Holiday Inn Club Vacations Smoky Mountain Resort, An Ihg Hotel

“Best place to stay in Gatlinburg!”

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!

“Nice resort, shady sales tactics”

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... more

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.

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“Beware of one BIG thing”

The one-bedroom apartment 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 utensil... more

The one-bedroom apartment 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 strip was a short 5 minute walk away. it was like having a private apartment 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.

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