Fabulous Chalet Inn — Hotel in Gatlinburg

This is VERY LONG, but if you are thinking about this place, it may be worth reading. PLEASE READ THE GOOD AND BAD. Going into this, know this is an older hotel with few amenities. Don't expect what you would get at Radisson or Doubletree or the like. We literally paid $218 total for two nights in October 2022. Most similar places were going for $350+ for same stay and the higher end resorts going for $600+. |I would recommend this with several reservations as noted:|First request room 234 or 235. Or ask for one of the rooms in building one with a view. We were in 235 which is at end on top level in building two. The lower levels view would be almost completely blocked by trees. It was listed as ground floor but the parking lot actually goes up behind building making the top floor the "ground floor."|Room 235 is right at end so loading in was very easy.No steps. The building DOES NOT have elevators. |The room was clean as were blankets, bathroom, etc. |Room is a "deluxe" room and is good size.i would not do a standard room only because it would be pretty tight. |Unlike most older places, the room does not have carpet but laminate flooring. This eliminates that old musty motel room smell. It also feels clean to walk on. You could actually see if anything nasty was on floor and there was not. |There is an electric fireplace that is there for ambiance only. It DOES put out heat but very little.|The TV and heater/ ac were temperamental. They worked FINE, but had quirks. TV froze video but audio continued on twice. Turning on and off fixed it. Heater/ac had to be turned off and back on once or twice to get it to come on. No big deal. Just worth mentioning. Once on they both worked great.|Room has small fridge and tiny microwave. Also has drip coffee maker hair dryer iron and ironing board. |Storage is not good. There's a dresser when you first come in that is, in all honesty, bad. Plywood. Drawers don't close right. We didn't use it at all. There's an area to hang clothes with a shelf on top. There's also a table with coffee maker on it next to this. The area that used to be used for firewood, can also hold suitcases,etc. |There's a table with two drawers between beds. If you like things in drawers, you may not like this. |There is a very small safe available but you have to pay $20 extra. |Bathroom sink counter is straight out of 1980 but rest of bathroom is updated. |The good of room: Spacious- Clean- comfortable- Has everything you NEED.- Felt homey more than commercial- Inexpensive. We were in room maybe an hour in morning and two at night before bed. It was great for that. |The bad about room: Lack of security. It is an old building and room 235 and 234 adjoin. There is an older door between the two. It does have a dead bolt but is far from secure. |The front door has a dead bolt but, literally, I could have kicked through it with one kick. Unless it is reinforced, the jamb was not made for security. The door does not have other locks. Having said that, never once did we feel unsafe. It is very quiet here. |Next, the windows. This may be a deal breaker for some. The windows that face the walkway have louvres over them but you can see directly in. In living room, no big deal. You can only see area by fridge and fireplace not bed area. By bathroom you can LITERALLY see directly into shower. A towel hung over window fixed this but it may bother some. |The aforementioned "dresser" and the lack of real security were for cons of room. Otherwise, it was great.|The balcony: Heres where it shines. The balcony is large.and private. Wooded on one side.looking to left you have view of Space Needle, Anakeesta, the strip and the skylift to Sky Bridge. Looking forward you have a beautiful mountain view. To the right, you have a view of the Ober Gatlinburg tram as it passes by. The view is much more reminiscent of a cabin that a motel. The balcony is very spacious. There are two bar height chairs and a table provided. You could easily fit another two to three chairs and another table out there. Hard to find any cons here. |The location: Couldn't be much better in my opinion.It is behind River Road on the hill off the road next to tram. You can walk down hill to river road in 5-6 min and to the strip in about 10. Bear in mind the walk back up is Steep. It is quiet up there. You can hear the city noise but very little. We literally saw two other guests the whole time even though it was pretty full. Everyone was nice and laid back. |Misc: They advertise breakfast included. I'd skip it. It's in different building 2 minutes drive or 5 min walk and not worth it. |You have to check in at Econolodge which you pass just before you get to this place. There is no staff at the motel but they are 2 mins away and attentive if you need anything. | Overall: |GOOD: Location is great. Near everything but feels secluded. Staff is friendly. Motel is clean and comfortable with amazing views. |BAD: Not great security but, again, never felt like an issue. The louvered windows are pretty dumb. But a towel over the two bathroom windows fixes that. Storage is iffy. Room is older but not wood panelled walls and blue tiled bathrooms. It's been updated enough that we were pleasantly surprised. |Would we stay here again? We probably WILL. For the price it beat the heck out of Motel 6/ Super 8/ Econolodge/ and even some of the La Quinta's/ Days Inn etc we have stayed in. To be certain it is a 2 star hotel. But we thought it was far superior to what we could have got other places for the price and we will go again. |Get room 234 or 235. Don't expect 3 or 4 star. Don't live in fear that everyone wants to hurt you or steal your stuff. And you can't go...

