Holiday Inn Club Vacations Smoky Mountain Resort

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.

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!

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

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.