Best Western Knoxville Airport/Alcoa — Hotel in Alcoa

I stayed here from 12/29/21 - 1/1/22, 3rd floor.

TLDR; Find something else if you like a hot breakfast, hot shower, and quiet sleep or are thinking you can use the terrible wifi to do some business (you can't and will need to walk across the street for 5 mins to the Starbucks).

Check In/Out: Super easy. Less than 5 minutes.

Breakfast: Served 6am - 9:30am daily. Not a hot bar. You get what you pay for here. Juice was working (apple and orange/pineapple). Fresh fruits were saran wrapped apples or oranges. You can choose from four types of cereal. Milk was in a glass pitcher and there was 2% and whole milk but once it was out, it was out. Also offered microwaveable breakfast sandwiches and yogurts. There was a selection of bagels and pastries -- individually wrapped and there's butter and cream cheese available too. Across from the room was a pancake maker that makes palm sized pancakes. Outside in the dining area was a coffee/tea bar.

Room: Seemed clean enough. Sore spot for me was really the shower/bath. The shower curtain is polyester and smelled like mildew. Don't know how often it gets washed but my guess is not much. The shower pressure was strong but then any time someone flushed or started showering in a neighboring room, you'd have better luck bathing in the storms we were having. A garden hose dribbling had more pressure than the shower. I pee with more force than this shower. Also, somehow the bathroom floor got flooded, so make sure to put a towel on the floor.

Back to the storms... we lost power at night but not completely. Still had AC and TV. But took me half an hour to find an outlet to charge my phone which was at 8%. When the power went out, somehow the microwave started screaming. I don't know. I unplugged it. Power was restored about 1am. Except the elevator, and I was on the 3rd floor. It was repaired by the end of the day.

Additionally, the room doors are heavy and pull themselves shut. Your neighbors loooooooove to let this happen, especially at 2am--4am. (Save NYE, that was obviously going to happen). The guests have no respect for other guests and let their kids make a huge mess in the breakfast area and don't bother to clean it up.

Parking: Maybe 3-4 ADA spaces, rest of parking in the back, not so close to the door.

Vending: Had soda machines and ice machines on every floor, adjacent to elevator. Snack machines on first floor. 3rd floor ice machine didn't work, so I kept having to go down to another level to get ice.

ADA accommodations: I'm not sure if they have specific rooms for those with ADA needs, but if you do have ADA concerns, request a 1st floor unit incase the elevator goes down. Additionally, sinks are pretty high up. There was a bar in the bath. Wheelchair couldn't fit comfortably in bathroom though.

Kids: Pool was a hit. Room was VERY big, plenty of room to put up a pack and play, stroller, etc. Vending options had good snacks. Lots of people staying here with kids. (sucks for those here for business).

Internet: SUCKED. Took over an hour to do what I normally do in 10 minutes. Insanely slow. DO NOT STAY HERE FOR BUSINESS.

Nearby restaurants within 5-10 min walk: Bojangles, Wendys, Sonic, McDonalds, Subway, Pizza Hut, Ruby...

Check your room and take pictures before you even start to unpack!

I checked in at 2 AM after a long drive and immediately fell asleep. While I was packing up in the morning I found some drugs behind the curtain. I let the front desk know and they told me they would conduct an investigation before any sort of compensation. I found that unacceptable and called corporate, they gave me the same answer but at the very least they gave me a support ticket to reference this issue. After a week of not hearing back I called corporate again and they let me know the investigation was closed and no drugs were found. I called the hotel back and requested to speak to the manager. I’ve never been treated so rudely in my life. The manager said that they inspect each room before every visit (clearly not if I found drugs in the room.) Then the manager accused me of leaving drugs in the room and said that I wasn’t going to scam her out of a free stay. When I asked to speak to a higher up she just kept repeating “I’m the highest you’re gonna get” before hanging up on me. At this point I don’t even want a refund, just an apology for how I was treated.

There’s tons of cheap hotels in the area so do yourself a favor and find one that knows how to take complaints seriously and treat customers right. I’d suggest a Hilton owned hotel, I’ve never had a bad stay at one of their locations.

Edit: I felt the need to emphasize that Management did admit that there were drugs found in the room. Instead of owning up to their mistake they accused me of planting drugs worth half the price of the room (I googled to get an estimated price) in order to get a free stay. The front desk was informed upon leaving that there were drugs in the room so it really just doesn’t add up to me how that could be...

Do not bring your children to this hotel, or anyone you care about.

After a long drive, my friends and I checked into this hotel around 2 a.m. The next morning, as we were preparing to check out, we discovered a large canister of whippets hidden behind the curtains. The fact that this was overlooked by housekeeping is deeply disturbing, especially considering we had already slept in the beds and used the shower.

When we reported this to management, instead of showing any concern for guest safety or accountability, they accused us of planting the canister in an attempt to receive a free night. This accusation was insulting and completely inappropriate.

After our experience, I read other reviews and was not surprised to find similar incidents. One including a guest whose child found a nicotine pouch in their room. The manager's response to that situation was just as dismissive and unprofessional.

A refund is not the point. The issue is a complete lack of cleanliness, oversight, and professionalism from management. Frankly, I hope they use the money they refused to refund us to invest in proper training, housekeeping standards, and basic decency.

Management here clearly does not grasp the severity of these incidents. This will be reported to the local health department.

Stay anywhere else.

Dear Tracy, apparently you’re in need of better training, as you obviously had not checked behind the curtains. If you had checked, explain to the health department how you...