Econo Lodge Pigeon Forge Riverside

Consistently friendly and helpful staff, convenient central location near the island and river walk path, and well-maintained, clean rooms are highlighted. No notable disadvantages mentioned.

The front desk staff were incredibly rude, on several occasions to several different people. Upon check in they were sparky and belittling a couple of women because they reserved rooms in different buildings. A separate worker checked me in, never looked up from her computer and just handed me a map with my hotel number circled. Within the same 10 mins another person checked in and asked what the breakfast options were the front desk commented " not enought for you?". When my mother inquired reserving another night "Laura" told her she couldn't use her points on a weekend and made her call the Choice line. The person in the phone told her that she could because of her choice status and proceeded to book the room over the phone. When my mother relayed this information to " Laura" she laughed and said they booked the Econo down the street and that their Evona would never be that cheap and that "they didnt associate with that one". Because of her attitude my mother kept the other reservation and when she told "Laura" we would just go to the other location, "Laura" laughed and waved at her. When I made coffee in the lobby the next morning I told the desk that our carpet felt damp around the air conditioner and they suggested it was because of humidity. The room had smelled weird but it looked old and I just assumed it was normal. Over the 2 night stay the smoke smell grew as did the dampness and stickness of the carpet. When I woke up on the last morning the room was muggy. I informed "Bob" at the front desk and was told maintenance would be up when we left. The breakfast staff was the nicest workers I encountered but the food offerings were cold and several dishes remained uncovered the entire time i was there. Every area of the hotel smells like cigarette smoke. The dining area smelled like it where we ate. The pool area and the bathroom next to it was particularly bad. Our room had traces of it as well but was masked by the smell of the air conditioner breaking down. I called the front desk and asked to speak to the manager about our issues. I was told she was at the bank and to leave her a message....she called and left a voicemail 4 days later and said she was "interested in my side of the story" Never Again! We did indeed go to the other Econo Lodge. While we were hesitant on arrival when we're pleasantly surprised to find the front desk staff incredibly kind and the room was more updated and bigger then it's exspensive counterpart.

We had wanted to stay at this location for quiet some time. So when the opportunity came up we was thrilled to get to go. Well it all went downhill at check in. My wife is in handicapped and needs a roll in shower. We booked the "mobility accessible" room with the river view. According to the pics of the room it was exactly what we needed. We checked in and went to the room where we discovered that it did not have a roll in shower but a tub shower combo with hand rails. I went back to the front desk and told them that they had put us in the wrong room and this is when we was informed that they did not have handicap accessible rooms with the roll in shower with the river view. I told them that I had called more than once to verify the room / reservation and he basically called me a liar. I brought this to the attention to the day shift manager the next day and she told me that I should of clicked on the little link that describes what is in the room. I told her that they should have accurate pics of the room when someone views the room they are reserving. Her only response was "sorry". They have since updated the pics for that room. You can't see the bathroom now. They wanted to change us to a room with a street view. That is not what we wanted nor reserved. We decide to keep the room that we was originally given. We went to Walmart and bought a slip resistance rug for my wife to use when getting in and out of the shower. Thanks be to God it worked out without her falling getting in and out of the shower. I called the customer care line when we got home and they was really generous (sarcasm). They credited our account a few hundred points to go towards another stay. Also if you want to eat the same thing every day for breakfast then their breakfast should be right up your alley. But dont expect to heat anything up, there is no microwave in the eating area. We had looked forward to this trip because we dont get to get away much. But this was one we wish we had to do over. Definately will be staying somewhere else next time.