I have to say after reading all the negative reviews last week about this hotel, I was very worried about our trip this weekend. So much so, that I tried to cancel our reservations and reserve at another hotel in town. I waited too late to cancel. After checking into the hotel, I was glad that I couldn't cancel the reservation. We checked in on Friday around 3:00 p.m., the guy at the front desk was very polite. We stayed on the 5th floor and had a room with a king size bed. The room was very spacious with updated furniture and clean. From the reviews I read on this hotel, imagine my surprise. The outside pool was clean and so was the jacuzzi hot tub. The people were friendly and the rates were very reasonable at $69.00 per night. We found out the rates went down to $49.00 per night for weeknights. Wow, what a bargain. The hotel was off the main strip, but an easy access to all local restaraunts and entertainment. A creek running directly behind and it backs up to Bearskin Lodge, which is a nice resort. Not the Marriot, but perfect for my husband and I. We will definitely stay there again. We met people who were staying in the other hotel that I tried to reserve and they were dissappointed. I am glad we chose Family Inns in Gatlinburg.

On arrival the staff was rude and continued to be so. We were told that we would have a room on the third floor, but we were placed on the fifth. During the night our toilet broke and flooded the room and the two rooms below. We were told the manager would talk to us and give us something to make up for the trouble of having to switch rooms in the middle of the night. Nothing ever happened. My childrens' socks were soiled from the carpet. I have learned that you do get what you pay for. Do not make the same mistake we did.

We just returned from a 1-night stay at The Family Inns of America in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We went there for our Valentine's weekend & booked a "Presidential Suite" . We were told that it was their top of the line suite with a king bed, sleeper sofa, fireplace, balcony overlooking the "river" & jaccuzzi tub. The suite was 1 large room. The fireplace & tub were very nice. However, the balcony overlooking the river turned out to be the roof of the lobby on the end of the building & it didn't extend out towards the small creek as far as the building did. So the view of the creek was limited & the real view was of the very busy side street with bumper to bumper traffic most of the night. The carpet in the room was old & stained & the sofa was hard & old looking as well. The bed was the real disappointment. Although it was a king bed, it was very hard & felt like it was stuffed with straw. We woke up this morning with backaches & did not feel rested. The decor was very dated & the only updates that were readily visible was the jaccuzzi. The bathroom counters were of the old plastic, fake marble type. The ceiling was old looking & the door had a thumb lock on the knob & a deadbolt that uses a traditional key & there wasn't any type of chain. The fireplace didn't work at first but I have to say that they gentleman at the front desk immediately came to help us. I have no complaints about the staff. They even brought up extra towels this morning when we requested them. I DID have a problem with the towels, however, because they had a faint smell of cigarettes. I can only assume that whoever folded them was smoking. We paid $179 for the suite. (It normally costs $199/nt on weekends during this time of year) If the bed was comfortable, the balcony really overlooked a river instead of being off to the side overlooking a street & only having a limited view of the creek & the hotel on the other side of the creek, & the decor was modern instead of looking like a hotel from the 70's it would have been well worth the money. Since it wasn't, I would be hard pressed to ever stay there again or recommend it to any of my clients. (I am a travel agency owner) I read on their website that they have 19 or so presidential suites. The other suites apparently have better balconies, but if the beds are the same, it wouldn't make any difference to me. That was the most uncomfortable bed I have ever slept in. My advice to the owners is that they do some major updates, starting with new beds.

Our experience with this hotel was really good. This was the only place we could find a room at 12 AM this weekend. The desk clerk was SUPER nice !! He even gave us keys to 3 of the rooms and let us pick the room we wanted. We got the room that had 2 King beds and a Jacuzzi in it. Room #702. Our room was pretty clean. Carpet looked as good or better than other rooms I have stayed. We had so many towels and wash clothes we never had to think about getting more. Had two good sized TVs with more channels than im used to while on a trip. The furniture was very nice, I was very surprised. The Fireplace worked well and the beds were very comfortable. The room did have a small coffee pot (4 cup pot this really equals 2 large cups) But unlike the Hampton I stayed in a few weeks ago they had 4 packs of coffee for the coffee pot & maid service replaced the ones we used. If that wasnt enough they had free coffee in the lobby in the mornings as well as a continental breakfast (they had the little packs of white sugar doughnuts as well as sweetcakes also three different kinds of cereal although I couldnt find any milk :) they also had free orange juice and apple juice) I thought it was pretty good for free. This place was within walking distance from ober Gatlinburg as well as many restaurants. We even walked to the space needle(while it was 25 deg outside) We paid $119.00 a night. The only complaint I have with the place was the big hot tub downstairs was so HOT you could only stand it for about 2 min. They may have turned it down if I had asked but we had too much stuff to do to worry about that. I see some bad reviews about this place and some of the other rooms may have been bad but the rooms I seen were all fine.(All of them were on the 7th floor also) OHH and don’t eat at the little pancake house around the corner. Expensive and not good at all. They didn’t even have half the food that was listed in the menu. The Manager of the place just stood behind our table and stared at us – real creepy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope this helps