The Inn on the River Pigeon Forge — Hotel in Pigeon Forge

I start my review off with this used to be my favorite hotel in Pigeon Forge. We stay a couple times a year, with me always making time to get a few days in here. Time before last it was different a few things a little off. I figured just a fluke. This time however it was bad. As I walked away from the counter checking in I was thankful they granted my request for a patio room. I even told the desk woman it's my favorite place to stay! But, You no longer walk into the room with inviting music playing on the echo dots that used to be in the room. The veiw from this room was over grown hedges, you could not see the river at all. Just the sidewalk and tall hedges. At 830 pm I pulled my sheets back to find a huge oily stain, (hand size) with the sheets on both beds really wrinkled not being sure they were even clean. I went to front desk. I remember this young man from last trip. He does not look the customer in the face. I was not rude, did not complain simply asked for a fitted sheet told him the problem. Never looking at me, never saying sorry this has happened asked me which sheet was a fitted sheet. I followed him to the housekeeping he gave a full set. Never once engaging with me, actually walked in front of me never saying sorry on behalf of the hotel.. nothing. Our room also had mold and mildew on the bathroom ceiling, and around the ceiling edges above the beds. Room 108. The box spring cover was only halfway covering one boxspring and it was stained badly. The nightstand items where not even postioned on the nightstand in a orderly manner. I mean the clock was even facing the wall! The housekeepers are having a good time talking and laughing as they go up and down the hall though. The hairdryer was so full of dust on the cover and inside it did not blow fully. Both soap dishes in the shower were half off the wall leaning down so bad they didn't hold soap. Oily hand prints on the closet doors and headboards. This room needs a deep cleaning! Our socks also were dirty from the floors. It felt nasty in there. I did laundry. I had to pick up the trash in the laundry room to even do laundry. The trash can was running over, trash on the tables, laundry detergent spilled in big dried piles on the tables with socks and washcloths lying around. The laundry dispensers had goo in them. There was no air working in the laundry room. The thermostat was off and well above 90 degrees. A tv but no remote. There is a camera in there but yet noone noticed. Housekeeping does not speak English. You have to point to what you need. 4 days later I actually checked the laundry room status and it was exactly the same. Same trash etc. It had not been touched by housekeeping. We did our laundry elsewhere the second time. The nightly cookie treat has also gone to the dogs. Stale cookies when you can get one. I asked the young man one night at 7 where are the cookies? All he said was they ate them already. This trip the drink machine went down. I took a sip of spoiled HOT orange juice, a few days later thinking it must be fixed. It was still not refrigerating the drinks and they were still letting people use it. No out of order sign. People would take a drink and then throw it away. Finally after talking to a girl behind the counter that its been a few days, she told my husband yes she would take care of it. Is there any leadership left at this hotel?? I mean I really hated to ask the Guy and Girl that clean the breakfast tables off to please clean a table while they were standing there talking and eating themselves. I complained at checkout. Their response was automatic, nothing to them. "Ill take 10 percent off". I paid almost a thousand dollars for this. I really hate it but we will not be back. It used to be a great place what has happened? Is anyone in-charge looking around and inspecting anything and making these people do...

Overall, our experience at The Inn on the River was great. I cancelled another reservation I had previously to stay here instead. The location was great, despite being in a very busy and touristy location. My husband and I enjoyed sitting on the balcony facing the river and watching the ducks, geese, and squirrels. The breakfast served was good, and the kitchen staff was very friendly and helpful. They asked numerous times if they could take our plates out of the way, even though they didn’t have to. I’ve never experienced this at a hotel breakfast. There were many special touches like nightly popcorn, specially folded towels, and a call to make sure we liked our room after arriving. There was plenty of room to park as well.

I gave The Inn on the River four stars instead of five due to my disappointment in the housekeeping. After our first day, we came back to a room that was not cleaned. I called the front desk and they told me that they weren’t doing housekeeping everyday. I was a little disappointed considering how much we paid for our room. However, we were reassured that we could have daily housekeeping from that point forward. The staff handled our concerns well and we had no issues receiving housekeeping after that call. However, the housekeeping we received for the rest of the stay was nothing special. I only noticed the replacement of towels, sheets, and trash bags. There was no vacuuming, wiping of counters and mirrors, replacement of soap, etc. Considering how much we spent to stay here, I was very disappointed in the lack of attention to detail in housekeeping. We would’ve appreciated the same attention to detail found throughout the rest of the hotel. For example, upon leaving, I found trash from the people who stayed previously behind the couch. This should have been taken care of.

What this hotel does well: • Great customer service • Special amenities such as cookies, nightly popcorn, specially folded towels, etc. • Nicely decorated guest rooms and common areas • Spacious parking • Fast and easy check-in and check-out • Discount for military service • Good breakfast and friendly kitchen staff • Jacuzzi was nice and in a completely separate room inside our room • Areas to walk outside and enjoy nature

Room for improvement: • Improved housekeeping (also inform guests up front if housekeeping services will not be performed daily) • Slight adjustments to hotel security— I didn’t see any cameras in the stairwells. Perhaps there are some and I didn’t see them, but I was uncomfortable walking in the stairwells alone. There was a sign next to the outdoor pool saying that the doors would be kept locked at all times, but they were not. The latch to our balcony would not work (didn’t think to say anything because the lock worked). • Cleaner washers in the laundry room. The washers had an odd odor to them and there was hair/fur/lint caked under...

I would rate our overall stay at a 3.5 out of 5, but ultimately decided to round up to 4 for the review since 3.5 is not an option. Overall, the experience was nice, but wasn't spectacular.

The view out the balcony onto the river was great, we saw a ton of wildlife throughout our stay while on the balcony, and the room was extremely clean and well kept. Staff was also very friendly and welcoming.

One of the concerns I had with the stay overall, is the room was MUCH smaller than anticipated. Other reviews had mentioned it, I just didn't anticipate a room with a private balcony and a hot tub would be as small as it was, as the pictures make it look quite a bit roomier than what it actually is. It wasn't a huge issue since just my wife and I, but if you show a room "Sleeping 4 Guests", it should be able to reasonably sleep 4 guests.

As another review mentioned, the armoire the TV is in, while beautiful, is way too big for the room and takes away from the already limited real estate the room offers.

The biggest issue I had with the room overall is that the WiFi signal was incredibly weak, intermittently disconnected, and was often brutally slow in loading pages. This wouldn't have been as much of an issue, except my cellphone also struggled to get reception in the building. We were in town for a somewhat unexpected family reunion, as my wife's grandfather was in the process of passing away - and I had to work remotely during our stay which was incredibly difficult without reliable WiFi or a good cell phone signal.

The hotel is close to a ton of attractions and in walking distance of a ton of restaurants, but it is somewhat difficult to get out of the parking lot if you're driving because of how busy the main street in Pigeon Forge is.

Overall, it was a well maintained property, but fixing the pictures or showing the total square footage for the room would've given a more realistic expectation for the stay - and working WiFi would've expedited how quickly I could have gotten the work items I needed to complete...