Frequently asked questions

Pick a home, open its calendar, choose your dates, and tap Reserve these dates. Our own checkout charges your card for the full amount right away and your dates are confirmed instantly. You get the same home, the same hosts, and the same check-in messages as you would through Airbnb or Vrbo, without the platform's guest fee.

See the homes

Book direct and skip the platform booking fee, about 10% on most stays. The platforms add a guest service fee on top of the nightly rate, and booking with us leaves it out. Everything else is identical: same homes, same standard, and you talk to Austin and Sarah directly. Our homes are still listed on the platforms if you would rather book there.

Why book direct

Your card is charged for the full stay the moment you reserve. The whole stay is paid at that point: no deposit-then-balance schedule, and no surprise charges at check-in.

Strict on purpose. Our homes book out months in advance, and a firm calendar is how we make sure your cancellation does not cost another family the dates they wanted; it is also the same standard the established operators at Snowshoe use. Full refund if you cancel within 48 hours of booking and check-in is at least 30 days away. Full refund minus a $100 fee at 60 or more days out, which covers the payment processing cost we do not get back on a refund and the work to reopen your dates for another guest. 50% refund at 30 to 59 days. No refund inside 30 days of check-in, for any reason. No refunds, credits, or vouchers for weather. The roads are plowed and a proper vehicle with good tires gets there. Travel insurance is the right protection if you want it.

Read the policies

It depends on the dates. Some holidays and event weekends are priced at peak rates and may require a 3-night minimum. The calendar on each home's page shows the minimum for the dates you pick.

The person booking must be at least 21 and stays with the group. You are responsible for everyone in your party, including minors.

On the reservation page, open "Have a return code or a free night?" under the price breakdown and enter the code with the email it belongs to. It applies to your total right there, before you pay. Specials apply to new reservations only, not a stay you already booked. They expire the day they are announced, depend on availability, and change regularly, so if you see one you like, book it that day.

The Guest Lounge is the private page every stay gets, at wanderluxelodgings.com/lounge: directions, arrival notes, your door code on check-in morning, and a stamp card that tracks your stays with us. About a month after you check out, it mails you a return code (5% of the rent, up to $150 the first time and $250 after) good for 12 months. Book five direct stays and the fifth comes with a free night automatically, no request needed. It also has your own referral code to send to a friend; once their stay is done, you get a return code too. Lost the link? Look up your stay on the Guest Lounge page with the email and check-in date you booked with.

Check-in is 4:00 PM at every home. Check-out is 10:00 AM at most homes and 11:00 AM at a few. The policies page lists the exact times for each home, and they are in your check-in message too. Staying past check-out can mean a $50 expedited cleaning fee, because the next guests arrive the same day.

Check-in and check-out by home

Street addresses in Snowshoe all resolve to the resort, so use the exact Google Maps pin on each home's page and in your check-in message. The last stretch is mountain road; give yourself a little extra time after dark.

Drive times and tips

AWD or 4WD is recommended in winter. Chains are rarely needed; in all our years hosting we have never seen a guest need them. They are fine to carry as a backup, but do not buy a set just for the trip. Check the mountain report before you leave and take the last hour slowly.

Live mountain report

Summit condos: two cars per building, first come first served, with an overflow lot near the Village at $20 per day or free parking at Top of the World. Timbers 3: two labeled spaces. Timbers 5: a 1.5-car garage plus three more in the driveway, four total. 305 Soaring Eagle: two spaces in the underground heated garage, with a key card. 1208 Silver Creek: Sarah registers your stay on Silver Creek's website before you arrive; print the confirmation and the attendant at the lot entrance gives you your passes. Summit condos come with two hang-tag passes. Details for your home arrive with your check-in message.

Wildcat Grocery in the Village is a five-minute walk from the Summit condos (about a minute if you drive), or about a two-minute drive from the Timbers cabins and 305 Soaring Eagle. It covers the basics, coffee, and beer. Dollar General in Slaty Fork, about 15 minutes down, is what we actually use for a real grocery run, good enough for most of a week, honestly. The nearest full grocery store is off the mountain in Marlinton (30 to 40 minutes) or Elkins (about an hour), so stock up on the way in.

