Smoky Mountain Chalet Rentals — Local services in Gatlinburg

STEER CLEAR

Update: We were never reached out to, or compensated for this. BUYER BEWARE

This would have been a wonderful Family Vacation location and cabin, but without electricity, poor cleanliness, AND poor customer service I am recommending look elsewhere!

Upon arrival the cabin appeared to be clean but further inspection when we regained power on the last day, we came to realize it was not.

With no cleaning supplies, it is clear nothing was sterilized to COVID-19 standards, let alone basic hygiene standards. We vacuumed when we regained power on the last day to find it filled to the brim with unknown animal hair, unable to be used it was so clogged, once it was emptied, it seemed as though the floors hadn't been cleaned in weeks, they were so dirty.

On the first night of our four-night stay, we lost power due to unforeseen circumstances. We are TN natives, so we are understanding of the weather being an issue. However, there were no precautions whatsoever in this kind of situation. Unfortunately to lose power this early in our stay we were forced to only have one fireplace to keep 13 people (3 children under the age of 5) warm. On the final night we did not have power the only room with a fireplace was warm, every other room was uninhabitably cold. Only hot water in the upstairs master bedroom was provided in the dark.

We were well prepared to stay in this cabin with 5 days of food, we were not prepared to not be able to cook the food to feed said 13 guests.

No candles, or flashlights were provided which is strange because when we finally reached the owners due to having no Wi-Fi or phone service, they seemed as though they knew this could happen. If you know things like this would happen, why would you not have provisions for paying guests? There was no kind of disclaimer there may not be power in inclement weather. No basic necessities were provided such as cleaning supplies (in the midst of a pandemic, this is very alarming even for basic hygiene, let alone during a major worldwide sickness). We were forced to use our phones as lights for the better part of three days, which subsequently we could not keep charged. The driveway was iced over, making it unsafe for travel to get to provide these basic provisions for ourselves. Female owner was rude and unprofessional, calling us liars about the status of the cabin power, when we simply relayed what we were going through, that "they were dealing with the same thing" and "[her] son lives up there and already had power" (not sure how this is professional to use as an excuse) I can’t help but know they did not pay $4,068.41 with a cleaning fee of $168 to spend three days without the power!

We had a great time regardless, but we certainly did not get our money worth during this stay. We can only surmise the owners have no intentions of compensating us for these hardships as we requested to speak with someone on this matter and were never contacted back. Even with this being considered an interruption in our stay. We would have left had the driveway been safe to travel down, no salt or shovels were provided to aide in this.

We had one full day of power in a 5-day, 4-night stay. We are disappointed in the service provided.

I understand these circumstances do not happen all of the time, but when they do they need to be handled and not ignored.

When asking for compensation because we did not receive the goods/services we thought we were paying for we were ignored and are continuing to seek...

I am not giving this company any stars I am totally disgusted with the treatment we received from this company. We traveled 10 hours to arrive at a cabin that was being worked on we were told come back in a few hours and y'all can get settled in. We left took this as an opportunity to get something to eat we arrived several hours later, within 30 minutes of getting back to the cabin, we lost power. Still no big deal, yet we hung out fell asleep wake up the next morning still no power. The problem is we can't flush the toilet, take baths, WE HAVE NO LIGHTS, NO RUNNING WATER!!!! Okay we drove 10 hours to have primitive living conditions at the end of May with 2 young children and not to mention on my birthday. Okay so we politely call the owner of the cabin for him to tell us sorry there is nothing I can do to help, we ask do you possible have any other rentals available that may have power? NOPE AND THE PHONE DISCONNECTED!!!!! UMMMM HELLO!!! We are not from around here we are only here for a few days what options do I have at this point? The next 6 hours we haven't showered yet, we are hot, we try to make the best of it while searching the internet for other options to find an available cabin or hotel to spend the remaining few days. We find womthing else across town, call the owner of the original cabin and explain we will be leaving the cabin to another one and would like for him to refund our money and he tells us sorry can't do that but you can file a claim with your vacation insurance. Okay again we hang up try to call the 24/7 phone number and guess what they are closed in observation of Memorial Day!!!! Yep my luck continues we can call Tuesday and try to get our money back, over $1000 on my charge card, we find something else and pay another $1000 for remaining stay at another place and 7 months later still no refund from smoky mountain chalet; tried to file with insurance company and the owner disputed the claim, contacted capital one they in turn contacted the owner who is again disputing the charges!!!!! So next step we were advised our only other option would be to file it in small claims court! Really that's what type of customer service I have to deal with being I from New Orleans, it's not like I can actually drive to represent myself or be present during a hearing in small claims court! I am totally disgusted with this place and I will make sure everyone and every opportunity I have in social media with be aware of how we were...

Where to start? I guess it would only be fair to list the good before the not-so-good of Serenity Cabin. The interior of the cabin is awesome! If I were to build a cabin, this would be, almost, the exact layout I would use; very roomy, very open design. There is plenty of space in the kitchen and lots of open floor space for much more, though unnecessary, furniture. The stairs are pleasantly wide and deep and none of the floors creak when walked on. It is very obvious that someone cared about quality when this cabin was built; now if only there were a downstairs bathroom, oh well. The bed is big and comfortable, and if you like firm pillows, you’re in luck. The cabin was clean and there were plenty of towels and linens provided. Kudos also to the location: easy to find, close enough to all the local attractions, yet isolated from all the distractions. Thank goodness there was no ice or snow on the road as the final drive up to the cabin is very steep. I’ll finish the good with the hot tub. My wife and I truly enjoyed using it every night. The outside temps were in the 20s to 30s and we basked in the glorious heat of the tub and it’s massaging jets for an hour each night. There seemed to be a few jet nozzles from the bottom of the tub missing, as there were threaded openings pumping streams of water, but no adjustable nozzle as with the rest of the jets. Ah, but alas, the nits: I am somewhat picky. Though a beautiful place to visit, it seems lacking in attention to preparation details as a rental. Though there is an awesome, quality pool table, it is not level. Every shot drifts toward the kitchen as it slows. Though two cues are provided, one has a broken tip, leaving it unusable. The coffee maker is missing its filter basket; be ready to improvise. The ice maker doesn’t, but tries mightily, and noisily. The Internet might as well not be offered, if you are used to anything faster than dial-up. The fireplace looks like a fireplace, but the grate supplied is for a larger fireplace, rendering it unusable, which really didn’t matter since the wood supplied, though plentiful, was completely unseasoned and would not burn. We truly enjoyed our stay in this cabin. Minus the nits it was one of our best rental experiences. We have learned not to let the nits kill our joy in being together on our...