Meadowmont Lodge-Arnold

Great place to stay. Centrally located for all things winter. We snowshoed. Good local eats also.

Great place to stay after a long drive up to play in the snow!
I was advised by an inn keeper at another inn that Meadowmont Lodge was dog friendly. I asked the helpful lady if I could use the landline, because I had no cell phone signal. My wife had her work phone with, which is Verizon, and still no signal. So FYI NO SIGNAL for AT&T and Verizon!
After calling and reserving a room, we continued to relax and play in the snow.
I checked in around 1500/​3PM, and just to say, Clinton who was working the desk was very helpful! I explained I have a dog; which I had to pay an extra fee and that I had 2-​little ones. Clinton advised that the room I reserved had an additional small room with it. He showed me it on map of the lay out of lodges grounds.
I was worried about the safety of my kids and the security of their well being?! He advised that’s the room is double locked, it’s late in the day and there are several other empty rooms available. Ok, this was reassuring!
Room #17.
The Lodge was recently renovated and the room had a IKEA, Cost Plus. Target feel if you know what I mean. Super clean, and the heater kept the rooms toasty.
I brought my buddies bed and he slept on the floor next to us. When he had to go, I took him on the backside up the hill so that he could relieve himself.
The bed was a queen, felt like a full and was a single when our kids slept with us. Yeah. It happens!
The bathroom and shower was nice. The shower was roomy and the shower head was a water restrictor to save water. It put out plenty of hot water, and I was happy about that!
There is a desk if you need one, and a fridge, microwave and a Keurig.
The room was great!
Leaving the Bay Area for a day trip is hard. I’m so glad I stayed the night!
The negative thing is you can hear the traffic from the road, which it didn’t really bother me.
Yes, I will stay here again.
I’m going to Bookmark it! Will you?

Very clean, very modern updates in the rooms, very nice in general. The outside may make you think its just a run of the mill roadside motel but this place is so much more. The staff was very friendly and made the check in/​out process a breeze.
This is a definite keeper for sure.
Compliments to the entire staff for a stay well done.

Great place!
I’ve stayed here several years ago and I think they remodeled the rooms.
We rolled in late and they left the key for us hidden.
The room seemed clean and tidy and the wood flooring was a nice touch.
The beds were clean and towels were fresh.

Small and charming, had nice areas to sit and enjoy the outdoors. The room was spacious and our bathroom was huge! I would definitely stay here again, Clinton at the front desk was super nice and made me feel comfortable.

We stayed here in the summer and found the place to be very, very clean and efficiently run. The staff were fairly helpful and we had the basic amenities we needed (Kuerig coffee maker and frig in the room). This is definitely not a luxurious place. But I would reccomend it to those who want a clean, reasonably priced place to stay near Big Trees park and the gold country.

Excellent place to stay in Arnold, CA! My husband, 1 year old daughter and I stayed here over the weekend, and it was a great experience. Great value, immaculately clean, beds were comfy and the innkeeper (his name was AJ) was very friendly and helpful! Short drive to Calaveras Big Trees State Park and right across the street from Snowshoe Brewery. We would definitely stay again!

I saw great reviews posted for this place and after staying here I can see why. It’s not fancy but definitely clean, very comfortable are prices are very fair. I would stay here again for sure.

Look, the outside of this place, does not do the inside of this place justice. This isn’t a standard motel, ya’ll. There are velour blankets on the bed, wooden blinds, direct TV, high speed wi-​fi, keurig coffee makers and comforters that look like something I would select at Kohls. In fact, I feel like I might be sleeping in my own room and at any moment, someone may ask if I want something else (besides all these other things) to make my life more comfortable.
I paid the same price for a hotel room down the mountain in Murphys — and it was a fine, clean place and all — but it was your standard hotel room. And for the same price, I feel like I’m staying at my own house. They even provide the ladies with make-​up removing cloths in the bathroom — so thoughtful this place is.
Highly recommend.

We’ve just spent the past two nights at the Meadowmont Lodge and both were a pleasure. The staff was welcoming and friendly, the grounds and rooms were clean and the décor was inviting and restful inside and out. It feels as though someone cares about making sure things are ‘just right’ and is doing the work to keep it that way. The interiors are well maintained and comfortable without having the feeling of hotel room sterility and the exteriors feel more of someone’s well tended yard than a motel’s rigidly maintained grounds, (not that many hotels or motels tend to maintain their grounds beyond paving them).
The only concern we had was the hardness of the mattress. It was a bit too hard for us both.
We look forward to staying there during our next trip to the area.

