Bluegreen Vacations Blue Ridge Village, an Ascend Collection Resort — Hotel in Banner Elk

This is worth the time to read if you plan on staying...My first visit to BRV was in August of 2019. The things that happened on this trip is so bad it was almost comical. 1st the resort was completely under construction which they NOW have very clearly listed on their website but at the time there wasn’t so much of a word about it on their website nor on the RCI website which I used to book my week stay with. You could imagine my surprise when I showed up with my two girlfriends and our three kids in tow to find that they had no playground, and a pool who’s heating pump had supposedly broken the day before. We told the kiddos that we would make things better with a adventure on the paddleboats the very next morning. To our surprise we woke up to see that they had drained the lake and taking the boats out of the water. Again we had no warning about this. I made a complaint to the resort manager Kim Dalton (who is now no longer with the company) and I felt like she kinda of blew me off. So because we had three kids with us and we were on a “friends trip” without our husbands we tried to make the best of it and it wasn’t hard to do considering the resort is in a great location and the high country offers so much to do. It was all going as planned win on our third night something happened and our building lost all running water. And when I say that I mean we could not flush the toilet’s, brush our teeth, or even refill the kids water bottles. There was six people living in this condo for the week without running water available for an entire 24 hour period. This is what I lost it and went to the hospitality cabin to speak to Miss Dalton again who finally, after I broke down and cried in her office, offered me a complementary week’s stay at BRV at a later date so I could have a better experience than the current one that I had. She also explained that after so many complaints about the lack of information on the construction the resort was going through that they were working on getting information up on the website. But it was really quick to tell me that being without running water in my unit for over 24 hours was simply out of her hands.... So jump forward to our stay the week or 3/26, I check in with a girlfriend of mine and her daughter. It’s just the two of us and our two kids hoping for a wonderful relaxing spring break week. The current management knew about the horrific week we had spent and we felt like our stay was going to be amazing especially when we walked in to see that they had gone out of their way to provide us with a welcoming basket. Unfortunately, The very next morning I woke up with some weird red spots on my body. Trying (and seriously hoping) that it was mosquitoes I tried my best to stay positive until on our second morning we found and captured a live bed bug inside one of the unused laundered towels. At this point I had roughly 30 bites on my body. The kids had a few on each of them but nothing like what I had from sleeping in the master bedroom where I suspect the main infestation was. We called the front office and one of the managers Travis said he was going to move us to another unit but in the meantime we had to leave literally all of our belongings except for our electronic devices to be baked in a infrared hotbox. Leaving all of us including the kids without socks, shoes or coats. We basically had to sit around in our underwear in our new unit for about five hours to receive our first load of infrared, bug free belongings. And then about three hours later we received the rest of our stuff. We wasted an entire day of our vacation in this “de-bugging” process from hell. In which Travis agreeing to give us a check out date on Saturday vs Friday but we ended up not even using it because I had such a bad reaction to the bedbug bites that I ended up having to call my primary care Doctor who had to call in a steroid prescription. Google limits reviews but you can read my whole review on...

Pros: We had a unit that was fully equipped and beautiful. The grounds are amazingly beautiful with mini-golf, tennis courts, fishing pond, trails to walk, basketball court, heated indoor pool and sauna...etc. Many, many perks and comforts set in absolutely beautiful surroundings. Sadly, by the time our weekend came, the weather did a massive turnaround and it was 20 degrees colder than what it showed it would be at the time we made our reservations; so we didn't get to enjoy all the outdoor niceties as we had originally planned -- be sure to reserve your stay during decent weather so you can enjoy all that is available to you! (Don't forget your tennis racquets and fishing poles!)

The security guard was super nice and very accommodating! He escorted us to our unit and talked about some of the things to do - he told us about a bear being nearby and if he comes out, just make a lot of noise 'cause they're more scared of us than we are of them. ;) He made sure we had everything we needed, advised us not to leave any food in the car (bears have been known to break in), and told us how to get a hold of him if needed. Very friendly and helpful fella.

There was a well-manicure mini-golf course we could see right out our window, and a beautiful trail on the other side of it. There are picnic areas everywhere, but due to the cold, I didn't venture out to get any more photos. All in all, it's an incredibly beautiful place, jam-packed with plenty to do - you wouldn't have to go anywhere outside the resort to have a full, fun, and memorable getaway.

Cons: We didn't realize we were going to be getting a one-bedroom unit (with one bed) with a pull-out couch. We had to use the extra blankets provided since we had to use the pull-out couch and had to request not to be charged for using them, as at the time of booking we disclosed there would be 4 people staying - and we weren't all 4 going to sleep in the one bed. (Also, as this is a resort and you may be charged for extra things, do not leave any dirty dishes - and you'll want to bring extra bathroom necessities.)

** Also, if you need to check in past 8 p.m., you will have to talk to Security in little security building right there in the front parking lot. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN QUITE BENEFICIAL TO US HAD WE KNOWN THIS because we ended up coming in late and the main building was locked. It was freezing outside, and we did not know what to do. (This is the kind of information people should be privy of upon...

The place is very nice and in a gem of a location - near Sugar Mountain, restaurants and a grocery store. However, the management of this property is poorly run (when I say poorly run, it is the nicest term I can think of!). First, I would like to say that there was one young lady who seemed to be doing her best to do ALL the work, because the others were clearly not interested in the least. She was helpful and friendly. The other young lady behind the desk did not even bother with us because she was on a call with her boyfriend, which apparently was not going well. When we walked around the lobby to check out the pool and hot tub, there were some children playing in the area. I will note that these children were exceptionally polite and respectful. They could not get the hot tub to work, so they wrapped themselves in a towel before they came in and just stood at the door without going all the way in the lobby. There was a person in the office right by the door that the young man explained the situation to. This young lady was very rude to the young man (and I will say that even though they are children, it is their vacation too) she did not even get up to check anything - she asked if he had done several things that might make it work without getting up. He replied that he did all of the things she suggested. Then, she just ignored him while he was standing there. The lady at the front desk came all the way down (the one friendly to us earlier) and mentioned to the young man that she would call maintenance to take a look and fix the problem. The office also closed much earlier than indicated on their brochure or web info. There are no towels delivered until every Wednesday - which we did not know that until we called for some on Monday night. There was only 1 extra roll of bathroom tissue in the room -- you have to go to the front desk to obtain extra items. We NEVER saw any security on the property -- though we told that the property did have security. We were on ground level, so a family rented the place above us. The absolute unfiltered noise that we heard the rest of our vacation was unbelievable. It sounded as if someone was awake at all times training a small elephant. It was anything but relaxing. If you stay, request a top room and do not expect to meet anyone (except one young lady) who could care less if you come...