Holiday Inn Club Vacations Smoky Mountain Resort

We attended a Holiday Inn two hour time share presentation at the Smokey mountain resort which we thought was our hotel, but our room was actually at the Gatlinburg Holiday Inn express which is a CONNECTED building to this hotel. After the presentation, we had legitimate reasons and declined the package. Another salesman presented a latitude program. at that time I asked him if we were able to use the facilities i.e. hot tub, pool, etc. at this Smokey mountain location and he said of course you can. We agreed to purchase this latitude program of $1500 to have an eight day seven nights stay at another holiday inn Resort within the next 24 months. We spent the rest of the day in Gatlinburg planning on going back and using the facilities at the Smoky Mountain resort on our return, little to find out we are not allowed to use those. The manager said the Smoky Mountain resort is small and for owners, it would be a liability. BUT If you are staying at the Smoky Mountain resort you can use the Gatlinburg, Holiday Inn express, splash pad, and pool, which once again is a CONNECTED building. They have no credibility they tell lies to get you to purchase packages.

HIG travel club is a scam! I was called two days ago told about a four night three day for free for one of their travel clubs. I told him I cannot commit because I had not talked to my husband told me that basically it was refundable and that I could get my money back if he didn't want to go. This was a LIE. CHARGED MY CARD AT $250. SPENT 45 MINUTES OF MY DAY FIGHTING WITH SOME GUY NAMED CHRISTIAN WHO WAS TREATING ME AS A CRIMINAL! The guy should be in collections not customer service. He talked over me was disrespectful told me basically too bad that the money was not coming back to me. Insisted that they listen to the recording and then they did refund my money but I swear, I will never stay at a HIG PROPERTY AGAIN! I STAYED AT AN HIG PROPERTY , CROWNE PLAZA ATLANTA,AND I GOT $150 CHARGE ON MY CREDIT CARD DURING THAT STAY BECAUSE THEY SAID I ATE $150 WORTH OF FOOD and BEVERAGE . FOUR SEPARATE MEALS I WAS CHARGED FOR, I WAS BY MYSELF! WHICH I DID NOT PARTAKEN, I DID NOT EVEN EAT AT THEIR HOTEL. EVENTUALLY THEY DID NOT CHARGE ME BUT TOOK 2 DAYS OF CALLING THE HOTEL TO DISPUTE. NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE!

Warning!!!! Do not purchase a Holiday Inn Vacation Package from these people. It ended up costing me over $800 for a 3 night stay at a Holiday inn Express. We traveled 600 miles to this destination and they refused to let us take the tour because my wife forgot her identification. This company is a joke.

Stay away from IHG Vacations, it is deceiving and high pressure. They deceive you when making the reservation, that it is like other holiday inn reservations and you CANNOT GET A REFUND. It is a horrible deception. They will come on the phone after making a typical Holiday Inn reservation pressure you to use it and you are stuck with the few average locations in TN, AZ and FL. I am a GOLD ELITE CUSTOMER and they are not providing a refund. THE WORST trickery I've ever experienced by any organization. I wanted to resolve it and keep using them, but due to poor service, I will cancel my IHG credit card and stop using Holiday Inn.

I was called by a holiday inn club vacations with a “special offer”. We all know what that means. However it seemed so good put $200 down and get $200 back in cash for a three night stay in Gatlinburg in the holiday club vacation hotel. Wow I love to hike with my wife so let’s take a free hotel stay. There is just one catch you need to go to a two hour presentation during your stay. But it will be at a convenient time for you. No big deal I thought a little work for a free hotel stay. Well then I tried to book the stay. Oh your don’t stay in the Holiday inn club vacation. That is just where the tour is. Well okay and also you will have to stay in Sevierville which is like a half hour from the Holiday inn with the tour. I was able to finally get a hotel closer. Does the hotel have cribs for my baby? I asked. And the agent replied they do. Time to book the tour. Oh not really at your convenience the only available time we have is 2pm which is horrible if you want to spend the day in the Smokey mountains as it is smack in the middle of the day. Okay but when arrive it’s not the nicest hotel in the world but okay it’s free. They don’t have a crib and the check in staff is nasty about it. I have to go buy a crib on top of paying the “fees” of the hotel so much for it being free. They told me it was in the fine print to which I say they ain’t no fine print on a telephone call which is where they sold this to me. Now for the tour in the middle of my day of hiking. We have to sit one on one with a guy who is trying really hard to sell you something that is not worth what he says it is for two whole hours. Than when he can’t sell you on it he brings his manager to sell you as well. When that doesn’t work they bring a third salesman to sell you on a “come back and hear it again” retreat. What a waste of time. They did in the end reimburse me the original $200 but in no way was this free. Monetarily emotionally or any other way. Bottom line the package is totally not worth while unless you plan on staying in the 20 holiday inn club vacation hotels. Even if you do they are not free stays as you pay over $2000 a year just to have 200,000 points a year plus a booking fee every time you book a room plus a membership fee and another fee. Which in simple terms means your points are worth about 2 to 2.5 cents per point and if on average a room is 6500 points per night you are paying at least $65 a night per room. (This math is done by dividing the amount you spend a year to have the points by how many points you get). This is very far from free. Not only that the $2000 is subject to change with inflation obviously. Now you might think $65 a night doesn’t sound to bad. But add this in if you transfer the points out of ihg club vacations which has 20 hotels now your points aren’t necessarily worth the same amount. It may now cost you $200 a night. Also your hotel stay is $65 a night only if you use all your points because you pay $2000 regardless. On top of a

