River Terrace Resort & Convention Center

My entire experience here was horrible; let’s start off with the 4pm check-​in time actually being 5pm because they ran late. We requested a crib in our room and they provided us with a play pen that we had to set up ourselves, but couldn’t because it was broken. There were two wet spots in the carpet; one in the front center of the room beyond the foyer, the second was a huge puddle, basically, at the sliding glass door leading into the balcony. The sink in the bathroom is on the verge of falling off of the wall and there is virtually no water pressure at all! The shower was dirty, with green stuff around the caulking and the AC unit was ancient and would squeal when you set it on high. The walls are paper thin so I was able to hear the neighbors snoring through the wall. All in all, this place was so bad, my husband and I left a day early so that we can go home and take a decent shower in our own bathroom and not be afraid that our kid was going to get sick from how nasty the place was. Oh, and don’t eat at their restaurant there unless you want a cleansing of your insides because that totally happened on my first night there. Screw this place! Oh, and that puddle is still there, soaking wet, never dried!

This review is a little pre-​mature as we’re enjoying a glorious spring morning over-​looking the majestic smokies on morning 1 of 3 that we’ll awake to this rustic mountain town that we enjoy dragging our kids through both the crowded, delicious eateries, as well as to the trails, parks and shows, but I have confidence it’ll stand.
Location-​location, location is superb. I understand some negative reviews may’ve been valid, but it seems to me it was timing/​bad ju-​ju. The staff has corrected problems here and handled some tough questions from me with both professionalism and the type of concern that you’d expect from a resort. The building’s exteriors have the feel of a clean, well manicured property, certainly with older buildings, but well cared after. You’ll have a hard time finding a better place to spend less than a Benjamin for a room this close to so much mountain energy and entertainment.
Of course– if they had flat screens and the type of interior décor you’d find at a Category 3 and up Marriott you’d pay 2x/​3x. The property is well managed, the staff is caring and professional and the rooms work. Morning 1 is perfect.

Bed Bugs and more Bed Bugs… I stayed there between 3÷23÷2016 and 3÷26÷2016. It was a most unpleasant experience. Everything from the outdated smelly rooms with broken equipment to the unpleasant, uncaring and rude staff. They trick you buy showing a picture of the new lobby but the rest is a dump. When I complained about my bites, they just sent house keeping and they claimed, they searched and found nothing. I kept showing the new bites on my face, neck and arms and finally they sent a professional who found them. They did offer me some free lunch and dinner but then they implied that I should stop complaining. They comped me for only one of the rooms I had even though they were two rooms connected together by an open door with people and baggage moving back and forth. The staff was snickering behind our backs and were very unpleasant to us and nasty. We called the general manger but sent an assistant who was most tone deaf to our concerns. This made us think that this was a common problem there and therefore their lack of tact and concern. I asked to be compensated for dry cleaning and laundry services but the manager suggested that we should run it through a drier and that wasn’t his problem. What a nightmare. It ruined our vacation. Cost is a lot of money and had to be put through hell.
I am ok with finding bed bugs but I wasn’t ok with the way we were treated. Please, make yourself a favor and keep away. The rooms are not worth it and the staff treat you like crap and are very unprofessional.

The reviews on
made this look ok for the price so I went to the actual website and they had a book early special that beat the other website, so I booked a river king suite, once we arrived the check in area was very pretty and very clean, then we got to our room. The bathroom was the most unclean I had seen stains on the tub floor, sink being held up by random 2×4’s and the fireplace was missing more than a few stones off it. The bed was extremely uncomfortable and the pillows were just cases, we requested new pillows and they were the same. The location is great you can walk to anything from here but it is a very outdated and very unclean in the rooms, I would not stay here again no matter the price.

We loved it! We got upgraded to a river front Loft suite, two levels and had a beautiful fireplace… Condo is a big outdated but the space made up for it. Gatlinburg is a very unique town, it’s 10 min from the National Park and has whisky tasting and 300 thousand other activities in downtown. If you are driving back from the National Park to the town or hotel, Do NOT take River road! Traffic merges into this street and it becomes a parking lot… Take Parkway (the main road) instead, it will save you at least 20−30min stuck in traffic… This hotel is walking distance to Restaurants and Moonshine tastings…

Worst experience ever!!! Old, dirty, ice machines don’t work– the employees are worthless and lazy and not accommodating! Will never stay here again! The pictures online are deceiving!

