We visited the area for one night and reserved a lake view room. It was more like a ground floor fishbowl for humans, with a wall of sliding glass doors looking into a parking lot on one side and a window looking into another parking lot on the other. To be fair, there was a glimpse of the lake from across two rows of cars in the parking lot and then beyond the building on the other side of that parking lot.

Still, with no A/C provided, we would have ended up having to
open the windows to cool the very stuffy room down (they did provide a fan). However, this could not be done without having people peering into the room from one side or the other, or both. Talk about a night with no sleep!

There was also a cleanliness issue my family discovered while I was discussing the room with the person at the front desk. Given our concerns, we asked that they refund our stay and we opted to go elsewhere. The staff person I dealt with was obliging about the refund once I explained the situation, which I appreciated, but I can't recommend this motel.

Our family came to Incline Village for a softball tourney. Most everything was sold out and my husband found this place through a DoD website. I wasn't so sure at first but once we drove through and saw our room I was/am a fan. The furniture is a bit dated but everything was clean and very comfortable. They offer gas bbq's for families to cook their dinners. They have a shaded patio with patio furniture. They also have ping pong and foosball for those who are feeling competitive. The motel footprint is ideal. They have three separate patios, two pools and a hot tub - all with easy access to the beach. It is ideally located with nearby stores to buy food or anything you may have forgotten to pack. We stayed in Room 364 which has a plate glass window with an amazing view of the lake and mountains. There is also a porch of sorts that runs along the length of the building with seating allowing you to enjoy the amazing view. Staff is/was very courteous in responding to our questions. My daughter' steam didn't do so well but the Ferrari Crown turned this into a very enjoyable mini-vacay. We will definitely be comb back!

My wife and I just returned from our annual two-week vacation at Ferrari's Crown Resort. This was our eighth year. Our unit looked out on the lake and pools. We were joined this year by friends whose families have come to love the place as much as we do.

Only fifty years ago, Lake Tahoe was dotted with dozens of family-run resorts like Ferrari's Crown. Smallish, rustic places where parents and kids oftentimes shared the same bedroom, awoke at the crack of dawn to snag the day's harvest of crawdads, rented a ski-boat, tried their luck at fishing (usually, unsuccessfully), basked in a daily ritual alternating between beach and pool, fired up the lakeside grill for a paper-plate alfresco dinner, and capped perhaps by a daring evening swim. And all the while, marveling at the ever-changing, moment-to-moment natural splendor of the place -- the majestic mountains, crystalline waters, glorious cloud formations, and Milky Way nights. Year after year in the summertime, families would anxiously await their slated week or two up at "the Lake". And year after year upon arrival, they'd be greeted by members of the same family that lovingly ran the place, catching up on events of the winter past and revealing plans for the week ahead. Kids fanned out to locate friends they'd met the previous year. Parents exhaled relief at having arrived. Suddenly for everyone, time just seemed to slow down. For innumerable families, this was their Tahoe experience and for them it provided the comforting sense of a beloved second home.

Today, the Crown is pretty much the last of these kind of resorts -- at least on Tahoe's North Shore. Sure, as far as accommodations are concerned, if you're looking for the Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, or Glenbrook, this is not the place. On the other hand, the Tahoe Ritz Carlton's nowhere near the lake, the Hyatt at Incline disallows t-shirts, swimsuits, and bare feet in many areas, and Glenbrook's beach doesn't even come close.

Give it a chance, what the Crown does have too is something intangible, precious. The key is that it's family-RUN. Dave and Marilyn Ferrari and their very friendly, competent staff are tirelessly and professionally meticulous in every aspect of the operation. It's clear that members of their extended, now-multi-multi-generational family -- themselves crawdadding, fishing, sun-bathing, and beachside-barbecuing -- love the place as much as anybody else. And in that, they set an example: the Crown is largely meant for people who have families or who enjoy families. It caters to a range of people -- what used to be called the middle class. These include doctors and judges, as well as itinerant musicians and the guy who drives a beer truck. You can meet, converse, or spend time with any, all, or none of them. But part of the fun is hanging out with many different people who are there just being themselves.

In short, Ferrari's Crown Resort provides that rare kind of experience that families treasure years after the vacation has ended. After all, one learns a lot about his or her family sharing a single room and dashing out at the crack of dawn. And if like us you're childless, there's always the option of sleeping in, rolling out of bed at your leisure, and reveling in the daily maid service -- just like the Ritz Carlton.