Bluegreen Vacations Blue Ridge Village, an Ascend Collection Resort

We never got reliable access to our own room during our three-night stay. Every time we returned, we had to wait for staff or security to let us in, which was especially stressful with our child and disrupted our plans. The location is convenient, and the staff were polite while helping, but the access problem was never fixed, so the experience was unacceptable. When we arrived in the evening, our keys didn't work. The front desk let us in with a master key and said they'd replace the lock batteries the next morning. After a day out, we came back that night and found nothing had changed. We waited around 10 minutes for security, and later someone said the lock box was “working as expected,” even though our keys kept failing. They offered to move us to another room late at night, but our 5-year-old was asleep, so that wasn't practical. We felt stuck in the room, since stepping out meant risking getting locked out again. Security came by several times to test keys without solving it. On another return in the early evening, the keys still failed. Staff took them from us, leaving us with no working keys at all. We even had to ask for help to get back into the room from the pool. We paid for a room we couldn't enter on our own at any point. Near the end of the stay, the living room curtains suddenly fell and hit my child as he walked underneath. We had to hang a blanket over the window for privacy. We asked for maintenance, but security arrived instead and couldn't fix the curtains. After we left, I tried to contact the hotel and was told to speak with Bluegreen Vacations. Bluegreen has never replied to my calls or emails.

The place was beautiful, quiet, and not crowded at all. We stayed a few days, and I loved the area it’s in. Nice rental with plenty to do!

If you get an upstairs unit with nobody above you, this place could be great. The beds were really comfortable, and the location is hard to beat, about a 5 minute drive to sugar mountain ski, right by a food lion for groceries, and minutes from downtown banner elk with great food. But our 1 bedroom was on the bottom floor, and the people above us were still walking around at 2am with a dog barking. Their living room and kitchen seem to be right over the bedroom. After skiing all day we were exhausted, and I could hear their conversations, footsteps, and creaking floors. Trying the broom on the ceiling did nothing. I called the office, but it was closed until 7:30. I had to get up in 3 hours for a 13 hour drive home, so I knew I’d be exhausted for that too. They should put carpets upstairs to soften the footsteps and noise. We won’t stay here again because we couldn’t sleep and couldn’t get help from the office. There was no DVD player, even though they said there was one. The photos also need updating. The front office isn't a log cabin, it’s a brand new building, and that made it confusing to tell if we had arrived at the right place. Be considerate if you’re staying in a unit above someone.

Most of the resort has been redone, with modern rooms and newly paved roads. There's a new heated indoor pool, plus an unheated outdoor one for summer, and a fishing pond with paddle boats and kayaks. Some of the outdoor extras still need updating, but it's a very nice place. We'll be back for sure. Actually, maybe don't come, we want to keep it our little secret 😎