Off the mountain

Cell service on the mountain is spotty and depends on your carrier. Every home has WiFi, so WiFi calling, streaming, and working remotely all work fine.

Timbers 3 and Timbers 5 each have a private hot tub. 305 Soaring Eagle and 1208 Silver Creek have shared hot tubs in the building. The Summit condos do not have one. Hot tubs are checked before every stay, but like anything mechanical they can fail; we fix them as fast as we can and cannot refund for downtime.

Hot tub policy

Yes, every home has a free resort shuttle stop nearby, not just a walk or a drive to reach one. At the Summit condos, it stops right at the stairs from the building. 1208 Silver Creek also has its own free all-day lodge shuttle straight to the Village. The Timbers and 305 Soaring Eagle on South Mountain use the resort's shuttle loop from a stop close by.

Outside, or in the home's dedicated mud room or locker. Never inside the living areas. It keeps the floors and walls the way you found them.

Each home has a sleeping limit on its page, from 6 to 12 depending on the home. That number is the maximum, including children. If you need room for more, book two homes; the three Summit condos are super close together (107D and 202D share a building, 103C is in the building right next door), and the Timbers homes are across the street from each other.

Homes for groups of 10 or more

The grill is yours to use with an adult supervising. No open fires at the homes themselves. The Timbers neighborhood has a community fire pit next to Timbers 5 that any neighbor can use; bring your own logs.

Snowshoe closes its lifts twice a year: early April to late May, and mid-October to Thanksgiving week. Most Village restaurants and shops close along with them. We still host during both closures at lower rates. It is quiet, the trails and rivers are open, and the fireplace is the main event.

The Snowshoe guide

No, Split Rock Pools is only free for guests who book their lodging directly through Snowshoe's own reservations system. Since you're staying with us, it's $15/day per person, or covered if you buy a Fun Pass ($39-$49/day depending on the date). It's worth it, indoor/outdoor heated pool, a waterslide, hot tub, and a sauna, right in the Village.

The lift-served Bike Park and most of the outdoor summer activities (zipline, disc golf, RZR tours) run roughly Memorial Day through mid-October, and the ski season doesn't start until winter, so April/May and most of October/November fall in a real gap for those. What does stay open: The Rink at Mountain Lodge (indoor ice skating, year-round), the Adventure Playground (indoor, year-round), Raven Golf Club (opens mid-April, runs into early-mid October), and most restaurants and shops in the Village.

You can walk to most of Snowshoe Village, restaurants, shops, the rink, the pool, or take the free resort shuttle, which loops to every neighborhood, including the Summit, the Timbers, and Soaring Eagle. But quite a bit of what makes this area special is a drive away: the state parks (Watoga, Beartown, Droop Mountain), Cass Scenic Railroad, the Highland Scenic Highway, and any of the breweries or restaurants outside the Village all require a car. If you're not renting one, the shuttle and what's walkable cover the resort itself; plan a car, a rental, or a rideshare for anything off the mountain.

Yes, anyone 15 or older fishing for trout needs both a WV fishing license and a trout stamp. Both take a few minutes to buy online at WVfish.com, worth doing before you leave home rather than trying to find a shop that sells them locally.

A few genuinely good indoor options right on the mountain: the Adventure Playground and The Rink at Mountain Lodge (both year-round), the Mountain Lodge Arcade & Movie Room, and The Spa at Snowshoe. Off the mountain, Cass Scenic Railroad's town/museum, the Beverly Heritage Center, and the Pocahontas County Historical Museum are all indoor stops.

Yes at Timbers 3 and Timbers 5, with a $250 pet fee per stay paid at booking. No pets at any of the condos (107D, 202D, and 103C Summit, 305 Soaring Eagle, and 1208 Silver Creek). The buildings' HOA rules do not allow them, so we cannot make exceptions.

Pet-friendly homes

No smoking inside any home. Smoke smell means a $500 cleaning charge.

10:00 PM to 8:00 AM at the condos, and midnight to 8:00 AM at the Timbers homes. The mountain is a community and the neighbors live here year-round. If it gets loud, they will tell us, or call the police.

Tell us as soon as it happens; most things are easy to sort out. Damage beyond normal wear, or cleanup well beyond a normal turnover, is charged to the card on file at actual cost, decided reasonably by us.

Damage and cleaning policy