The "EGS" Effect

1. “We just returned from a week in Pigeon Forge. Our stay was a disappointment. There was lots of construction noise and traffic noise. Our cabin lacked privacy. Our Jacuzzi was on the back porch in view of five other cabins. The front deck had a view of the road in front, and the cabin next door. It lacked my past experiences of privacy in other cabins located near the Great Smokey Mountains. The cabin was very clean and pet friendly. The cabin gave us the feel of a subdivision it lacked the privacy and quiet we were looking for. No walking trails near by.”

2. “WOW! This is a BEAUTIFUL place! The cabin we stayed in (actually, they all looked the same) was very nice, decorated nicely, very clean...most of the amenities you would have at home. The worst part was the drive up and down the mountain. These cabins are located AT LEAST 30 minutes+ from town...I mean a real town- The road is a mountain road, lots of twists and turns, some VERY severe! There is barely room for two cars to pass each other, and god help you if a truck or RV is coming the other way! There are a lot of Pigeon Forge Cabin Rentals you can stay in, and they all look the same- (they are all up for sale it seems too.) Did I mention your cell phone will not have any reception up on the mountain? All in all it was a nice week to get reconnected with family and friends, but I would not stay in this cabin again, the drive is too much :)”

3. “We go often to the Smokies and have stayed in Pigeon Forge Cabin Rentals from various rental companies. We have had varied but always pleasant experiences with these Pigeon Forge Cabin Rentals, that is until now. The cabin was about 10 miles out of Pigeon Forge and very remote, but we would have been okay with that, if we had received nice accommodations. The road in was very rough and had we not had 4-wheel drive, I don't think we could have made the journey, especially after it started raining. The gravel was washed away and the road was rutted. The cabin was run-down and had obviously had leaks in the past. The leaks had been fixed but the interior was stained and there was mold, dust and mildew in several places. Neither the front nor back door would latch properly because the cabin had settled so badly. The bathroom door drug and would barely close. The floor in the main room was buckled and uneven to walk over and the bathroom floor was rotting and falling thru. There was mouse and rat baits under the kitchen sink and mouse droppings everywhere. We never saw any mice in the cabin, but heard them in the walls. On two different nights, their squeaking and scratching woke us up! We knew there was no satellite or cable TV, but expected to be able to get a few local channels and to have a working DVD player. WRONG. There were rabbit ears and if we pointed them just right and stood in just the right position, we could get a few fuzzy local stations. The DVD player wasn't even hooked up. We did find the cord to hook it up only to discover the picture playing through the DVD player was black and white. The so-called furnished kitchen was poorly furnished (3 plates, 2 forks, no skillet, etc). It is the only furnished cabin we have ever rented where I washed EVERYTHING before using it. The kitchen clothes and towels were stained and ragged. There were several bath towels (also well worn) but no hand towels for the bathroom. The handle was loose on the bathroom sink fixture. The shower was tiny. This was a one-room cabin that was touted as a "honeymoon" or "romantic getaway" cabin and the whirlpool tub was in the main room, yet the blinds were see through. We have had many pleasant cabin rental experiences in the Great Smokey Mountains, but this was not one of them.”

4. “In October, 2006 my family took a trip to the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge area and stayed in a cabin. While the Pigeon Forge Cabin Rentals were practically brand new and very nice, our experience with the management company was not. These Pigeon Forge Cabin Rentals are pretty expensive and we had expectations that were not met. Several small things like no gas in the tank on the gas grill (we realized that as we were preparing dinner!) The gas logs in the indoor/outdoor fireplace were not working because the gas to them had not been hooked up yet. No mention of that when we booked the cabin. And we had to ride 7 miles down the mountain to get to the rental office to exchange our empty gas tank. Those problems were small compared to the major one that impacted our entire weekend! My mother, who is unable to climb stairs, was traveling with us and I had made several phone calls to the rental office and spent a great deal of time on their website months in advance to find a cabin with a ground level entrance. The lady in their rental office assured me that the one we selected had a ground level entrance - as the photos on the website indicated. When we arrived at the cabin, were were devastated to see that the only entrance to the house required climbing 13 or 14 steps. It took three men to get my mother up and down those steps all weekend. When we checked out, I expressed my disappointment with the office manager and the only response I got was an apology that the young lady I spoke with didn't really check out the house for me - as she said she did - to verify the entrance. The Gatlinburg area was beautiful and we will return one day; but we won't be staying at that rental management company’s cabin.”

5. “This was the worst experience I've ever had in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area. It's been nearly four years since I stayed there, and I'm still angry about how we were treated. Four of us stayed in one of the Pigeon Forge Cabin Rentals. The hot tub wasn't working and there were white flakes all over the floor, so we asked to be moved to a different cabin. We were yelled at for requesting it and told that the brochure said there was a hot tub, not a "working" hot tub. After several hours of complaining, we finally got to go to a different cabin. One complimentary robe was missing when we arrived, but we didn't really care. All went well until I got home. I then received threatening phone calls from management saying that we had trashed both cabins and that they were going to call the police. I was told we had thrown garbage all over the floors, written on the mirrors with soap and stolen a robe. None of this was true, but my credit card was still charged an extra $200 for "extra cleanup". I know this must have been in response to our request to be moved, but nobody should be treated like this. I'd stay home before I'd go back to that rental management company.”

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