The place was clean, neat and reasonably priced and I was very happy that we could bring our dog but it was not a pleasant experience.
The road noise is extremely loud and the thermostat for our room didn’t work and we woke up sweltering.
The wifi is also not very good.

Simply wonderful hotel. My husband and I spent a glorious weekend here. We arrived late, after the office closed, so we had to call ahead to make arrangements. The staff turned the heater and lights on in our room and left our keys where we could locate them. So very impressed with the exceptional cleanliness of the hotel and the friendliness of the staff. I recommend this hotel wholeheartedly, and we will be visiting again.

Amanda who I read about in Unilocal before going here does not work there anymore. It is Maria who I love! Maria works there at the front desk and her kids help her clean the rooms and such. They are a great team. Maria obviously has strong family values (she said nothing of it I just gathered) and is salt of the earth which meant a lot to me.
Room has a small Keurig so that is pretty darn cool. They give you one decaf and one regular in the room then if you want more you go to front desk. They have herbal tea and hot cocoa too!
I was in the middle section that is the North side of «U» shape building set up. It was more quiet than what I read about in the reviews. Maybe they were on the road side? I was not. I also brought a fan after reading all the Unilocal reviews… just in case. The noise I hated was the other guests getting up at who knows what time and starting engines and slamming car doors at 7:30am. I thought we are on vacation here? Still keeping those work hours?
Oh and there is a brewery restaurant across the street. Be careful because that street is a highway. It was good. I had a pint of the most commonly ordered one (says the waitress). It was really good and they put lemon in it. I ate a burger that was pretty darn good too.
Because of the other Unilocal reviews I was scared by some of the comments so I checked to see that I had clean sheets and I did. I checked in early so that there would be enough time to ask for clean sheets but it turned out not to be necessary. Maybe this is why Amanda is no longer working here? I don’t know. I also looked for half eaten cookies as one reviewer mentioned. I did not find any. I did notice two pebbles and about two pebble sized crumbs but only RIGHT up against the wall. I think maybe they only vacuum against the base boards with the attachment part of the vacuum maybe once a week or something like that. I am overly a clean freak so you may not notice. I was thinking if they took a broom and very quickly broomed the wall/​base board area before vacuuming the problem would be completely solved as I agree it is too time consuming to pull out attachment and get on hands and knees for 12 rooms every day.
The TV was medium size in my mind and I realized the people complaining about the TV must have some 60″ flat screen at home and if so this is not the place for you to stay. This is for us people who are not THAT rich. LOL. There is no DVD player though but I had my lap top for that.
Loved the WI-​Fi I must say.
Water pressure is not SUPER high in shower and you have to hold the toilet handle when you flush for about oh 10 whole seconds maybe.
I love the recent remodel it looks very nice inside.
The proximity to a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants and a ski/​sled/​snow board supply store cannot be beat. I noticed after you drive north heading to Bear Valley from this Motel there is like NOTHING. I also agree with another Unilocaler that the food at the lodge in Bear Valley was not very good (had to eat lunch there) and was so happy I was staying where there was better food options.
One Unilocaler says Arnold needs more restaurants but they have a mexican food place, brewery, italian food place, small café/​coffee place, and just north of the motel not by very far at all they have a few other places I don’t remember names. For being way up in the woods it can’t be beat.
Also, I thought the bed at this motel was really comfy and I checked it out a bit and it appeared there was some pad on top of the mattress but the mattress was nice too. In my mind not too hard and not too soft.
For the price I don’t think you can ask for anything more. If you want something better there is a lot of nice vacation homes here but be ready to pay 150 – 275 a night. Also the one I saw for 150 you had to shovel your own snow and pay in advance with a check. Um, no thanks. No protection or care for me what so ever on that. This motel on the other hand is completely above board and professional and that was what I decided I wanted instead of paying ahead of time with my check that had my bank account number on it.
This motel has a fair cancellation policy too. You should read it. I was rather surprised how much they have consideration for the customer.
Have fun in Arnold and Bear Valley I am ready to go back!!! :)

