Terrace/patio

Reviews of ITH Big Bear Lake Hostel and Retreat Center

2 out of 5
ITH Big Bear Lake Hostel and Retreat Center
657 Modoc Drive, Big Bear Lake, CA

Reviews

8.6

Excellent

Rating 10 - Excellent. 58 out of 97 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 18 out of 97 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 11 out of 97 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 6 out of 97 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 4 out of 97 reviews" "

8.6/10

Cleanliness

8.8/10

Staff & service

8.8/10

Amenities

8.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

9.2/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Jonathan

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Staff and place are stellar. Nice cozy spot to rest the night. Will come here again if the opportunity arises. They also have a very friendly bear-dog to socialize with. Solid place. Thank you.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Ski trip
Nice place, quite, great breakfast
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Poushik

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Exceptional stay and totally safe. This was my first hostel stay and enjoyed my time here.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Edgar

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

4/10 Poor

emmanuel

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Abel

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

8/10 Good

Joseph Wilson P

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
1st time staying in a Hostel place. Like the experience of uniqueness of it. The style of the place is like a rustic cabin/lodge. Improvements could be a more parking spaces and an AC unit/system.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

antoon

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very nice hostel, clean. Close to down town, and hiking trails. Staff was very nice and helpful.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

6/10 Okay

Dionisio

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Good location, waited for a while for someone to check us in. No staff present when we arrive!
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2023
Response from ITH Team on 2023/7/6
We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delayed check-in and absence of staff upon your arrival. We regret that you were dissatisfied with the cleanliness, property conditions, and facilities. Your feedback is valuable to us, and we will address these issues promptly to ensure a better experience for our guests. Thank you for bringing these matters to our attention.

10/10 Excellent

Daniel

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
A great place to spend the night and share some time with other adventurers! Comfortable dorms and plenty of amenities and places to hang out.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023
Response from Big Bear Mountain Lodge on 2023/5/24
Thank you Daniel! We appreciate the kind words and hope to see you again soon!

10/10 Excellent

ALLISON

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2022

10/10 Excellent

Austin

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2022

4/10 Poor

David

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2022

10/10 Excellent

Sandra, West Columbia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
For young & old alike the hostel experience is one not to be missed. Great place to meet folks from all over, not to mention all PCT thruhikers taking a break from the trail.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2022

10/10 Excellent

John

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2022

10/10 Excellent

Brian

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Extremely helpful and friendly staff. Shower on the west side took 5 min to warm up but it is to be expected in an older place.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2022

10/10 Excellent

David, Chicago

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I stayed there with my 8 year old son, so he could experience the vibe of a hostel. We had a great time, met cool people, and loved the openness of the property. It was well maintained, very friendly staff, bed was comfortable, but we did have a private room. We will definitely be coming here again. It was the first weekend that the hostel was open, so there were maybe a dozen guests, so it may be different when full, but overall it was a great experience.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2022

10/10 Excellent

Neil

Stayed 1 night in Feb 2022

10/10 Excellent

Shannon

Stayed 1 night in Jan 2022

4/10 Poor

Raziel

Traveled with family
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The last resort, no choice place to stay
First time to stay here and I would say it’s not comfortable. Everything is too small and old. Great thing I brought lysol wipes with me to clean. Shower is very small. Not ideal to take shower. I wonder why they did such small shower and nobody can use. Just a catch to have someone rent it. This is like a very last resort and no choice place to stay. The staff are really nice and friendly. I hope they will fix the rooms and the restrooms upstairs. And the place is very old so needs updating and cleaning.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2021

10/10 Excellent

Eduardo

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great place. Very friendly staff. Excellent value for your money.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2021

10/10 Excellent

Michael

Stayed 1 night in Nov 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in May 2021

2/10 Terrible

Candace

Traveled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Horrible stay
A place for people who don’t care how and where they stay ! The place was horrible. It didn’t feel safe at all. It was dirty the smell of the home as you entered was guy wrenching. They say family friendly in description but not one thing about it was family friendly.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2021
Response from Bevy on 2021/5/1
I am sorry you had this experience with us. Our hostel is built on the model of "spreading peace through the knowledge of culture" and we therefore cater to people looking to share an experience with others from different walks of life. At this time of year, this attracts many hikers from all over the world who backpack the entire west coast! They can be stinky. While this environment is not for everyone, we are always happy to host people from all around the world as we can learn something different from everyone. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The staff were really nice and warm and helpful! Enjoy the stay there..
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2021
Response from ITH Family on 2021/4/9
Thank you so much for your review. We love what we do and the opportunity to share the Big Bear experience with our guests. We hope to see you again.

