Qualla Motel & Cabins — Hotel in Cherokee

Booked April 18-19 2025. Arrived around 1:00 on Friday and first thing we see are people loitering in the parking lot. One guy looked so drunk that he could hardly stand up. Before I even got the keys, my sister said she wasn’t sure about staying here because she had a new car and didn’t feel comfortable leaving it in the parking lot. We were 3 ladies traveling alone (ages 55, 58 & 85) and this did make us feel uncomfortable, but I went ahead and checked in anyway. Got in the room and first thing we saw was stains on the bedspread (see pics). One white stain and one brown crusty stain…eww! I figured it’s one night and it won’t kill us. We leave to grab a bite and my sister puts her foot down saying she’s not staying at the hotel period, so she booked a room at another hotel.

We go back and get our luggage and I take the keys back to the desk and the guy looked puzzled and I told him we changed our minds because the hotel wasn’t what we thought it would be (the pic they had online for the 2-queen bed room was nothing close to what our room actually looked like). I was trying to not be ugly. He offered to upgrade us to a renovated room, but we told him no. I didn’t request my money back per se as I thought he’d do the RIGHT thing and not charge my card since we didn’t stay. But alas…$102 hit my card the next business day.

I called later that week and spoke with the night manager Tyson. He said it’s policy at any hotel that in order to get your money back, you have to give 24 hours notice. I told him that 24 hours prior, we had intended to stay. It was only after we arrived and saw the nasty bedspread and the people hanging out in the parking lot that we decided not to stay. We didn’t feel safe being 3 ladies traveling alone. There was a U-Haul also parked in the parking lot and I was told it was the manager…that he was moving out. Apparently he lived on the premises. And they also run a taxi service out of the hotel as well.

I let Tyson know we didn’t feel safe and were grossed out by the bedspread. He said he wished we would have waited for his shift to start because he would have made it right. He said he woulda got housekeeping in there to clean and he would have personally kept an eye on us to make sure we were safe. That’s well and good, but I couldn’t get over the stains. He said that was irrelevant…well not to me it wasn’t. I mean dang…run down to Walmart and buy some cheap bedspreads instead of making up the beds with nasty stained bedspreads.

I asked him if he would reverse the charges and give me my $102 back and he said he wasn’t authorized to do that. He said the female manager (Angie maybe) was on her way back from Georgia and he wouldn’t be able to run this past her until Monday. Tyson told me that it was good that we booked directly with the hotel instead of a 3rd party site and he would do his best to convey to management the reasons we didn’t stay. I was hoping management would have some understanding about us not feeling safe and do the right thing and refund my money since we didn’t even stay, but I guess not. Tyson said either way, he would call and let me know their decision but of course I haven’t heard back from anyone and of course no credit on my card.

I’m glad others had positive good experiences at this hotel, but we didn’t and I’m out $102 for nothing. Oh well…lesson learned. Oh and yes, before we booked at the other hotel we stayed in, we asked to see the room first! Guess this will become common practice for me so I don’t have another costly...

This place gets a five-star from me for value, view, location, and ability to host our family of 17. We experienced each of the types of rooms that they offer: luxury cabins, queen cabin, king cabin, and a motel room.

There are four luxury cabins on the property. If you are coming with a group, those are great to reserve. They are all right next to each other. Luxury cabins #1 and #2 are the best in terms of view. If possible, try to get both of them. They have a common seating area with picnic benches, grill, and lifted fire pit for cooking or warming your hands, a rocky beach area with bench and fire pit. Each luxury cabin has it's own kitchen (with dishwasher), bathroom, electric fireplace, sofa and loveseat, two bedrooms, and porches that over look the creek with outside dining table and four chairs, two other chairs, hot tub, TV, small refrigerator, and locking child gate that spans the porch opening. Each cabin has a washing machine, but not all dryers worked. We used the dryer in #3 to dry all clothes from the cabins. However, even that one does not work well. I would recommend to the owner to improve this part. The shower heads in the luxury cabins are too advanced for the average person. They look cool but are not practical. The water pressure was better in some cabins than others.

