Motel 6 Gatlinburg, TN - Smoky Mountains — Hotel in Gatlinburg

We stayed at this same motel 5 years ago when it was a Redroof... back then, it wasn't a bad place to stay, especially for the price. But we stayed here 2 nights and can't wait to get out if here! Upon arrival, the exterior is a mess... the property is no longer maintained, there are 5 gallon pails in the parking lot, broken computer chairs, broken toilets and even a bath tub, not to mention a ton of bricks laying around. A blue tarp covers the back corner of the building on the second floor back by the empty, disgusting pool area. The "dog walking" area is hazardous! Broken cinder blocks litter the ground, next to the old bath tub, not to mention, infested with ticks... (we traveled with our 4 small dogs, one being a service dog.) The parking lot is small and very hard to maneuver to turn around. If this place was ever full, there is not enough parking for everyone, let alone any space to turn around! The corridor to walk to the rooms on the river, is a mess, paint chipping on the floor, an extremely leaky ice machine which they put a small white plastic container under the drip... which they only change once a day, which leaves the corridor always wet... Upon entering the room, it's noticeable that they attempted to do a bit of renovation.... the walls looked recently painted, which wouldn't have been so bad, if they would have painted the base boards which are extremely yellow compared to the stark white walls... the floors are a weird laminate wood pattern which are rather loud to walk on. The furniture is outdated, old, and chipped. The TV is ancient and chops off some the the picture on each side. The mini fridge works and so does the microwave. But the microwave hasn't been cleaned in.... I don't know how many guests ago... The bathroom is just... eww.... the grout in-between tiles is filthy, the corners of the floor is full of crud and grim. The tub and toilet seat have chips out of them... the beds are hard and uncomfortable and they provide you with three lumpy pillows per bed, 3 towels, 1 hand towel and no wash clothes. We did ask for more, which was provided. The mattress and box springs are covered in zippered bed bug covers. As soon as we arrived, we washed everything down with sanitation wipes, and the FILTH! We washed the remotes, phone, handles, switches, chair arms, lights over the beds, the toilet seat... not one place or cloth we used came out clean... there is no excuse for a filthy room, no matter the price they charge! We currently paid $45 a night, but on the weekend they jack the price to $90... To top everything off, the house keeping just loves to stare in the windows as they walk by and even stop and duck around to see inside EVERYTIME they walk by! It got to the point that I drew eyes on a paper plate with the word "hello..." on it and hung it in the window.... it seemed to help.

I happened to think for a fleeting moment last night that I was surprised they didn't have bugs.... well, upon getting up to use the bathroom in the night and flipping on a light... there was an inch long roach running up the wall............ I only saw the one... so maybe it was a fluke? I hope!

We are on our way out of here today (4/28/2017) and staying at a different hotel for the weekend in Pigeon Forge for $68... Very disappointed in the decline of this once...

It was okay. Honestly, for the money it was not too bad. The only reason we picked this particular location to stay was because they are pet friendly and we needed to travel with our small dog. The location is not too bad, either. They are just off the main Parkway on the road that goes up to Ober Gatlinburg. We could see the tram when we were outside walking the dog. The area around the motel property appears to be a bit "low rent", but it didn't seem unsafe at all.

The room was not horrible (again - it was a good price), but there few amenities in the room. There was no hair dryer nor was there an in-room coffee pot. That was the first time I've ever NOT had a coffee pot in the room. There was a small microwave and small refrigerator, so that was actually cool. The in-room Wi-Fi worked good and our room was one of the farthest from the office. Since this motel is one of the only reasonably priced pet-friendly places, I assumed it would be full of pets. I only noticed one or two other guests with pets and it was quiet. I assume there were others with pets, but I just didn't notice them. In other words, it wasn't any problem because of their pet-friendliness. I had brought air freshener and candles just in case there was pet odor in our room from previous pets, but there wasn't any odor at all. That surprised me, considering the fact that there was carpet in the room and it didn't look in great shape. The room seemed very well insulated. We didn't hear any one else. (We were on the 2nd floor.)