10/10 Excellent

Gabriel, Rialto CA

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
My first time in a hostel and it was amazing! The place was so cozy and the staff were amazing hosts. They made me feel right at home. I highly recommended this place to anyone that wants to come up to hig bear to explore the city for a day. I will definitely be back. Shout out to Yogi for hanging out with me while I cooked up some stakes on the grill.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2020

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
The original facility itself is WOW..old with quite a history. The original part houses 2 bathrooms and 4 private rooms (oone of which has 2 bunk beds). The newer section (east side) is not so great. it contains at least 2 large bunk rooms but only ONE TOILET/SHOWER. so unless your timing is incredibly lucky, you get to walk through the game room and kitchen to the other side of the facility and hope one of the 2 bathrooms is available....NOT a good setup. can't imagine trying to exist on 3 bathrooms if all 9 bunk beds + the 3 private rooms were filled to capacity
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in Nov 2019
Response from Bobby on 2019/11/15
Thank for visiting :)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Say Hi to Yogi for us
Dont be Shy! this place was awesome and we would definately go back!
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019
Response from Bobby on 2019/11/15
Great to hear you had a wonderful time :)

8/10 Good

Aaron

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Big Bear cabin room
Decent place with nice people. It's more like a Hostle than a hotel. Typical for Big Bear, the room was small but the bed was comfy. Would stay there again. They were the cheapest and they had guitars on the wall you could play.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019
Response from Yogi Bear on 2019/9/10
Thanks for Staying with us! Keep your eyes peeled for some gnarly Winter Deals coming your way!

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019
Response from Bobby on 2019/11/15
Thank you for visiting. We will work hard to improve our guest experience. :)

2/10 Terrible

Kai

Disliked: Staff & service
Disappointed
I have stayed at this lodge several times. On my most recent stay, I became sick and asked if I could cancel my remaining nights. I was told that it was fine and that I would receive a refund. I asked if they were sure because if not then I would just rather stay and not waste my money. I was told that I would definitely receive a refund back to my account the next week. It’s been over a month. They are now ignoring my emails and refuse to honor their part. I am highly upset. I have sent several emails and I was guaranteed a refund. This shows poor service and management on their part. My next step is filing a grievance with the BBB. I can’t believe a business would tell someone one thing, not follow through and then just completely ignore them. The average person doesn’t have money to waste. I have been a loyal customer and referred several people to them. I am extremely disappointed. I don’t understand how a business can lack so much integrity.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Naveen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in May 2019
Response from Bobby on 2019/11/15
Thank You Visiting :)

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
No major complaints
Staff was great - very welcoming and friendly. Reasonably clean. Didn't take advantage of the food, but it looked good. Bed was comfy. General maintenance needs help (stuff looks patched together)
Stayed 1 night in May 2019
Response from Bobby on 2019/11/15
Great to hear you had a nice stay. We will make the improvements your recommended. :)

6/10 Okay

Dani

Liked: Staff & service, amenities
bathroom dirty, but friendly staff and food included. a bit pricey for hostel
Stayed 2 nights in May 2019
Response from Bobby on 2019/11/15
Thank you for visiting. We will work harder to improve our guest experience. :)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Hiker friendly!
PCT hiker staying for one night to resupply etc. The place was amazing, can highly recommend for any other hiker as it has everything you need and excellent service.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019
Response from ITH Big Bear Management Team on 2019/4/25
Thanks so much for the positive feedback. We are a proud sponsor of the PCT Association and always look forward to hosting PCT Hikers! Please spread the word to your fellow hiker friends

10/10 Excellent

Jennifer

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from ITH Big Bear Management Team on 2019/2/27
Thank you for your review! We look forward to your return :]

