The Castle Inn — Hotel in Helen

Castle inn ||One word…. FLEAS!….Do not stay here! Unless you like flea bites. A simple return phone call from the owner could have resolved this and avoided a bad google review. |We ended up with flea bites after one night! We paid cash for 3 nights (discount with cash vs a 4% fee when using credit card) They seemed super nice on the phone when making the reservation and even nicer upon check in. We were told that if we had any problems or questions to call either one of the numbers posted on the office door. |I work as a flight attendant. I stay in a lot of hotels and I know what is clean and taken care vs a room superficially clean and a hotel not taken care of. The room was not cleaned to what you expect and pay for. Dusty and dirty behind night tables and edges of carpet. Under the bed was obviously not cleaned as we found a hair comb and lots of dust under the bed as well. The balcony was full of spider webs, dust and in need of repair. There was a small room off the balcony (it gave the hotel that castle look), this room had a huge hole in the ceiling. The room had a small dresser with broken handles. Things like this tell us the owner does not keep up with repairs or the cleanliness of the rooms. |As for the balcony being full of spider webs and dust. You might say, well it is out doors. However we have stayed in Gatlinburg many times with a balcony and it was always clean. Never did we any spider webs or dirt |The next morning we went to the office first thing, around 0700, no one there. We went for breakfast and returned to the office again to see if anyone was there (0930), still no one there. I took a picture of the office door mainly to document that we tried to check out and to get the phone numbers listed on the note taped to the door. In fact no one there all day as we made several attempts to stop by the office to talk to someone. I left a voice mail message on one of the phone numbers listed on the note and asked for a return call notating that we had a problem with the room. To this date I am still waiting for a return call. Save your hard earned money for a cleaner hotel with staff present all the time. |We ended up at an IHG Holiday Inn property down the road. The IHG Holiday Inn property was about the same price, much cleaner, had WiFi (the castle inn does not) and the property had staff 24 hours a day. |I hope this review helps you to make an informed decision about this place. |I have included pictures. I won’t post the one of the bites on the back of my husbands legs, y’all don’t need to...

Castle inn

One word…. FLEAS!….Do not stay here! Unless you like flea bites. A simple return phone call from the owner could have resolved this and avoided a bad google review. We ended up with flea bites after one night! We paid cash for 3 nights (discount with cash vs a 4% fee when using credit card) They seemed super nice on the phone when making the reservation and even nicer upon check in. We were told that if we had any problems or questions to call either one of the numbers posted on the office door. I work as a flight attendant. I stay in a lot of hotels and I know what is clean and taken care vs a room superficially clean and a hotel not taken care of. The room was not cleaned to what you expect and pay for. Dusty and dirty behind night tables and edges of carpet. Under the bed was obviously not cleaned as we found a hair comb and lots of dust under the bed as well. The balcony was full of spider webs, dust and in need of repair. There was a small room off the balcony (it gave the hotel that castle look), this room had a huge hole in the ceiling. The room had a small dresser with broken handles. Things like this tell us the owner does not keep up with repairs or the cleanliness of the rooms. As for the balcony being full of spider webs and dust. You might say, well it is out doors. However we have stayed in Gatlinburg many times with a balcony and it was always clean. Never did we any spider webs or dirt The next morning we went to the office first thing, around 0700, no one there. We went for breakfast and returned to the office again to see if anyone was there (0930), still no one there. I took a picture of the office door mainly to document that we tried to check out and to get the phone numbers listed on the note taped to the door. In fact no one there all day as we made several attempts to stop by the office to talk to someone. I left a voice mail message on one of the phone numbers listed on the note and asked for a return call notating that we had a problem with the room. To this date I am still waiting for a return call. Save your hard earned money for a cleaner hotel with staff present all the time. We ended up at an IHG Holiday Inn property down the road. The IHG Holiday Inn property was about the same price, much cleaner, had WiFi (the castle inn does not) and the property had staff 24 hours a day. I hope this review helps you to make an informed decision...

Overall, our stay was fine. The staff was friendly and the room clean. The room had all the necessary basic necessities. There was only one thing that really spoiled our stay and not the fault of the hotel manager. After dinner, we were walking down Main St. to our hotel and heard a loud bunch of noise when we were as much as a half mile away from the hotel. As we got to the hotel, we realized some drunk lady was trying to sing a popular song with a microphone. I couldn't imagine how anyone would enjoy this. We rushed inside the hotel to get away from the painful racket but could still hear it in our room (facing the stream but still near the street). My wife and I had been hiking and couldn't wait to go to bed. The noise from the Alpine Tavern across the street (sometimes sounding like someone having surgery without anesthesia) continued and we could hear it clearly in our room I checked the hours of the restaurant and saw that it closes at 9:00. No problem. But, the bellowing and screeching in the microphone in an outdoor patio went on until 11:00. This was a weekday night. We had a noise machine on, took sleeping pills and had pillows over our heads and were still miserable. If getting a room at this hotel, I would recommend avoiding a street room or even a room by the stream. I think there are some facing the rear parking lot that would be the best bet for a quiet evening. I'll never stay at this hotel again. Not the manager's fault but something uncontrollable (I guess) because of the Tavern...