This place was ok priced and really clean for this type of accommodation. Also, the people working here were pretty friendly and helpful (took our clothes to their dryer for us so that we could enjoy dry snow clothes the following day). I did, however, have a terrible issue with booking through Expedia. I spent about an hour on the phone going back and forth between the lodge and Expedia before finally sorting it out. I learned in the long run to CALL THE LODGE DIRECTLY to book all rooms. What happened was that I booked a room late one night and the next morning, they called to say the room was actually unavailable. ughhhh… what a pain. They wound up putting us in a room with an attached room which had a single bed in it. The room with the twin was insanely cold and the insulation was ridiculous. We could hear the people next door going to the bathroom. Yes, that bad. I am shocked my 5 year old slept through all of that. So ridiculous. The place had great heating except for that room. I am sure it gets crazy hot in there in the summer. Also of interest was that the shampoo in our room said «Ayres hotels» on it. I had a bit of a laugh since this place clearly wasn’t an Ayres hotel. I wonder how they acquired those shampoos??? Next time, I’m going to find a rental on VRBO.

My father and I have been going to Bear Valley to ski for years. We got tired of staying at the lodge because the food up there was not good and we felt the lodge was overpriced. A friend suggested the Meadowmont Lodge and for the last 5 – 6 years, we haven’t stayed anywhere else on our ski trips.
Rooms: Basic, nothing fancy here, but you are paying less than half of the fees up at the lodge. One major benefit for us is that unlike many hotels in Dorrington or the Bear Valley lodge, there are no minimum night stay requirements, which provides us with significant flexibility. The rooms are clean, comfortable, well heated. The only downside is the obvious proximity to the highway, which can get a little loud, but that’s the case anywhere in Arnold.
Service: There is something about friendly service and people who are genuinely happy you are staying at their hotel and do what they can to make it comfortable. The people are always friendly, flexible about check in times and give good restaurant recommendations.
The Meadowmont Lodge is a great value if you are going up the Bear Valley. Clean, friendly and conveniently located, it was really a great find.

Arnold needs more restaurants! This is a place to go for a low cost lunch and the food is OK. The only reason we very rarely go is because the male waiter seems to hate life. HE IS THE WORST! Get rid of him and they might do more business.
Laurie Andrade

I’m so glad to see that others’ experiences mirrored my own. We hadn’t originally planned to stay in Arnold but through some extraordinary circumstances (gas explosion at our original place) we ended up at Meadowmont. Pam is, indeed, so very nice and kind. She was extra accommodating because our original plans had changed so drastically. Wasn’t sure what to expect when we walked in the room, but it was so cute, clean and nice that I was beside myself. Meadowmont is within walking distance of a grocery store, a few restaurants and an equipment rental place. The people at the local coffee shop recommended that we go snowshoeing in Big Trees and it was amazing. Really great place and fun to see so many genuinely nice people.

I recently attended a weekend wedding in Arnold and stayed at the Meadowmont Lodge. I was so happy I did! The reservation process was easy, the rates are reasonable, the room had everything I needed and Pam the manager was great! I even left my favorite robe in the room and Pam kindly mailed it back to me with two days — how sweet was that? These days you can’t find that level of customer service.
The next time I pass through Arnold, I’m definitely staying at the Meadowmont again!

Here’s why I gave five stars…
I’ve been all over and this is one of the cleanest, nicest places around. Nothing fancy, but everything you NEED. Ample parking, comfy beds, good hot showers, the heater works really well (it snowed… SNOWED in MAY when we were up there) and it’s just an all around pleasant place to be around. There’s a wonderful brewery right across the street where we took practically every evening meal because their food is honestly so darn good and their beer… FANTASTIC!
There’s a fully grocery store about two blocks away, and it’s close to gas stations and only a few miles from Big Trees Park, which you MUST see.
And let me tell you that every word about Pam is the truth. A sweeter, kinder woman you’ll not find that’s for sure. Pam treated us like family, actually, I can’t remember the last time my family was sad to see me go… and Pam really was… I should just move to Arnold…
But seriously… the price is ridiculously inexpensive, amazingly convenient, and will make you feel like you’re at home but better.
Because of the rain, I didn’t get to hike the south Grove, which I’ll do when I come back, and when I come back, the Meadowmont is where I’ll be staying.

Inexpensive, insanely clean, close to all the great stuff in the area AND it has Pam, who is indeed one of the greatest innkeepers of all time. She’s a sweetheart.
Also, it’s right across the street from Snowshoe Brewery. Good bar food, a low-​key, family-​friendly environment and their beers are pretty tasty.
Only reason it’s not five stars: it can be a little loud. It’s right by highway 4, so sometimes the trucks rumbling by can be a bit on the noisy side. They recently put in double-​paned windows, which definitely helps.
Give Pam a call. She’ll set you up right.