10/10 Excellent

Larry

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great place to stay
Check in was easy and they even provide towels/shampoo etc. if you need a shower. They also provided a complimentary dinner and Breakfast. Great place to stay
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from ITH Big Bear Management Team on 2019/2/27
Thanks for your review Larry! We look forward to your return :]

4/10 Poor

Gabriela

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Not what we expected
The place is really cool and it’s location is great, but the only thing that we didn’t liked at all was the service. We payed for an all-inclusive plan and the first night there was not enough food for everyone, as well as the breakfast the next morning. So at the end we payed for food that we didn’t eat.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2019
Response from ITH Big Bear Management Team on 2019/2/27
Thanks for your review! Although 4 stars is a bit harsh for not providing enough food for our complimentary meal service, we still appreciate your feedback. We do not offer buffet sized portions but we are trying to find the perfect amount to feed our guests without contributing to the tons of food waste generated by this country. We also have some guests that hoard food in their rooms and luggage to take to go and this often times throws off our food portions for our guests. We are working on this issue and hope our food service exceeds your expectations in the future.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
When you travel to knew places you have never been alone it can cause one to be on there toes and cautious but from the moment I set foot into the ITH front desk I felt welcomed. I will never forget my first incredible night at big bear with the laughs and friends I made. Can't wait to make it back again.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2018
Response from ITH Big Bear Management on 2019/2/3
Thank you for such a kind review! The staff and I are so happy you had such a great stay. We hope to host you again in the future!

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2018
Response from Bobby on 2018/12/10
Thanks for visiting! :)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2018
Response from Bobby on 2018/12/10
Thanks for visiting! :)

10/10 Excellent

Ofer

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A nice place and great staff, good value for money
A special place, a lodge with atmosphere and not one of the motels that all look similar. We had a tasty dinner and breakfast was also nice, and the staff and owner were very friendly and helpful. Great value for money.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2018
Response from ITH Big Bear Mountain Lodge Management (Eric) on 2018/10/12
Hi Ofer! Thank you so much for your feedback and kind words. We really like to get to know the travelers that come through, especially the interesting and experienced ones like yourself. It was a pleasure to hear your camping stories over dinner, almost tempted me to take my hammock and go on an adventure. Although I know you'll find yourself in all sorts of places around the world, you're very welcome to join us again at the lodge if you ever find yourself back here. Safe travels,

10/10 Excellent

Leticia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice place, relaxing, great breakfast, Eric was super helpful , id definitely come back.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2018
Response from ITH Big Bear Mountain Lodge Management (Eric) on 2018/10/12
Hi Leticia, Thanks for coming by and staying with us. I'm glad that you enjoyed our lodge and everything it has to offer. I look forward to seeing you here when you come back, we have some exciting improvements we're working on for the winter. In the meantime, take care and safe travels.

10/10 Excellent

Grzegorz

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2018
Response from ITH Big Bear Mountain Lodge Management on 2018/10/12
Thanks for coming and leaving us feedback. We're glad you were satisfied and hope to see you here again. Take care,

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Suoer cool spot. Friendly and helpful also cool atmosphere
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2018
Response from ITH Big Bear Mountain Lodge Management on 2018/10/12
Hey, thanks for your feedback. We're glad you enjoyed your stay and hope you come again sometime. Cheers!

10/10 Excellent

Mandana

Free breakfast...great location ..price
Great place ....location close to all.like village.free breakfast i had pancakes coffee eggs and dinner.....best priced books fast...no private bathroom if u look in for 5 star posh w private bath this ain't it
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2018
Response from ITH Big Bear Mountain Lodge Management on 2018/10/12
Thanks for your feedback, we're glad you enjoyed your stay. We do have some rooms that include private bathrooms as well, so if you come around here again, we would be more than happy to match you with that type of accommodation if it's available. Take care and thanks again.

10/10 Excellent

kevin, san diego

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
really enjoyed layout, amenities,staff, kitchen, pool table, outdoor areas, and clean queen bedroom with private bathroom/shower
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in May 2018
Response from Hotel Management on 2018/6/18
Thanks for leaving feedback, we're glad you enjoyed your stay here and hope you come again soon. Safe Travels,