Well, what can I say?  I'm currently in Gatlinburg and staying in a different hotel.  Yes, I booked a King room with Mountain View at Chalet Inn...a place I've always wanted to stay because of it's amazing views.  We checked in and were there for about an hour when we decided we had to just eat the money and get another place.  The room looked to be clean but didn't "feel" clean due to the horrendous smell.  It was making us physically sick to our stomachs and the air conditioning didn't circulate the room well enough, therefore it felt humid, stuffy, and made you feel like you couldn't breathe.  I know some older hotels tend to have a slight aged odor but this.....

think very old basement with water leaks, or a cavern.  It was a musty, mildewy, dank, wet smell.  There also was an underlying odor of a room that had been smoked in for years with the nicotine soaked into the sheetrock.  I can't really understand the dank smell since this hotel is at a higher elevation and not on a river or anything.  We went to Tuckaleechee Caverns while here and that same smell was down there.  Everything looked clean but that odor makes it feel very unclean.  We couldn't be in that room much longer (rm 231) and left feeling very let down.

Another reason we felt let down was the view from our "mountain view" room.  We paid extra for the stunning view just to find that from our window you couldn't see it at all.  There were two trees that fully blocked the best view of the mountain peak across from the hotel.  The rooms further down from ours did not have trees in front of the balcony and I'm sure their views were amazing.  But we paid for that view and didn't get it.  We did have a pretty view off to the right of our balcony but you had to stand at the edge and look far right to see it.  Again...not what we paid for.  Pics below is what we could see from our window.

I was looking forward to morning coffee to that view and possibly seeing the bears that you read reviews about.  I'm very disappointed I won't get either.

Chalet Inn, you have a beautiful location, but please do not false advertise and charge people for a view they don't get.  Also, please, please find the source of that odor and fix this.  It has to be unhealthy to be making people feel sick.  I hope to read in the future that you are making the most of that perfect location and have made some changes and upgrades.  We've stayed at other hotels here that are older that do not have these type musty odor problems (some directly on the river)...so it can't be blamed on age.  I give you two stars for location only.  I hardly ever leave a bad review, but I hate to see another family get up here and have to pay...

We were excited to stay here because we had stayed here three years before and had a good experience. It was not high end, but it was reasonably priced and clean. Fast forward to today: the lady at the front desk was not friendly at all-not at check in and certainly not during the stay. We got to our room, and it seemed clean enough though there were lots of basic cosmetic blemishes that stood out quite a bit. There were not any directions on the "fireplace", so we called, and someone came by and showed us how to turn it on. There was a switch on the wall that needed to be flipped in addition to the expected buttons on the appliance. However, it was not a real fireplace at all; it was a cabinet that had colors moving around that resembled flames. This is not at all what I would consider worth paying extra for. We both had to duck to take a shower in the fluctuating temperature, low-pressure water in a child sized tub. I am 5' 6" and the shower head was even with my head. A rounded curtain rod could have helped with the closed in feeling, but it was only a straight rod. The walls were very thin as we could hear everybody in the hallway and the floors felt soft under the flooring. There are no soda/water machines available to get drinks. The lobby had some water in a refrigerator, but we were told the water could not be charged to the room, the front desk could not take a $50 bill, nor would they take a debit/credit card. The lobby is around 1/4 mile from our room (down a steep hill) and were told that around the corner of the lobby there was a drink machine. We found it and paid double what the price was in the lobby where our money was refused and carried several bottles up to our room. They did have room service and were pleasantly surprised that we had fresh towels, and the bed was made when we returned at the end of the day. You just never know post-Covid what service will be available. We had a great view of the Space Needle so we got to watch the ball drop and fireworks for New Years, which was nice. Another positive was we saw a bear at the bottom of the hill. ||Just the overall unfriendliness from the front desk as well as the dilapidated appearance makes this hotel a turn off now. There are many inconveniences that I wish I had paid a little more and stayed somewhere nicer. It makes me sad to report all this, but I hope management will take notice and do something to improve the conditions because this hotel does have a lot of charm and deserves to be taken...