There really isn't any area right on the Motel property to walk the dog, (the property is entirely covered with asphalt parking lots) but at the back of the parking lot (very near our room), you could walk up into the woods. The woods were dense with trees, but the trees are VERY tall, so it wasn't at all scary. The road is also not congested, so it was easy enough to walk the dog up the road, too.

When you bring a pet, they make you sign a form about all the pet rules. One of the rules is that you cannot leave your pet in the room unattended. We had no intention of taking our dog with us the whole time we were walking around town considering her legs are so short we would have had to carry her most of the time. Not to mention the fact that we intended to go into shops and eateries, etc. Taking a dog into those places is often not allowed. We had read another review about someone who had left their dog in their room. They had left a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door to keep the maid from coming in, but she did anyway. She startled the dog and it began to bark. They made these people move from the room they were in because they had left their dog unattended in their room. We decided to also put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on our door when we left because we also didn't want the maid to come in. I guess it worked for us. We had our dog crated and she doesn't bark, so we didn't have any problem with that. Our dog is good in her crate for a few hours at a time, so it worked out really well for us. We were never gone more than 3 hours at a time, so it allowed us to have a good time and still take care of her needs.

Overall, I'd say if you need to take your small pet with you, this is a reasonably priced place to stay. Otherwise, I'd probably stay somewhere...

Phones not working, major room renovations started during my stay--I was moved from one room to another after 5 days of my 7 night stay because my original room was on the renovation list. Moving everything I had in the room was stressful to me and my cat, and no credit was offered to offset my inconvenience. My room and others around it underwent total demolition including total floor and drywall removal (rooms were entirely gutted), all furniture removal, and a total rebuild with exposed wall studs between which insulation was placed. This resulted in very loud construction noise from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 2.5 days of my stay and again, no offset refund was offered to guests for tolerating loud construction noises all day which reverberated through most of the buildings on both floors. FINALLY, after staying 7 days, I couldn't find my pet cat on the check-out date although I searched my room very comprehensively with the help of several concerned guests. I moved furniture away from walls and searched under the bed and box springs but couldn't find my cat. I was convinced he had gotten out into the Smoky Mountains forest behind the building and was totally panic-stricken. He disappeared at 11:30 a.m. on my check-out date. I searched all over the property but couldn't find him. I booked another night at the motel so I could hopefully find him at night. However, the front desk person CANCELLED my booking and stated that I AM NOT WELCOME TO SPEND ONE MORE NIGHT because I had "knocked on the doors of several guests to inquire if they had seen my pet" and this was against Motel 6 policy. He also said I "ransacked" my room by searching for my cat when the reality is that all furniture I moved around, I put back with the help of concerned guests who were trying to help me find my cat. The front desk person REFUSED for me to book another night and I was going to stay outside at the motel all night long at the edge of the Smoky Mountain park to hopefully find my cat which was DANGEROUS because black bears come onto the property to search for food. I was DENIED LODGING one extra night to try to find my missing cat although I had booked another night which the front desk man (from Jamaica, I believe) immediately cancelled and stated "I am not welcome to stay another night and will not be allowed to book another room under any circumstances." At 8 p.m., I was crying and desperate, hungry and thirsty, and went to my original room which was now cleaned and locked. The curtain was pulled back and I looked in the window, and lo and behold, I saw my cat inside! He had hidden somewhere and had remained silent. I was able to retrieve him and left the property in disgust at the way I was treated. I contacted both the reservations main number and Customer Care to complain about this outrageous conduct by the man at the front desk who was either racist again me or is a woman-hater. He told me to leave the property because "it was my fault that my cat was missing, because I was 'disturbing other ' guests by searching for my cat and by knocking on about three guests' doors to ask about my cat which goes against the Motel 6 business policy." No sympathy, no empathy, the opposite of "pet friendly." I would terminate this employee for...