Zoder's Inn & Suites — Hotel in Gatlinburg

I want to start by saying.... we have stayed here about 6 times and we dont even call anywhere else when coming in town and we tell everyone to stay here. Unfortunately this was probably our last stay. When I called for a room I was told they ONLY had a cabin available and it was DOUBLE what I normally pay per night. That's fine I really needed a room and the place is nice, staff friendly so I was ok with that. We get there and go to our room. To our surprise it was the TOTAL opposite of our normal. Now I know its the woods so spiders and such are to be expected however not in every single corner of every room. We had to sweep the poison ivy away from the porch just to go in and out of the room since I am HIGHLY allergic. There were other bugs in the room and it is in DESPERATE need of a complete clean. Spiderwebs, cobwebs, and thick dust all over and MOLD in the ac, also we had to go all over the property to find ice since they didnt tell us when we checked in that 2 of the 3 ice machines they specifically told us the location of were not working.. we went to the office and told the girl working and she seemed like she just wanted us to get out of the office and leave her alone. She offered to have someone come to our room and "knock down the Spiderwebs". We declined because at least we knew where the spiders were. I waited till shift change and went back in the office. The guy was nice and said he would pass it along. This morning when I checked out the lady working didnt ask how our stay was or anything. Not one time were we offered a different room (which there were PLENTY empty despite being told they were full), nor were we offered a discount or anything. My husband (who had double pneumonia recently and diagnosed with congestive heart failure) has been coughing and sneezing since about 2 hours after arriving and im hoping it has nothing to do with the dust and mold in the ac. I have also shown photos to the staff and have attached them here. We stay there often and dont live far. Sadly we were told that the owner doesnt care anymore and is wanting to sell it so it doesnt seem like anything will be done. Is very sad to think how hard his grandparents worked to have a legacy (since 1941) and he has just let it go and doesnt care. This hotel could be so cool and is in a perfect location but the owner doesnt care. As the owner of a landscaping company I understand running a business but it is sad. Employees that have been there over a year only seen the owner twice and looking at the property you can see that he doesnt care but not offering anything to very loyal customers the have a problem just drove the final nail in this properties coffin. I bet in the next year or 2 this place will be either torn down and replaced or remodeled by some big chain hotel. As a business owner I will say this: your customers are your livelyhood... they literally pay your bills. If they dont feel appreciated its over. Word of mouth can make you or break you and bad word of mouth is harder to stop being told then good. If you dont take care of your customers they will go somewhere that will take care of them. And they will pay more per night to stay there. so sad but I hope that the money from our stay goes for something good for the property because I work to hard to spend my money to be waisted on someone who doesnt care about their customers enough to offer any solution to keep them...

I'll preface by stating that I have not written a review for Google so I'll try to be as concise and thorough as possible. I loved our family trips to Gatlinburg when I was young, so we planned a trip this spring break for our kids' first visit (ages 7 and 12). We wanted to stay at an affordable place close enough to the attractions, and Zoder's was that. We looked online at different places and glad we chose this one.

Called and spoke with the receptionist maybe 2 months before arrival (March 28th) and was able to get 2 connecting rooms with a balcony overlooking the creek. We had 3 adults and 3 children total in our group. I inquired about any savings specials for the rooms and she did mention a AAA discount on top of the already affordable room rates. Not bad considering it was a busy Easter weekend. Five stars given because of the overall stay.

First, the rooms. Both were clean and stocked with fresh towels and linens. Did not see any stains, and things were wiped down. We took advantage of the mini fridge and microwave, not huge but fit our purposes. Heated bathroom floors were a plus stepping out of shower. Beds were comfortable and clean, and could easily fit 2 adults. We had 2 double beds in each room. No problems with the lights, water, or electronics while we were there. Had a nice look at the creek and next door at the Rowdy Bear Mountain Coaster. Only negative I can give is for the WiFi. It was spotty at times, connected most of the time though.

The staff in general were very accommodating and friendly. Front desk offered savings books, which were also in the vending area. We are pretty self-sufficient so didn't need housekeepers all that much, although they were welcoming and friendly and always offered fresh towels or toiletries if needed. Our housekeeper (Melissa?) in rooms 140 and 141 was especially appreciated. Had no issues for the maintenance men to fix.

The amenities were fair. The kids loved the indoor pool and milk and cookies. We loved the hot tub. The breakfast did not have a long list of choices but was fulfilling nonetheless. Biscuits and gravy, cereal, oatmeal, bagels, toast, coffee, breakfast bar, milk, juice, hard boiled eggs were satisfying. The ladies were nice and interacted with our families while serving. Just missed using the outdoor pool 😯 next time maybe. Did not use the workout area or requetball room. Cable TV worked fine. They did have a fire pit and grills but we didn't utilize those, although an added extra.

Location was pleasing as it was away from the main parkway as you enter Gatlinburg, but just a short walk of maybe 5 minutes to the attractions. They have trolleys, but no need for us. We could walk down the parkway and shop. The creek had an ambient sound outside the room which blocked what little traffic was around. Only negative here was parking lot. It felt tight sometimes, but we managed.

I'll end by saying that this hotel was affordable and pleasant. Everyone's experiences may differ, but ours was just fine. If you are on the fence about renting here I say go for it. If and when we get back to Gatlinburg, I will look here first. Thanks...

I would advise that you consider very carefully before you arrange your vacation in Gatlinburg at Zoders. The trip we experienced was very difficult for the reasons referenced below and our concerns were met with indifference and broken promises: When we arrived for our stay our reservation was not in their system despite having an email confirmation for our stay from the hotel. They were unfortunately able to accommodate our stay. The path to our room can be described as nothing less than an ashtray. There was garbage including coffee cups, sawdust, cigarette butts and Qtips distributed on the path. The carpet was moldy and mildewy. The door to our room was black with mold. As we approached door there was a strong natural gas smell. The smell was fortunately not in our room The interior of the room was better but not by much. The room had not been updated for a long time. The room was dirty. The carpet had been burned in places. There was trash in the room and some of the furniture was broken and extremely worn. The walls had falling wallpaper and the suspended ceiling was rusty in several places. There were cobwebs in the ceiling and some of the light bulbs were burned out in the bathroom. The day we were to check out we had a cockroach appear in the bathroom floor. We have not found any in our belongings to date. We had no end of trouble with the key cards for the doors. We literally had to replace them 4 times in a 3 night trip. The promised amenities were also non-existent. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic all the promised food items were absent including breakfast, etc. Additionally, the internet was only available outside the door of our room. We had decided to start our trip during the week as our son was still having virtual classroom training. Unfortunately, because of the internet issue he was required to participate in class all day in the ashtray described above. We brought these issues to the attention of the desk clerk the evening of our arrival and she brushed off most of our concerns and said that she was unable to really do anything except reboot the internet as they had no maintenance person available during off hours and there was not a manager available until the following day. We spoke to the manager the following day and he indicated that if we complete our stay that he would take care of us the following day. We never heard from him again and none of the issues mentioned above except the key cards...