The location is great. You can walk anywhere from the hotel. The staff is super friendly and the views are nice. Don’t expect to have new things since you can obviously tell that the hotel has been here for quite some time. However it’s affordable and comfortable. Trust me you will spend more time walking around than in your room. :)

My wife and I stayed here for a quick trip to gatlinburg and I was quite surprised by some of the negative reviews. The staff here is immensely friendly and willing to help, with the restaurant serving good food and drinks. Let it be known: this hotel is not a new hotel, which is synonymous with the condition of almost everything in gatlinburg. It is slightly dated, but everything works like it should. Also for the price and location, I would STRONGLY recommend this hotel. If you’re looking for a brand new hotel with flat screens and new everything, not only are you looking at the wrong hotel, but you’re probably looking at the wrong vacation destination.

The only positive about this «resort» is the location to parkway. I’m definitely glad we bid on
for a deal and ended up paying only $ 60 per night as opposed to the $ 99 they suggest for a standard double. We had a mountain view room which is the only benefit of the room. Gorgeous view of Smokies. Entering the room the scent is what got us first. Very old and stale smelling. 2 double beds were what we ended up with through Priceline, so that was fine, but the beds were terrible! Worlds oldest ‘comforters,’ no support from the beds at ALL, and old wood headboards. I get that this is considered more of a budget hotel, but truthfully anyone having to pay full price for this standard room is being ripped off in my opinion. Bathtub is old and missing some of its paint from the plastic shell, old Box television, a mini fridge that sounds like a good idea, but isn’t working, among others. We had to have our keycards replaced 2 times during a 3 day stay, and we also had some of our sundries thrown away by housekeeping. When I called about the missing toiletries the rep on the phone said we could come down and get some from them and never offered to bring any to us since it was their fault in the first place. But that wasn’t even the worst part. The rep on the phone said she would alert housekeeping of the mistake and apologized to me, but within 2 seconds our room phone rang and I overheard her telling down one else «they could have just went out and got one themselves!» Once she realized it was me, SHE HUNG UP! Like, what the heck? Apparently hotel policy is to throw away guests items with no regard and then turn around and talk smack about them as soon as they hang up the phone. I was shocked and appalled. Needless to say I will never stay here again and will be sure to share my experience on Travelocity, Google and other travel sites to warn potential patrons. Don’t waste the money and don’t expect to be treated with respect!

To start it off we have stayed here before and all I can say going down hill the room smelled and was very outdated way to dark in room some lamps didn’t work the bed was so uncomfortable pillows were almost nonexistent. I’ve seen better sofas in thrift stores it look horrible we did even sit on it. The restaurant was closed the whole time we were there I wished we could have changed hotels but due to two conventions that was impossible and on checkout they never asked how the stay was my guess is they already knew it sucked I know not a good word to use but it best describe stay

Located 1 block off the main road. Within walking distance to everything. Located next to the river, river view rooms have a nice view. I reserved a mountain view room but upon checking in was upgraded to a river view room at no extra charge due to overselling mountain view rooms. The hotel is old and outdated, beds not as firm as I like, bathroom small, a/​c on wall by front door so high up being 5’3 «I couldn’t see the dials. The rooms are clean. Couldn’t hear the traffic once the balcony door closed. It was very quiet. Disappointed the pool was closed and never told it was closed. The restaurant located on the grounds of hotel was nothing to shout about. Had all you can eat breakfast for $ 12 food was not great, its was ok but not worth $ 12! Pancake place 1 block up that seemed to be all the rage, should have tried it out. There was a donut /​coffee shop in the shopping center by the pancake house that had good coffee and donuts smelled amazing! I’m giving 3 stars for location and cleanliness only. Watch out for the high pressure time share salesman in the lobby. Nice guy but NO is not a word he understands well. Didn’t appreciate that at all. I would prefer a little nicer place on my next visit but if I had to I would stay again.

Honestly I don’t know why so many people are complaining about this hotel. We stayed last year and We really enjoyed our stay. The room was clean and really nice. I had no complaints. It was close to everything and the price was great. My children especially loved feeding the ducks and pigeons. They have food dispenser where you can buy food to feed them. The ducks just walk right up to you. All in all we had a great stay and we plan to stay there this year.

Great location. Our room had a big tub, fire place, and a patio. The hotel employees were nice and mostly helpful. The bed was nice in size (we had a king), but not in comfort. It was slightly springy. Also, our toilet flusher was broken & the shower flooded easily. All of which could be easily fixed. For the price & location, it was a pleasant stay.

Great location, good views, large rooms with balcony and they were clean too. Encountered a few bugs but I guess that’s expected for the area. I really like that rooms come with a small kitchen area with fridge, microwave and coffee maker.

This place is older, as many have noted in their reviews, but I would stay here again. Many of the hotels/​motels in this area are older. We had a first floor river view room. It was large and clean, and I definitely liked sitting on the balcony after a night out and listening to the river. The location is excellent, and since it is on a side street it was pretty quiet. The only thing that I wasn’t a fan of was the parking situation. We were advised upon check in that on the weekends the parking lot gets full and sometimes people have trouble finding a place to park when they return to their room. Because of this, we only went out in the car to go to the park, and left it in the lot the rest of the time. The main trolley stop is right around the corner at the Aquarium. The staff was also very nice and informative.

