Compass by Margaritaville Hotel Pigeon Forge — Hotel in Pigeon Forge

Hotel review||||My girlfriend and I have just returned back home to the UK from a 10 day stay at the Compass by Margaritaville Hotel in Pigeon Forge (Sept 8th - 18th 2025) in room 718 (Mountain View) and really enjoyed our stay at the property.||||Check-in and Reception area:||Upon arrival the check-in process was a quick and seamless experience. ||||We were greeted by polite and friendly staff and a very clean looking property. The reception area was bright, spotless and well maintained.||||Upon check in there is a daily hold/charge which needed to be explained as we didn't know what this was until we asked.||||Daily there is water avail near the reception and also some sweet treats occasionally, not sure when as we only saw them twice, but I'm guessing this is daily and we just missed them.||||There is a small shop with plenty of items for sale and plenty of seating around the reception area near the dining area and bar/restaurant.||||The lifts were always easy to get, however the only thing to mention is they doors are very fast and non responsive to anything or anyone blocking them, meaning that if they are closing and you try to stop it to get in the sensors don't seem responsive and they will hit you. Someone we witnessed got hit on the shoulder and I personally tried to stop on once when it was under half shut and it didn't stop. Not sure if the sensors are faulty or in need of turning up on responsiveness or what but it's something to consider if you rush to stop one.||||The room:||Our room was a standard room (# 718 on the top floor) with a Mountain View out the front of the building. Upon arrival the room was spotless and well presented with two chairs, a small table and a massive king bed.||||There was a single chest of 6 large draws (with ample space within them) and a very big cupboard with a large hanging space (with 8 x hangers) and an iron and ironing board.||||The mini fridge was a very good size and was in the cabinet by the door and on top of this was a coffee machine which worked fine.||||The bathroom was huge, a massive walk-in-shower with both a removable shower head and a waterfall shower head. There is plenty of storage space within the bathroom and also the safe is found within the cabinet in the bathroom.||||Also within the bathroom are shampoo, conditioner, body-wash and moisturisers along with plenty of towels.||||The view was great, overlooking the new Gorilla Tacco's and out to the Great Smokey Mountains which I personally think is far better than a pool view, and the balcony was a very size with two nice chairs and a small table and later in the day a prime hot spot.||||Parking:||Parking is free and you get given a paper parking permit to display daily and there was always plenty of car parking avail (even when the fall rod run was on).||||Breakfast:||The breakfast was great everyday and nice addition providing plenty of drink and food options including:||||French Toast, Pancakes, Cheese Omelettes, Breakfast Potatoes, Turkey and Porn Sausages, Bacon, Bananas, Oranges, Muffins, Cereals, Fresh Fruit, Continental selection and more.||||Drinks wise there was a selection of fruit juices, tea and coffee and the milk was surprisingly cold even when arriving later for breakfast which is great for cereals and rare when staying in hotels.||||Lunch:||We only had lunch once by the pool and we were not disappointed. We had a Turkey wrap and fries and this honestly was superb. The wrap tasted amazing and the fries were very very good skin on fries and the bar staff were superb and a pleasure to talk too.||||Pool and pool area:||The pool is a very good side with plenty of loungers of which they were rarely in use. At a max depth of 4ft it's perfect for family use and adults to just chill and chat and the fact the kids saw and slide are partially split out it's ideal.||||The hot tub really is that, it's very hot and well presented and lovely.||||The lazy river is a great add-on and we used this many times just to chill out and catch some sun. Plenty of rings and in was kept at a great temperature.||||The infinity pool is another great add-on with a decent amount of loungers and also water loungers for catching the sun whilst still chilling out. Being only 3.5ft deep this is a great pool to just stand, chat and chill in.||||We didn't use the indoor pool facilities but they were well maintained and kept and looked great.||||The bar area was a good size with a reasonably large space containing 2 x fire pits and lots of outdoor games (all free of charge).||||The entire pool area or the property was great and well maintained (as was everything else on property).||||The Gym:||I used the gym a number of times and it was great for a hotel gym/fitness room. I mainly did weights and for safety reasons understand why weights are limited, however these facilities did provide enough weight for use for a good workout with dumbbells up to 75lbs (circa 34kg's) things enough for most exercises. There was one bench for use with free weights or the cable machine and plenty of small gym usable towels as well as wipes to clean up after using things and a water bottle filler.||||Location:||This hotel is very well located away from the main road within walking g distance of many amenities.||||House keeping:||This was done daily however we read that if you don't put towels etc on the floor they won't be changed until 3 days are up, this was fine with us and so we didn't, however they seemed to be changed or at least re-folded and put away each day.||||Aside from the above housekeeping was also great like everything else about this property.||||Overall ratings:||||Reception/Lobby - 8/10||Room - 10/10||Pool and pool area - 10/10||Car parking - 10/10||Facilities - 9/10||House keeping - 8/10||Food - 9/10||Location - 9/10||||We would highly recommend staying at this hotel and if/when we look to return to visit The Great Smokey Mountains we will be...

