Holiday Inn Club Vacations Smoky Mountain Resort

Really nice resort overall. We stayed in a two bedroom two bath villa with two kids. The price was great and the pools were well cleaned. My two year old daughter enjoyed the small indoor water park area. I was not impressed with the shady sales tactics at check in (per other people’s reviews too). I was prepared for it, but when I went over to get my keys from the timeshare representatives, the woman kept bombarding me despite the fact I told her we weren’t interested several times. We tend to stay at IHG resorts when we travel. We use credit card points for one night stays (usually 2-3 per year) and then I tend to book through IHG for week long vacations once a year or every other year. The woman had the nerve to ask me, “What level are you?” And I replied, “Platinum Elite.” To which she responded, “Well if you don’t travel how did you get to Platinum Elite status?” Honestly that is none of your dang business. And then she asked, “Oh so you use the credit card. Well I can get you more benefits by purchasing some packages…” I had already said we weren’t interested in spending more money to purchase packages or any timeshares. We’re a few days into our trip and I’m honestly still salty about how the check in went down that I will probably choose to stay somewhere else next time we come to Gatlinburg. There’s other beautiful places to stay in the area that probably don’t bombard you with sales tactics like this one did. Otherwise the resort is very nice and location is great. Like I said I was prepared for people to bombard with sales as I read others reviews, but even being prepared really irritated me with how this woman treated me.

Purchased the package for a particular date (in 1.5month) where the representative said no blackout dates. And can be booked any time. When contacted the reservation team they said minimum 3 month prior you have to book. I said it doesn't say that in the policy. She had nothing to say. And wouldn't connect me with anyone else.

The one-bedroom apar**ent was exactly what I wanted - a private place, in the heart of Gatlinburg, that I can use as a home away from home after business meetings in the area. There were some things that I really appreciated - Great wifi, dishwasher, great supply of dishes, cookwear, and utensils. There is also a washer and dryer in the one bdrm that I appreciated as well as dishwashing & washing detergent. The main ***** was a short 5 minute walk away. it was like having a private apar**ent with the convenient of hotel amenities. There are a couple of things that were not as great. My fireplace did not work and the style was dated. - but these didn't change my experience at all. HOWEVER! there was one thing that great challenged my experienced - the gross sales tactics at check-in. When you arrive, you check in at reception, but after check in, you HAVE to walk over to another desk to collect the keys to your room. You don't simply get the keys at check-in. The reason? So the hotel can try to upsale you into buying shares with the resort. The lady tried to give me $160 towards live events in the area, but I just wanted to check into my room. She then offered me $200 in cash and really put the pressure on in an uncomfortable way. Again, I insisted that I simply wanted my keys to decompress in my room. It really felt like my keys were held hostage and I couldn't get my keys until I listened to all of her offers. When I didn't bite at her attempts, I got a long, cold, key processing time that I really could have lived without. It resulted in me avoiding the entrance area for the rest of my stay, preferring instead to enter and exit through another side door of the hotel. It.was.just.awkward. I go to Gatlinburg twice a year. This was my first time at this hotel. Because of this experience alone, the likelihood of my return is pretty low.

We had a 3 bedroom unit, which was very spacious & had everything we needed. The kitchen was well stocked & unit was cozy-even had a fireplace! Location was perfect as it was an easy walk to downtown. We will definitely be back!

There was no hot water, we called reception and it took more than 30 minutes to send maintenance which made had to make them aware that it would delay our checkout time that was supposed to be 10am. The shower light does not work, seems the bulb may have been out, the soap dispenser in the shower was also empty.

For the most part we loved the resort! There were a few things that could have been better. When we first got there at check in they sent me right over to someone to push a timeshare presentation on me. That is the last thing you want to deal with after traveling all day with kids! Then, there was no way to get to our room, or even the corridor to our room indoors, and it was snowing while we were there. The splash pad was very difficult to find and is a pretty good walk when it’s freezing outside. I actually had to get directions to it from the front desk because the signs didn’t help at all! The water in the splash pad is cold and there is no hot tub in that area. The hot water in the room also ran out extremely quickly! The bedroom in the condo would NOT heat up. I had to bundle up to sleep in there! Pros: Other than the bedroom not getting warm, the condo was very comfortable and spacious. Loved the jetted tub! The staff were all very friendly and helpful! The location is perfect! You can walk everywhere!

This turned out to be the worst decision we have ever made. We travel for baseball and explained our situation to Jason who was giving the sales pitch for the club vacations. The way we understood the setup, we could use club points for resorts and hotels. THIS IS NOT THE CASE!! These points are only good for resorts. If you want to use them for regular hotel stays, the points have to be converted to IHG points for a fee. The guy completely lied to us. He said this program makes sense since we're travelling anyway. It doesn't. Our kids are not playing baseball in cities where there are resorts. I asked him to show us how we would book in Atlanta and he made it look like he was doing it with club points. This was a complete waste of time and money. And now I can't even get ahold of anyone in quality assurance to talk about it. They will lie to you to make a sale. Period.

First and foremost, I am becoming more and more uncomfortable with the number of dogs being allowed to stay in the resort. I understand emotional support animals, but it is excessive, in my opinion. My biggest concern is allergies to the pet dander in my family. I'm worried we will no longer be able to stay at the resort that we paid quite a bit of money for. The front desk repeatedly assured me that a maintenance issue with the toilet in the primary bathroom would be resolved all week long, and when we checked out, it was still an issue. Being a Premier Platinum member, we were given wristbands, and we were told that they were reusable at all the resorts, but when I checked out, the front desk said I had to return it. I can tell you I don't want any wristbands in the future because I don't know how you clean something like that. I was also very disappointed with our room location and assumed that an owner would be given priority over rooms with better views. Our room overlooked the front entry underneath the reception canopy, so disappointing. The one positive thing I can say about our most recent trip was the trea**ent we received from Carrie. She remembered us from the previous year by name. The rest of the staff should take a lesson from how friendly she is and how she personalizes each guest to make them feel welcome and appreciated. I can't say enough about Carrie, she's one of the only reasons we overlooked the other issues we had during our most recent stay.

My mom has a timeshare here and have stayed multiple times, we love it here!