Bristol / Kingsport KOA Holiday — Hotel in Kingsport

UP Date ( a exceptional person)Sometimes you meet someone that just leaves a great impression. Out in the working world I have met all sorts of people on all sorts of jobs. But sometimes you just see someone that excels above what most of us consider a normal worker. Well Kristine here at the KOA is one of those people that probably gets very little recognition and probably doesn’t expect it. She has been here a few years now. Cleaning bathrooms doing housekeeping in the cabins. Cleaning and laundry then working in the office and kitchen. Well july of 2021 our managers moved on. That’s what people do. They change jobs for whatever reason. Kris ended up managing the campground. I had heard people say in the past that she would never be able to run the office. She has fooled several people. Maybe even herself. She does an Amazing job. She has put more effort into running the place more than any of the many people that has done it before her. It’s more than just a job. It is part of her life. She is great to work with. Goes to any extent to see that the employees are treated with respect and any need they may have she sees it’s met. Anyone who comes through the door is treated extremely well. Because she is proud of her job and puts 110% into whatever she does. I have seen her go to above the normal limit to see that each patron of the campground is treated above and beyond what I have seen any manager do. I hear compliments daily from anyone who deals with her. People outside the campground who deal with her carry on something awful about what a nice lady she is Great Job. 👍🏿

Have had a camper here since 1010 a few years ago decided to live here full time. My granddaughter has grown up here and besides being a great place for kids it has taught her to be an out going person with communication skills and self confidence around other people of all ages. It’s a good safe place where the outside world and all it’s problems are left outside. God has blessed us here and you can easily relax and feel at home with a laid back atmosphere where you can enjoy a relaxing Christian atmosphere. Where everyone is treated like family. (UPDATE )been here now since 2010 Have no desire to be anywhere else. It’s my home and a great home. The place is great and gets better every year. The owners and manager are great people who go to their limit and if need be beyond to see everyone is happy. The staff is great the cabins are very nice and clean with fresh linen and everyone does their job in a cheerful manor. Put the camper her for my granddaughter and she has grown up here. She’s grown now and I still have no desire to live anywhere else. It’s just a great happy place and keeps getting better with time. Constantly doing updates to make it better. If anyone comes here and don’t have a pleasant experience I don’t think they could anywhere. All things good in life comes from God and he truly has a hand here. Great owners and an awesome manager who will spoil the patrons because they care about the people and doing a great job. Maintenance is helpful and right on top of any problem the cleaning ladies do an excellent job so their isn’t much more to ask for. If there is it will try to be met. Have stayed at other locations and owned a campground at one time but as far as I’m concerned this is the best. I have no desire to be anywhere else. It’s been good here and hopefully spend the rest of my life here. Plus I didn’t mention the restaurant has great food and the ladies keep trying to make improvements to make people feel happy. Everything is cooked here and complimented daily have activities for the family with cookout music train rides for the kids all the holidays are great. The kids seem to like it very much and if the kids are happy the parents definitely will be. Guess I need to stop but there is just so much positive stuff to say. The only negative thing is that sooner or later campers have to leave but hopefully return. We want everyone to feel at home. That’s the desire of all of us here. To help people have a...

This was an average KOA, okay for a quick pitstop for the night. We recently visited for a three day weekend and stayed in one of the pull through deluxe patio sites. Everything at the site was fine, deck with seating for 8-10, cajun grill and firepit, 50 amp service, water, sewer, and cable. Rate was approximately $50 per night for the first weekend in November. However, this KOA's rate only includes 2 adults. They have seating for 8-10 at the site, but each additional adult (beyond 2) is $10 per day. My dad came out for 1 day and we were charged an additional $30. When asked, the lady in the office stated that she had no way to charge per day. Even if he came out for 1 day of the 3 day stay, she had to charge us $10 per day for the entire reservation. If this is the practice, it should be made known on their webpage so it can be taken into consideration when deciding on reservations.

Otherwise, stay was fine, but just fine. It's a very small park without much to do in November. The pool was closed for the season and I didn't seen anyone playing cornhole or horseshoes, the jumping pillow was deflated, no pony rides, and no activities. I also understand the current time and the need for COVID precautions; however, many campgrounds have figured out how to still provide activities while adhering to CDC guidelines.

The location was just a few minutes off of Interstate 81. There is not much in the immediate area, except for a Cracker Barrel. However, it is centrally located in the Tri-Cities with Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol all accessible in approximately 20 minutes. The airport is off of the same exit as well.

I'm happy that we had family in the local area as those engagements kept us busy during the day. When returning to the area, we will choose the state park in Kingsport. At only $26 a night, the state park offers many more activities and the rates don't increase as the weather warms and during race weeks.

Again, nothing wrong with the place (restrooms looked clean the one time I went in to wash my hands), but nothing great about it either. We could have stayed at the state park for half the price, more recreational opportunities, and without the inflated visitor price policy. Two adults being the base rate is a little unreasonable, but charging for the entirety of the reservation is ridiculous. Plus, their price really inflates during the Bristol spring...

We have stayed at several KOAs and figured we could not go wrong booking a deluxe cabin at a KOA that was halfway to pick up our kids from relatives. Unfortunately due to schedules we had to arrive two hours early for our ready time. We called and asked if that was ok and were told it was if we paid a $5/hour early check-in fee. Never heard of such a thing with KOA. If the cabin was ready what difference should it make. If it wasn’t we would have just waited. Anyway we paid it. We get to cabin and it is by far the most underwhelming site spot I have ever seen in a KOA. Your fire ring is 3 feet from the road and you have maybe 3 feet between another cabin on one side and an electric tent site on the other. You have to park your car in the grass. Whole place is set up like this,packed in like sardines to maximize # of spots vs quality. That was the first bad sign. We get inside and the place looked neat and clean at first glance but when you started to look closer you can see the table hadn’t been cleaned in a while. Other negatives started to pile up. They provided NO dishes, cups, utensils or silverware. The 2 styrofoam cups left for the miniature kuerig didn’t even fit it. First time I have encountered this in a “deluxe” cabin. The TV was mounted on the wall by the bathroom door was way out of place. Not sure why they didn’t use the bare wall straight across from the bed. Got up the next morning and opened the keurig to find an old coffee pod still in it from the previous guests. Nice. Then the keurig wouldn’t even turn on! Decided to take a shower only to find out they don’t provide soap! Oh and I didn’t even go into the the ant problem.

We had enough and left.

The only good thing I can say is the food service they have here is decent. The donkeys they have in a pasture are friendly and cute too.

In the end you are better off going to a hotel than staying here at least for the...