did, and didn’t even feel bad about it because the annoyance and my anger did not end there. There were also no amenities in the room (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, plastic cups, Kleenex, water, coffee or tea, etc.), as well as just one small bar of soap for a room designed for up to 4 people. I went down to the front desk, asked for at least 1 more soap, which she gave me, and then complained that they couldn’t even but a bottle of drinking water in the room. I was floored and pissed with her response. She had the audacity to say, “We don’t normally provide things like that so that it helps us