Hilton Garden Inn in Gatlinburg, TN

Have stayed at the Hilton a couple times due to their room and hotel cleanliness vs others in Gatlinburg. Still rate them the highest in that category. Unfortunately, during this trip there were some issues. 1). A kid got sick in the pool the day we were to arrive. They had to drain and refill the entire pool which took them several days. Afterwards, the heater clearly was not on as it was an ice bath the final two days and could not be used. They did offer the nearby Hampton Inn pool to us instead. 2) Near the elevator shaft there was a consistent smell of natural gas. Clearly a leak somewhere, although they said the fire department was already out. Did not feel incredibly safe smelling natural gas every time we entered and exited the hotel.

On our morning of check out we went to the breakfast buffet at 7:30am. I came down to Norma (older lady with purple hair) talking badly to another employee about my mom and aunt. I heard this as I walked toward my mom and aunt. As I was walking to my family Norma stopped me aggressively and said you can't walk here. I need your name before you can sit down. I gave them my last name and she said "oh you're with them.." I said yes that's my mom. Pretty sure Norma realized I heard her talking badly about my mom. After speaking with my family I was told there was an "issue" and that I needed to speak with them about the billing. I asked a nice hispanic girl what was wrong and she told me that Norma said we needed to pay before eating. I said we were told that it was added to our room, but if it wasn't that's OK and we could just have it added now since we were checking out. No big deal. Well, Norma came over and very rudely handed me a bill and told me that I needed to pay before I ate. I said ok can this be added to my room instead of me paying with cash or card. She said "that's not my job. You need to go to the front desk and deal with it there." I asked her why she was acting like that and why she said we had to "deal with it" at the desk because it came off very rude and not hospitable. I didn't understand why we were being treated like we were an inconvenience for her. My interaction with her was less than 30 seconds and she was nasty the whole time. It felt very uncomfortable and she made my family feel very unwelcome. I had never felt this way my prior stays, but Norma was not someone I saw my previous stays either, so I'm not sure if there was different management those times. We also saw Norma treating two other families the same way. It was only after I asked Norma for her name that she changed her tune with the other patrons that began sitting for breakfast. Everyone else at the hotel, during our stay, was great. I hate that this negative interaction with Norma resulted in me feeling that a review of this caliber was warranted. I really enjoy your hotel, but I have to say we will not be staying here again. If Norma can't be hospitable to guests then maybe she shouldn't be working in hospitality. We all have bad days. I get that, but she went out of her way to be rude and I'm embarrassed and so upset that my mother and aunt were put through this. All they told Norma was that she might want to speak to me once I came down since the reservation was in my name and they didn't want to tell her the wrong information since I was the one who checked us in 3 days ago. She made them feel extremely uncomfortable to the point they took cash out of their purses to give to her because she was making such a big deal about them eating. Please do something about this. This is not how business should be run and is not how paying guests should be treated. Thank you.

Booked a room online for 3 nights (weeknights) then noticed in small print on hotel page they now charge $15/night for parking. Total bill would have been over $600 for the three nights. Reached out to management via email. No response. Cancelled reservation. Been staying here since hotel opened. Stayed during pandemic when many people were not traveling. Last time we stayed rooms were getting long in tooth, hot tub in room did not work properly. 1. This hotel is not near a major airport. 2. This hotel is not in a major city. 3. This hotel does not provide any transportation. If losing our business is worth $45 (parking for 3 nights) then so be it. We do not need to be nickle and dimed just stay in Gatlinburg. These long time guests will not be back. A lost sale can never be regained.

We selected top floor for a quiet nights rest after a 7 hour drive. Screaming kids until midnight … Called front desk and no help…we’ll move you to another room! REALLY? Hilton’s signature saying is customer satisfaction, “we Will make it right or money returned”! When I mentioned that, the front desk staff person hung up on me! Never had this type of Customer Service ever! Good Luck with any issues here! AND …. Outside fire pit didn’t work…. AND. Room fireplace didn’t work.. AND … Lobby fireplace didn’t work!

$15 parking fee a night! Been staying here 12 years and never paid to park! Never! Not another Hilton Hotel in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge charge to park..this is "INSANE"...I pay $2k to stay a week and now this...their parking lot is huge...WHY?