A Fishing Hole #156

We rented this cabin December 24-28, and at $919 for Christmas week, I felt we were overcharged for the quality. It’s starting to show its age and needs refreshing, especially the kitchen and bathrooms. The beds were all extremely hard, and the bedspreads on both king beds looked and felt dirty, so we didn’t want to sit on them. The cabin also needed a better cleaning before we arrived. In one bedroom, we found a rodent or roach trap, which startled us, though thankfully we didn’t see any pests. There were six of us, four adults and kids aged 10 and 13. The kitchen had plenty of dishes, pots, and silverware, but the island’s three bar stools were the wrong size. There’s also a dining table with six chairs, and a large living room with a fireplace. The master has a king bed and a separate sitting area, and the other first-floor bedroom has a king bed too. Both bedrooms and the guest bathroom are downstairs. The toilet in that bathroom, where the washer and dryer are also kept, was slow and clogged twice. Two plungers beside it made us think this may be a recurring problem. Upstairs is an open loft with a bed, pool table, mini kitchen, bar, and table. There’s no privacy there because the bed is out in the open. The bedroom TVs are old, bulky models. The wraparound porch is nice and has seating, though some chairs need replacing. There’s an old working hot tub and a round Weber grill that was filthy and past its best. We only used the grill for s’mores. The cabin has free Wi-Fi. They left only 1.5 rolls of toilet paper and two paper towel rolls, so bring more if you need it, along with foil, Saran Wrap, or baggies. It takes around 20-25 minutes to drive to Pigeon Forge and about 35 minutes to Gatlinburg. The RE/MAX office in town manages the place, but it was very hard to get answers to general questions by phone. Then, on the way home, we noticed an extra $135 charge. When we asked about it, they said the grill hadn’t been emptied. Unbelievable, especially since we’d just bought the owner a brand-new grill. We won’t be back.