I had an okay experience overall. I have stayed at all the other Margaritaville properties in the area and would rank this dead last for ease of use (which is nuts because it could very easily have been #1 with some thoughtful designing), 1st for breakfast, and 3rd for pools. Staff interactions at all the Margaritavilles are top notch so I have to give that piece a "10" to tie all the others. The shower in the bathroom is #1 over all of the others. This hotel could have been the BEST spot ever if whoever designed it had actually tried to imagine a guest experience and not just create photo ops (of which there are many).

The pools options are plentiful with a large indoor pool area with slide and hot tub, a large kiddie/slide/large pool mix, a lazy river, and a plunge pool with soaking chairs. Having access to a pool bar and food options to order while swimming is nice. With alcohol service by a pool, the upper deck plunge pool kind of offers a little separation between adult and kiddie pools (the giant margarita glass dumping water in the kiddie pool reminds me that carving out an "adult" area probably wasn't on anyone's mind when designing the outdoor space). The bar and restaurant staff were very nice. Common spaces indoors appeared clean. The room I stayed in was clean and had plenty of space. My balcony view was of the tree line and road as I was on the registration side of the building, but there was still a balcony--- being on the second floor registration side meant it was right above the indoor pools with the music and all the sounds that come with kids enjoying a pool. It was not quiet while the pools were open, but neither was I so that worked out just fine.

Checking in and getting luggage to the rooms is a lengthy and dismal experience with all luggage needing to be transported through the main doors of the lobby while your car just sits outside in the way while long lines of vehicles wait. The registration entrance will probably always be a mess during peak check in and out times. When leaving, unless you don't need a cart and don't mind wandering through the indoor pools area, you will also have to pull your car around and leave it under the registration awning while you go retrieve your luggage. If you like dragging a bellhop cart all the way around a building to the parking lot, unloading, walking the bellhop cart all the way back around and then walking all the way back to your car, you could definitely do that. I mean, steps, right? If you are a single parent with kids in tow, this setup is pretty much a nightmare.

Overall, now that I know the parking is wonky and I may as well just forget about using a bellhop cart to bring luggage in if I'm the only adult else take thirteen years to get check in and check out procedures done, I will have a better check in experience in the future. I will bring a pair of tennis shoes to walk from the parking lot and be grateful that Margaritaville pushed me to get my steps in. I will partake in fewer bevvies while I swim since the potties are a half acre away and I will have already gotten all my steps in from the parking lot. Big fan of being cool while sleeping and getting ready, so I will bring a big fan. The price isn't even close to what you pay for the Margaritaville experience of the Island or Gatlinburg here, so that makes some of the design oversights less bothersome. Great potential. With a positive mindset, a roll of toilet paper, a fan and a pillow, and a good pair of walking shoes, this could be my new go-to when I don't want to have to take out a loan to afford a...

This hotel has the potential to be a great place to stay IF they fix the issues we encountered during our stay. Pros: Location - extremely close to the main strip of pigeon forge, easy to get to/from New hotel - main areas/room were clean Food - we didn’t utilize the restaurant much but the margarita flat bread we ordered at the pool was very good I had a good experience with the girl bartender Thursday afternoon who was willing to adjust a frozen drink recipe for my toddler to have a “smoothie” Pool - the general area was really nice and crowds/finding seats was manageable but I don’t think the hotel was at capacity so the area could potentially be overcrowded easily if they reach capacity Room - two queen beds was perfect for myself, my mom and toddler. Room was spacious - however note that there are no bathtubs or microwaves in the room which could be inconvenient with toddlers. There is a microwave on the floor near the ice machine.

Cons: Air Conditioning - AC did not cool the room the entire stay - we arrived on Thursday and thermostat was already set to 65 however Room temp was 72, the entire 3 day stay the room did not get cooler than 72 even at night, and it went up to 75. We purchased a box fan ourselves and I used my daughters stroller fan all day/night to attempt to make it tolerable enough to sleep. We notified staff several times about the AC (front desk Friday afternoon, front desk Saturday morning, and Saturday evening housekeeping) each time the front desk didn’t appear concerned and did nothing about the issue. The first member was the person who checked us in, I notified her, she said it was humid outside, wrote our room number on a post it and nothing happened. The second front desk member again stared at us, and only after we asked if she was going to take our room number down did she take it, and again nothing happened. Later that evening house keeping finally came, we notified them and they walkie talkied someone in maintenance who looked at the thermostat and walked out and again did nothing. Staff - upon check in, the staff member we spoke to was not friendly/welcoming but we didn’t let it deter us. however, after numerous staff not addressing our AC concerns or issues it appears that the staff is not well trained in hospitality or dealing with guest issues. Housekeeping - We did not receive any housekeeping services (removal of trash/towel change) until Saturday evening and we started our stay on Thursday around lunch. We were out of the room plenty of times and didn’t keep up the do not disturb sign, but we had to empty our trash ourselves on Friday. Price - I found a much lower rate on booking.com and called to see if they would price match and they would not. I was also able to book the lower price through a benefit I get with my employer. I would much rather book direct and would assume a hotel would want that rather than third party sites but they weren’t willing to price match. Check all options for pricing...