Dancing Bear Lodge Townsend — Hotel in Maryville

Our family has visited Dancing Bear 3-4 times over the last several years. All experiences prior to this one have been great. The first 3 days of the trip were fun, but we all felt like the Dancing Bear that we remember had changed for the worse. The cabins were dirty, our shower upon check in had hair in the tub. Our group had 4 cabins and on two different occasions housekeeping failed to clean them during the day. We were doing our best to overlook the small mistakes end enjoy the trip.

The biggest disappointment up until the end of the trip had been the breakfast. We all had fond memories of the Dancing Bear breakfast especially the banana bread. On this trip the spread was minimal and tasteless. The restaurant was understaffed and we were consistently looking for water or searching for forks, knives, napkins, etc. This would have been easier to overlook had it not been for the final morning.

Our group had 4 kids under the age of 5 and our tables were definitely not the cleanest. On the final morning someone on staff walked by our table mumbling and complaining about the mess under our table. He then proceeded to bring a broom and dust pan and conspicuously place them by our table. He then loudly and rudely told our table that we should “take care” of our waitress because she had to “deal” with the fact that our party at a family resort had children. How inconsiderate of us to bring children to a family destination...

The same staff member, Dan, then walked to our other table and said the same thing again loudly such that the whole restaurant overheard. As if his rudeness needed to be taken even further, he went up to my brother who was in the buffet line and told him the same thing.

We’ve traveled the around the world and have never been accosted by a service staff for leaving our table messy... This certainly ended the trip on a very sour note and pushed us over the edge. The small things like dirty showers, dust bunnies and missed housekeeping could now no longer be overlooked given this final incredibly unprofessional service experience. Dan went well beyond just rude and was aggressive and belligerent to the point that we walked out of the restaurant.

We let the manager know what happened and for a moment thought that maybe just maybe Dancing Bear might not have to be ruined for us forever. The manager responded as you would hope a hospitality professional would and profusely apologized. She promised to make it right and said she would be in touch. Our group graciously and patiently waited to see what the manager would do.

That encounter was over 6 weeks ago and after 6 weeks of silence a card arrived in the mail. The letter included a $100 gift card to the restaurant, a value of less than 2% of what we spent during the weekend. This pitiful attempt at making our stay right reveals just how poorly Dancing Bear is run. Unfortunately this is not a case of a solo rouge staffer, but clearly a case of a poorly managed hotel and restaurant that are way past their prime. If you're looking for a great place in the Smokies I recommend...

Update: someone from Dancing Bear reached out to me very quickly to make this right. I really appreciate their service and consideration, and I’ve updated my rating to reflect that. I can’t wait to return next year!

I really enjoyed my first stay here (with one large exception), so much that I booked another one for next year before I left. The location is PERFECT, the cabin was comfortable and pleasant, the property is beautiful and a delight to wander around, and the price of the room was very reasonable. My only major problem is with the “curated bistro experience.” Before you arrive, they send you a questionnaire to let them know about any dietary restrictions, which I filled out. We were then served THREE of the ingredients I had asked to avoid. The first was something my friend is allergic to, which we let our server know, and she replaced it with something else—I would have had no issue if that had been all, as mistakes happen and it was promptly fixed. However, the dish that replaced it included another ingredient I had specified was not acceptable (pork belly). This one wasn’t an allergy but just something I strongly dislike, and we felt bad for the server and didn’t want to make a whole production, so we didn’t say anything about it. Then the entree included a THIRD ingredient I’d asked to avoid for preference reasons (sweet peppers). The service was otherwise impeccable, and the non-alcoholic beverage pairings were excellent, and all the food was otherwise extremely delicious. But considering the price of the experience—which I found out after checkout had increased by quite a bit in the months since I booked it, which I’m sure they weren’t required to tell me about but feels kind of slimy nonetheless—I really feel that ignoring the guests’ needs and preferences in what’s supposed to be a tailored, special experience is unacceptable. I still recommend Dancing Bear Lodge and hope to become a regular, but when I recommend it I will be discouraging people from purchasing this add-on.

(As a small additional note, the picnic lunches I’d ordered when booking and had confirmed by email a day before arriving weren’t ready at pickup time, and apparently the restaurant hasn’t been told about it at all. This would only be a problem if you were in a hurry, though, as they were happy to make some for us in just 15 minutes.)

(Also be aware that the robe provided will not fit anyone above a size 14, but to be honest I expect that from most places, even higher end ones than this. The women’s clothes and gear available at the SMOC store also only goes up to I would estimate an 18 (most items top out around 14-16 but I found a raincoat that JUST barely fit me, and a men’s hoodie that fit comfortably). If you’re plus size, make sure you bring everything you need, as you likely can’t buy it here. Again, this is hardly unique to Dancing Bear, but it was...

We bought the VIP bike package we purchased for a 2 day weekend. It was a pricey package but for a once in a while splurge & what we were promised I felt it was it worth it. The cabin rabbit creek was awesome , very clean and cozy, best room coffee I ever had, with robes, hot tub and plenty of towels. Only negative thing I'd add is it smelt a little musty. The food from the Bistro was very good high quailty food . But this reveiw lost a star from me because I've never stayed anywhere that the communication was so bad between staff including the owners. First off what they advertised on there website is not what we got, several gift certificates promised in the bike registration wasnt given and I was told it was because a different person does the internet posting, our package included a private dinner with the owners which was very pricey and we were told at the beginning of the dinner only a glass of champagne and one glass of wine was included but come to find out it was a wine pairing dinner which was AMAZING but it would of been nice to know that so we could of been drinking ea glass with the food it was meant to go with. Lastly we were told @ ck in and on the VIP interary that we get breakfast at the bistro ea morning. But since we've had so much confusion I asked someone at the bistro (I thought he was actually a mgr) Saturday to be sure breakfast would be being served in the am (which was Sunday) and was told they don't do breakfast for guests on Sunday just brunch and it is from 11-2 but he would take care of us if we wanted to wait till then. So as we were waiting in the am we kept seeing people walking by and finally asked someone and they said that there was breakfast being served at the Bisto. So we went which worked out better but we could of been on the road even sooner if we had known. But that to say all the staff was wonderful, apologetic and tried to make everything right as they could within their power and the owners are some of the nicest people we've ever met! We will probably be lury of buying anymore "package deals" from them but we definitely will be back to stay. I just hope that they will communicate better in the future and only list what you will actually receive when it comes to package deals so no one else has to experience...