I would recommend packing the following things that we felt would be beneficial: A griddle for cooking inside. Not all stove eyes work in each place, and the pots/pans are very minimal for cooking for big groups, especially pancakes, bacon, etc. Pots, pans, crockpot/instapot if you have certain meals that you want to cook. There aren't any big pots that we found in any of the cabins. COFFEE, bring your own coffee and filters. Each cabin is not appointed with the same items. Some have small coffee pots and others have large. If you are particular with coffee, do yourself a favor and bring your own. Beach towels for the hot tub. Flip flops to wear in the house. The floors get sandy (and small rugs for next to the bed to get sand off of your feet before getting in). Box fans, we are a family that enjoys white noise. There are ceiling fans (somewhat rickety and can be noisy), but there aren't any box fans.

The queen cabin had a bedroom, a small full kitchen, living room, fold-out couch, chair, and a separate bedroom. Dining table for two. Everything is very basic, but functional. It is on the river with a nice sitting porch for two.

The king cabin is like a normal hotel room, nothing fancy. Small refrigerator and microwave. Dining space for two. The bed is not in a separate room like the queen cabin. It is on the creek with a nice sitting porch for two.

All of the cabins are in a row along the creek. There's enough room for a big group to stay but also have private space.

The motel room was basic. The shower was either scalding hot or cold. We couldn't achieve a good temperature. We only had one motel room, so I cannot speak to the others. Dining space for two.

Each of the cabins that we stayed in are not pristine. If you are expecting that, don't come here and then leave a poor review. However, it's clean enough. We brought lysol wipes with us just to wipe it down when we got there, but we do that everywhere we go. All places had comfortable beds.

We would visit again. I wrote such a long review because these are things that I would have wanted to know...

STAY AWAY!!! I checked in about 10:30PM and paid for our two night stay. When we entered our room, Boom! - smacked in the face with the stench of cigarette smoke. This is when we made a huge mistake - call it mistake one - not going back to the office to discuss this situation. It was late and we were exhausted from a long day. Besides, I already disturbed the desk clerk while she was arguing with what I perceived to be her boyfriend or husband. We proceeded to convince ourselves the odor would dissipate - mistake number two.

Mistake three: using the shower of which the drain did not work. This was evident by the stain lining the tub and the curtain liner. Our feet were standing in a pool of floating debris that came up from the drain. Then, we dried ourselves with the see through, paper thin, not much larger than hand towel towels that smelled like cigarette smoke. I did find a plunger in the closet I used to get the bath tub to drain.

Since I am incapable of levitation, I cannot reasonably say that mistake number four was walking on the floors. However, for some irrational reason, I was surprised when I went to bed and my filthy feet contaminated the bed with some sort of hair-laden funk. As I attempted to shoo the funk off the bed, it spread - much like trying to wipe peanut butter from a slice of bread.

Mistake five (since I consider the stupidity of not wearing shoes in this place mistake four) occurred after - after - I am looking for a word here - it is not sleep nor rest nor relaxation nor wild hotel sex nor anything good - maybe just call it after the sun came up. I called the front desk from my mobile. I explained my discontent in a very polite manner. The lady who answered the phone said that they had a person living in this unit for three years prior to our stay and she was a chain smoker. I said I thought the room was non-smoking. She said it is now. BLAH!!!! I politely told this little gem that we were checking out and I "just assume receive a full refund". She said talk to the owner and hung up on me.

Upon discussing this with the person that may or may not have been the owner, I was told that we slept there and are paying for the stay. After showing this young man photos of our room, he refunded me fore the second night - only because we were leaving.

So, you may be thinking - only irrational complainers compose such long reviews that focus on the negative. You may be right. However, the main reason this review is so long is because I am occupying my time waiting for my laundry cycle to complete since I must wash every article of clothing that entered cabin #5 of the Qualla Motel and Cabins in Cherokee, NC. I am also airing out my trunk and applying febreeze to my favorite...