Hilton Vacation Club Laurel Crest Pigeon Forge

The resort is getting old and run down. The fireplace pilot light keeps going out, and the bathroom door won’t close, apparently because the building is settling. Although the resort says it has elevators, our assigned room had no elevator access, so we had to carry our luggage down a flight of stairs. The Important Notes gave no indication that some rooms aren’t accessible by elevator. I spoke with the assistant general manager, but it was a waste of time and they were very disrespectful. I’ve been coming here for more than 20 years, but this may be my last visit. I wouldn’t recommend it to family or friends.

I was surprised they’ve mostly finished rebranding from Bluegreen Vacations, even though they’d just completed a new property next door. The room was very nice and clean for its age. It only needed a few repairs, not a full renovation.

The room was clean, and the staff were nice. We had trouble with the fireplace, which set off the CO2 alarm, but otherwise the stay was great. Parking around buildings 6-8 can be tricky if you get back after dark. We’ll stay again.

The front desk and most of the other staff were decent and friendly enough. The internet, though, was painfully slow, under 1mb of bandwidth, so you could barely do anything online. Since this is a timeshare company with a built-in group of customers, it seems like there’s little reason for them to improve things or keep up with standards at other lodging options. It was okay, but that’s my impression.