I was in town for a geocaching event and since many of the festivities were being held at this hotel I decided to make it easy on myself and stay there. Bad plan. Upon check in they told me I was in a standard room with no view. When I booked, I had booked a room with a view. They only had suites left with a view (go figure) I went ahead and upgraded. The view of the lake was lovely. However, in order to have that view, the room (or at least, my room) was situated directly above the pool. All evening you could hear people in the pool/spa area until 11 or midnight. The room itself was large but unimpressive for the price. I was there in June and the A/C in the room did not work. With the noise from the pool area I could either try sleeping in a muggy/warm room or try to cool the place down and have noise drifting up from down stairs. I won't be staying here again. Not worth it for the price.

We had a lovely upper room overlooking the lake. Our champagne was ready for us on arrival in our room and we sat and drank it on our balcony and enjoyed the view.
The room was a good size and the beds were comfortable.
There are plenty of eateries nearby and a lovely breakfast cafe right on site with more great views of the lake.
I have no complaints, I would stay here again and I would recommend it to anyone.

My husband and I, and many of our wedding guests, stayed at Inn by the Lake on the occasion of our wedding in August 2012. (The wedding itself was held elsewhere.) We had a mostly positive experience, but with one very big negative that turns what would have been a 3.5/4 into a 2/2.5.

Upon check-in we were greeted by a very nice clerk who knew that we were one of the two bride+groom couples staying there that weekend; there was even a thoughtful sign behind the desk welcoming us as "Mr. and Mrs." [our name]. We stayed in a top-floor lakeview suite, which had dated decor (especially the bathroom) but tons of space, walls of windows, and a full, updated kitchen. It had a great lake view, though I heard from a friend who had a lower-level lakeview room that hers was parking-lot view. Our bathroom had a huge tub with a mirrored wall, which must have been glorious in the 80s, but at this point the tub's "jets" were vestigial and the mirrored wall was just creepy. Our bedroom was comfortable and quiet, and nicely separated from the suite's living area. We didn't get a chance to use the pool or multi-level whirlpool, but they looked clean and fun from the vantage point of our balcony, which overlooked the pool/whirlpool area.

The one thing about IBTL that forces me to write a more-negative-than-positive review is something that happened to our wedding guests. Before I entered into a contract with this place to have our guests stay there, the hotel assured me--in writing--that there would not be a 2-night minimum stay. (I knew that some of our guests would only be coming for one night, so a 2-night minimum was a deal-breaker.) However, I found out about a week before the wedding that the hotel did in fact have a 2-night minimum, and that they had been turning away our guests who wanted to stay for only one night.

I called the hotel, spoke to someone who was very sympathetic but didn't have the authority to waive the 2-night minimum policy, and so I left a message for the person who had originally told me that there was no 2-night minimum. He NEVER RETURNED MY CALL. The hotel never offered to make it up to us in any way. We'll never know how many guests were turned away and had to find accommodations elsewhere. I feel like they tricked us into recommending their hotel to all our friends and family. The worst part is that the victims of the trick weren't my husband and I, but our friends.

Bottom line: If you don't mind dated decor and are willing to risk a tangle with bad management, this place does have some spacious rooms (depending on where you are in the hotel) and a certain 80s-fabulous charm.

My sister and I stayed here the night of the fireworks on Labor Day weekend. The room was clean and comfortable. The hotel is right across the street from a beach on Lake Tahoe. They not only provided chairs for us to watch the fireworks, but also gave us blankets to cover our legs as the temperature cooled down. What a nice experience.