Outdated room décor, uneven broken parking lot made navigation with a wheelchair difficult as well as large hump in the threshold of the door, and steep ramp. It was clean, but we were in the convention center which was a little creepy as it was empty. Wouldn’t stay again.

I usually don’t rate places 1 star, but I have to bring attention to some major issues that were present with this trip to Gatlingburg. First off, I understand that as theirs no real new construction up here, a lot of the hotels are older and could use major renovations, but this room was out of the 70s. I would be ok with it but when coupled with how rough the buildings were, the crazy walk/​climb to get to the buildings that you stay in, it becomes an issue. I could even be ok with that, but when they let a LARGE family reunion group stay on the entire bottom floor of the building we were in and let them party until 1am and be rowdy all night I draw the line. I even took the time to call down to the desk and state that someone needs to do something about it, and I get «sorry, security is at the other site» and nothing’s done. What makes it a truly 1 star experience was when we checked out and I talk to the front desk while the assistant manager is standing their next to her, she asks me how our trip was and I explain and she says sorry. Manager doesn’t acknowledge anything, just her saying sorry.
Well, sorry means ill take my 15 days a year business to another hotel. I’d rather spend more and get proper customer service about resolving an issue than just losing out on sleep every night on a «restful» vacation.

THIS PLACE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT SERIOUS PROBLEMS THAT ARISE NOR THE GUESTS’ SATISFACTION.
When we first arrived, we were pretty content. The husband and I had come up to hike, relax, and rejuvenate-​by hiking. All we needed was a place to sleep and shower, and this, this did that. I pff’d all the negative reviews, whining about the outdated rooms, and i was happy, for the moment. The husband and I realized that the walls were paper thin. We could clearly hear every word of the conversations in the rooms next to us. The first few nights were so bad, but we were awoken around 6:30 a.m. the third morning with the people in the room next to us, screaming/​fighting. Okay, people fight, the worse part though was the last night we were there, a family reunion which arrived that morning, and decided that the parking lot and bottom balcony was a great place to hoot and holler and have a party until 3 a.m. There’s loud, and there’s screaming across the parking lot and from bottom balcony to top balcony. Around 1:00 my husband called the front desk to complain and see if they could send security to calm it down but we were told that security was at another location. The next morning, after 3 hours of sleep, when we were checking out, my husband was relaying the occurrence to the front desk attendant after being asked how our stay was, and it so happened that the manager was standing next to the attendant, putting some paperwork together, and didn’t even look up to acknowledge the issue, apologize… nothing. The manager didn’t care, at all. What kind of establishment has management that cares nothing about customer satisfaction and genuine issues. He told the attendant he did call the desk during the time the loud party was going on, but nothing could be done. My husband is in management himself, and prides himself and his company on customer relations and customer satisfaction.
We’ve stayed in nicer places, that offered free breakfast, and great customer relations for less.
In the end, we could have dealt with an outdated room, but the paper thin walls, riffraff that comes through, and management that doesn’t are about your experience was the killer. Don’t stay here if you care about sleep.

Stayed here for the second year in a row. Got a good deal on the double queen river view room ($ 79/​night). The room was clean and spacious. The view was outstanding. Nothing like having a balcony over the river. The location is wonderful. Everything is close by.
I am not sure why so many people post negative comments. If this place was dirty or awful in any way, I would not stay here year after year. It is definitely not the Ritz Carlton, but it is decent lodging for the budget minded. Plus, after seeing a lot of the creepy hotels in Gatlinburg, River Terrace Resort is a definite improvement.

We were a little nervous staying here after reading the reviews but had no choice since they were the LAST 2 ROOMS IN GATLINBURG for NYE!!! I agree that the hotel was a little outdated but it was very clean, spacious and had the best water pressure! The balcony of our room (building 5) had a great view of the space needle in downtown (where the NYE ball drops) and it was a very short walk into the downtown crowded shopping area.
The bed was comfortable but BRING YOUR OWN PILLOWS. The pillows were flat and difficult to sleep on! They room had a flat screen inside and the other basic amenties and was perfect for an over night stay with a scenic view.
We ate breakfast the next morning at the onsite restaurant which was a buffet style. The price was low ($ 6.95/person) and the food and service was great. The buffet consisted a large fruit bar that was fresh and tasty and a bar of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, potatoes, toast, and some other things!
Overall we were satisfied with our stay, it was older, but what isn’t in Gatlinburg!