Very nice accommodations. Rooms have what you need. Staff is friendly. Had maintenance come up a couple of times due to issues with fridge and toilet. They responded quickly and fixed the issue. Walking distance to the action of the downtown area. Parking is free.

Really nice resort overall. We stayed in a two bedroom two bath villa with two kids. The price was great and the pools were well cleaned. My two year old daughter enjoyed the small indoor water park area. I was not impressed with the shady sales tactics at check in (per other people’s reviews too). I was prepared for it, but when I went over to get my keys from the timeshare representatives, the woman kept bombarding me despite the fact I told her we weren’t interested several times. We tend to stay at IHG resorts when we travel. We use credit card points for one night stays (usually 2-3 per year) and then I tend to book through IHG for week long vacations once a year or every other year. The woman had the nerve to ask me, “What level are you?” And I replied, “Platinum Elite.” To which she responded, “Well if you don’t travel how did you get to Platinum Elite status?” Honestly that is none of your dang business. And then she asked, “Oh so you use the credit card. Well I can get you more benefits by purchasing some packages…” I had already said we weren’t interested in spending more money to purchase packages or any timeshares. We’re a few days into our trip and I’m honestly still salty about how the check in went down that I will probably choose to stay somewhere else next time we come to Gatlinburg. There’s other beautiful places to stay in the area that probably don’t bombard you with sales tactics like this one did. Otherwise the resort is very nice and location is great. Like I said I was prepared for people to bombard with sales as I read others reviews, but even being prepared really irritated me with how this woman treated me.

Purchased the package for a particular date (in 1.5month) where the representative said no blackout dates. And can be booked any time. When contacted the reservation team they said minimum 3 month prior you have to book. I said it doesn't say that in the policy. She had nothing to say. And wouldn't connect me with anyone else.

The one-bedroom apartment was exactly what I wanted - a private place, in the heart of Gatlinburg, that I can use as a home away from home after business meetings in the area. There were some things that I really appreciated - Great wifi, dishwasher, great supply of dishes, cookwear, and utensils. There is also a washer and dryer in the one bdrm that I appreciated as well as dishwashing & washing detergent. The main ***** was a short 5 minute walk away. it was like having a private apartment with the convenient of hotel amenities. There are a couple of things that were not as great. My fireplace did not work and the style was dated. - but these didn't change my experience at all. HOWEVER! there was one thing that great challenged my experienced - the gross sales tactics at check-in. When you arrive, you check in at reception, but after check in, you HAVE to walk over to another desk to collect the keys to your room. You don't simply get the keys at check-in. The reason? So the hotel can try to upsale you into buying shares with the resort. The lady tried to give me $160 towards live events in the area, but I just wanted to check into my room. She then offered me $200 in cash and really put the pressure on in an uncomfortable way. Again, I insisted that I simply wanted my keys to decompress in my room. It really felt like my keys were held hostage and I couldn't get my keys until I listened to all of her offers. When I didn't bite at her attempts, I got a long, cold, key processing time that I really could have lived without. It resulted in me avoiding the entrance area for the rest of my stay, preferring instead to enter and exit through another side door of the hotel. It.was.just.awkward. I go to Gatlinburg twice a year. This was my first time at this hotel. Because of this experience alone, the likelihood of my return is pretty low.