Hotels near Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sevier County

I really wanted to love this place. The location is perfect to quickly get to the attractions in Gatlinburg without fighting traffic and the views are incredible. The food from vista grille is surprisingly delicious for hotel food and the welcome cookie was so good. The front desk staff and restaurant staff are the best. So polite and friendly each and every time. But this place is busy. It is a convention center and there was an event every day during our stay. There is not ample parking to accommodate a packed hotel during peak season and daily events. Allowing guests to park in the fire lane seems like a major safety issue. The rooms are a decent size however, the beds are not great unless you like sleeping on a worn out extra firm mattress. The rooms also need a deep cleaning. I understand that there is a quick turnover between guests but these rooms haven’t had a good cleaning in years. There was hair left behind from a previous guest in the bathroom and years of dust behind the couch. For almost $300/night, I expected more.

This is a very old hotel so don't expect luxury. The Rooms were large with great large glass windows and doors that open to a balcony to sit outside. The rooms were clean and the A/C was ICE COLD the way I like it. The hot water for the shower was was great and hot. Our room was 210 and the best in my opinion we had lots of trees off our balcony so the birds ate bread right in front of us. The pool was a very fun pool that was two levels opened until 11PM. The putt putt was free. The Breakfast buffet was $8.95 and was abundant in choice and delicious, The location was great and convenient to walk everywhere. Grocery Store was across the way. I booked this 4 hours before I showed up and got the room for $51.00 Taxes are high state and resort taxes so beware. Oh and one last thing Parking was FREE great deal in itself because parking in this town is expensive. This hotel is located two buildings down from the Gatlinburg Covention Center.

So first off let me say that this hotel is still an ok place to stay. I would however also say that by charging 300+ a night for a room you have certain expectations, and those were not met this trip. From the outside, the hotel was lovely as always. The lobby seemed clean but had a few minor issues, and the furniture seemed like it could use a refresh. So my initial impression was favorable. We got to the room and at first glance, things seemed ok, but when you started looking around that's when the issues started. First, the chair had a fabric piping that was half torn off. The carpet seemed to be really worn in spots and could have used a cleaning. The shower had a patch job that looked like someone with no experience slapped calk around the edge of the shower and the drain; it was seriously an eyesore. Then when my daughter went to take a bath she told us it looked like something black was on the walls. Sure enough, there was something black on the wall. I am no mold expert, but it appeared to be black mold although I have no way of confirming that. Then we went to look at the beds before we got in and one bed had a blood spot on the mattress cover that lined up perfectly with the mattress itself so I know that no one even attempted to clean it; all they did was slap a clean fitted sheet on the bed. The mattresses on the beds are so bad that my wife and I woke up with sore backs every morning; I never used to have a problem with their beds in the past so I can only assume that the mattresses are in need of replacing. Also on the balcony when the HVAC unit is running it sounds like you are sitting next to a jet engine. I have stayed at this hotel at least 5 times in the past and do not remember the HVAC being so loud on the balcony. Also, they claim to be short-staffed on housekeeping so they only offer room cleanings once every 3 days during your stay. That means if you need towels, toilet paper, or the trash taken out you have to call them which is not great for what you are paying for this room; I can see every other day, but seriously every 3 days is ridiculous! The hot tub had tiles missing and water was leaking through the opening of the backer board which I cannot imagine is good for the hot tub. Also on all 4 nights of our stay, it looked like the hot tub got cleaned 1 time. When you are charging 300-500 a night for a ”standard room” depending on the time of year you have expectations that things will be taken care of, and that your room will be clean and well-kept. I used to pay 150-200 a night for this hotel and the hotel was immaculate, so clearly someone is taking the money and not reinvesting in the property. I stay here to escape the bad experiences that I've had at other Gatlinburg hotels, and that used to work until this trip. I really hope they reinvest in this property and gut all the rooms to do a complete makeover because otherwise there is no way this hotel is worth the price they are charging current