Holiday Inn Club Vacations Smoky Mountain Resort

Conveniently located near Gatlinburg attractions, guests appreciate the well-maintained, spacious rooms with great views. They enjoy the diverse shared amenities but find no significant drawbacks mentioned.

My husband was offered a four day, three night stay through IHG vacation club Smokey Mountain resort for $199 in exchange for a 2-hour presentation that we as a couple had to attend. Knowing that we were going to that area to see family we were happy to attend. It is a five hour drive and I travel with a ESA (emotional support animal) when I travel due to anxiety and PTSD. I had called the Holiday Inn Express that we were to stay in (not the facility we were to tour) and made sure that a room for a pet would be available. I was told yes, so we started our trip with our cat and my medications only to arrive and be told we could not have a cat there. I explained that I had called and spoke to a woman and was told that there were rooms for pets available. I offered his paperwork and was told it was not necessary. Our reservation was notated that I had called and was brining a support animal. We were allowed to check in, we were given our paperwork for our tour, we unloaded our truck, and went to get a bite to eat. We received a call almost two hours later to say that we had to leave the hotel. The Holiday Inn Express had contacted the vacation club and stated that we had brought a pet and that we would need to leave with the ESA pet because they were a pet free facility? Why on earth did they let us check in then??? We had a few phone calls and was told that Holiday Inn would not even assist us to find another place to stay. We had to find another place to stay and now it was out of our pocket. We called and we were able to stay at another hotel that we had stayed at before with our pet. The issue was the extremely poor service that was offered by everyone on the phone. No assistance with finding accommodations at 10pm at night, the only offer of our $199 and taxes paid at the IHG express were refunded timely. However we know in Gatlinburg that did not even begin to cover the expenses of another hotel. We were released of our tour while we were there so we were not even given the chance to discuss the pet policies of ADA service pets and ESA pets of the IGH facilities in the area. We have contacted the ADA regarding service animals and ESA pets. We know that the state polices would be followed. We have contacted the TN government level for ADA and ESA rights of patrons and how this is executed even in a pet free facility. Given that service dogs are accommodated, could not one night be offered in order to find other accommodations in the morning? The entire situation was very upsetting. So much for bringing an ESA pet for travel anxiety, I had to have him with me for the entire trip just to manage my emotions due to our experience just on arrival.

Overall it was an excellent stay. Indoor pool was cold. Indoor hot tub was pretty dirty whenever we tried to go down. Other than that, it was a great stay. The rooms are very nice!