Hilton Vacation Club Bent Creek Golf Village Gatlinburg — Hotel in Pittman Center

I booked this resort on a third party website. When I arrived, my first thought were how they looked like apartments. There's these duplex looking buildings with upstairs and downstairs rooms. I checked in carrying a 4yr old special needs child who is immobile,unable to sit by himself and was obviously very heavy (as most 4 yr olds are) I was informed of a 8$/per day resort fee plus $100 deposit. Then I was told my room was on the upstairs level and that there's no elevators. Im not sure why I couldn't get moved to a lower level once it became obvious I was struggling with my hands full just checking in. Needless to say,I was absolutely miserable after hauling luggage, medical equipment,an oxygen concentrator, and a 4 yr old up a flight of stairs in the pouring rain while tornado watches and warnings were flashing across the tv screen each time I made a trip inside with more stuff. There was hardly any parking available so I had to park beside the building and run up the sidewalk to get to the steps. The rooms were very very small but clean, so I decided to make the best of it. There are no windows other than the glass door leading from the bedroom to the balcony, so it's the only sunlight you'll have unless you're lucky enough to score an apartment on the end. That glass door lets in light even with blinds and curtains shut so the 4yr old was up super early each morning. I dreaded leaving the room during the entire stay because it was a nightmare carrying a child and their necessities up and down that somewhat steep flight of stairs (19 steps to be exact.) Although, he was rather amused by my panting and sweating so I guess that's a plus LOL. The washer and dryer is tiny but I appreciated having them in the room. It seems like a set up for a much older generation,sort of felt like i was visiting grandparents. I decided to visit the pool the second night which was great,except you have to walk outside to get that building and back. Which is no fun in the winter months,but in the summer I'm sure it's fine. Front desk was courteous enough to call twice to see how the stay was going,but I'm not one to complain unless something can be changed.There were black ants seen on the bathroom floor one night. There's not many options to eat that's closer than maybe a 20 minute drive, the resort is kinda in the middle of nowhere and about 15 miles from the actual town of Gatlinburg which seemed misleading when I booked. I was exhausted the first day after unloading and carrying very heavy items up those stairs (vs a luggage cart and/ or an elevator like most places) I tried to order dinner but nobody delivered that far. Even the most commonly used delivery services that I tried wouldn't come there. There's no cell phone signal there but they offer free wifi upon check in. Check out is at 10am (vs 11am most other places) I'm appreciative of the treatment by the staff (esp housekeeping,I asked for a towel exchange and the girl in housekeeping arrived within minutes and was very sweet and eager to meet our needs) I wouldn't really recommend this place,unless you're there to golf and do nothing else. I'd also suggest requesting a...

Unfortunately we didn’t even get to stay at this resort. We had family staying in the campground beside this resort so we called ahead and asked if this resort would allow my wife and I, along with our 3 small children to stay in one room and it was confirmed by the reservation specialist with Diamond Resorts who owns this particular property that this would be completely ok as long as we knew we would only have 2 queen beds. We agreed that it was good with us and due to a lower rate with Hotels.com we were encouraged to book the room through that 3rd party.

Upon arrival the manager of the property asked how many children and I said 3 and she became very belligerent and rude stating 5 people could not stay in one room. I explained that I had spoken to the reservation specialist with the company who owns the property and was assured they would allow us to stay in one room. At this point she became very irritated and unreasonable. While I stepped out to call Diamond Resorts my wife went in to try and resolve the issue and the unprofessional attitude escalated with the property manager.

Numerous times in her rant the property manager contradicted herself and became so angry that neither of us could reason with her. She all but made us out like we were trying to deceive them because our hotels.com reservation said we only had 2 kids, but I had called the property owner prior to booking the room and verified they would allow 3 and made certain we would be allowed to stay in room. Repeatedly the manager said, “your hotels.com contract states that you only have 2 children” ……and over and over I explained to her that I had already made it known to the property owner and furthermore I was very upfront upon my arrival that we had 3 children.

At this point she told us that she was going to refund the booking fee, but then she very rudely stated that she didn’t have to refund us anything. She went on to stay that she would never allow us to stay at her property.

I honestly could and would have made future reservations for my in laws to join us there this summer as some friends and I play golf there while vacating each year, but I will NEVER patronize this facility in any way ever again.

Worst hotel situation I’ve ever been in and I would not recommend this place to anyone ever. The golf course is actually average at best and needs extensive maintenance, especially the cart paths and appearance of the course itself!!!

Fortunately we called a cabin rental place not a mile from Bent Creek and explained our dilemma and the reservation specialist with the cabin rentals let us know that she has heard over and over again how horrible the Bent Creek Resort treats people and she offered a cabin with everything we needed for less than Bent Creek wanted for 2 nights and gave us a 3rd night free out of the goodness of her heart!!!

Customer Service is crucial and the property manager at Bent Creek is the worst I’ve ever dealt with!!!!

Stay away from...

I stayed here for 3 days/2 nights as a regular guy just for a weekend to visit the Smokey Mountains. I booked this one as it was the cheapest Hilton hotel in the area at the time I booked it, I try to stick with one hotel chain to keep accumulated rewards points with one chain.

I'll start off by saying I rate this hotel an easy 5/5, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and wouldn't hesitate to come back again when in this area. It's extremely quiet, the layout keeps guests semi spaced out, and there's quite a bit on the property to do, such as an indoor AND outdoor pool, game room, 2 Weber gas grills, and of course, golf.

I booked my stay here through a travel agency app and didn't think much about it, I saw the name Hilton and gave myself a thumbs up. Turns out this is a Hilton Vacation Club location, which didn't seem to affect my stay at all negatively, I was actually treated as if I was someone special throughout my stay. They called me prior to arrival to see when I would arrive, called me Mr. Bennett always, called my room phone after getting settled to make sure everything was good, texted me the 2nd day to see how everything was, and were just very polite overall. I'm nobody special, just an average Joe that booked a room like any other, but they try to make you feel so.

The room itself was on the 2nd floor, which was just a set of stairs I parked right out in front of so easy to get my things up there. There's a washer/dryer right in the room which worked excellent, the bed was very comfortable, and the shower water pressure was insanely good. Each upper floor room has a balcony, and the lower floors have a porch.

Now here's where it was a bit interesting. I ended up locking myself out of my room at one point a bit later in the afternoon, just as it got dark as my key wouldn't work. I went to the office to get a new one, and while one worker was getting me a new one, another worker started talking to me about going to a "presentation" where I'll get a gift for attending. Long story short, I agreed to this presentation for XX,000 Hilton Points the next morning. I've X'd the amount, but it was 5 figures and what I thought was actually significant. The next morning I go to the presentation, which was in a building just on the edge of the property, and listened to one gentleman speak for 1 hour, where he said we(there were 6 of us total, consisting of 4 parties) would then be handed off to the sales team for further discussion. Turns out it was my lucky day and there weren't enough sales people to talk to me, I got my Hilton Points and was able to leave without any pushy sales conversations. The presentation is to buy into Hilton Grand Vacations, and after Google searches, costs WAY more than I would ever consider spending.

Overall, solid hotel. Just be aware it's a bit different than a normal Hilton hotel, and you may be asked to listen to the presentation if you're a "normal" traveler...