Island Drive Lodge

My husband and I have stayed here a total of four times. We always spend a single night here before checking into our hotel in downtown Gatlinburg. I gave it five stars because it’s a clean place to stay with comfortable beds. It’s also very reasonably priced making it even better. It’s definitely a no frills kind of place but that’s just fine by me. I would recommend it to any traveler who wants a place to lay his head for a night or two.

We stayed here with a Groupon and almost considered just letting it go because it was NOT what we expected. The beds were clean and slept good, but that’s about all. There was a long hair on the bathroom floor (we both have short hair), there was a top to a small liquor bottle on the floor by the night stand, the toilet looked like it hadn’t been cleaned (there were stains coming down from the rim), there was a dirty penny on the floor in between the beds, there was no ice bucket so we called down to the front desk and was told we could come to the office and pick one up instead of offering to bring one up to us. The wi-​fi was almost NON-​existent. We couldn’t even get on Facebook! Lol! When we went to the front desk to pick up a parking pass, we complained and were told it was because there were a lot of people there and everyone was trying to use it. Really??? I wanted to tell them we’ve been to Orlando many times and it’s just a tad bit bigger than Pigeon Forge and THEY don’t seem to have any problems! They use the word «Island» in their name and mention The Island in their description, this place has NOTHING to do with «THE ISLAND.» It’s old and there are too many nicer places to stay than there.

I’m not much of a complainer but I felt I had to complain a tiny bit here. I’m on am east bound adventure from Austin TX all the way to Yankee land New York, y’all. I stopped here for a few hours of shut eye. Overall it wasn’t bad. The surroundings are effing majestic. But the toilet in my room was wobbly, which is alright, oh, and also I FOUND A USED BANDAID IN THE SHOWER. WTF. So that was a little bit disconcerting. Outside of that the bed was creaky and the girl at the counter wants you to be so impressed with her abilities to microwave skin flap sausage and eggs that she expects a tip. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked food industry my whole life. But I’ve also made some effing phenomenal food and I know what a tip is for. I also know that you don’t set business cards on tables saying that you expect one. That’s trashy af and rude. Maybe preform a service and you’ll get a tip. Better luck next time island drive lodge.

Only stayed one night. The room we stayed in was okay but couldn’t get over the water spot in the ceiling. Really didn’t have ample handicap parking. And room spelled

Just… blah. Old, outdated lodge. Carpet stained, loud air conditioner spewing a funky smell. Large place and loud at night. It is located right in the middle of the «strip». Parking is better than most, large enough lot for our large truck and long trailer. Staff friendly enough.

You certainly get what you pay for here. It certainly doesn’t look like the photos on the hotel website. The furniture in our room was older (but that wasn’t really the problem). Our bathroom looked like it had not been properly cleaned in a long time, our towels had stains on them, my bed sheets had a stain on them, our sink was completely cracked, our ceiling had mold on it (and I believe that’s one of the reasons that I ended up sick, but I’m not going to put all the blame on the mold even though it was gross and shouldn’t have been there). Even the dining area for breakfast was small, crowded, and dirty. The hotel would have a lot of potential if they cleaned it properly, updated some of the furnishings, and of course get rid of the mold.
I did however like the fact that it was right across the street from the island because that made for great entertainment at night.
The staff were also pretty helpful and friendly, and check-​in was quick.
But next time I think I’ll pay the extra money to stay somewhere else. It’s certainly not a place I’d want to stay again.

The location of this place was perfect. It’s nicely located on the main drag with the ability to walk across the street to «The Island» shopping and entertainment area. It was about a 10 minute drive to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The room was clean with no nasty hotel smell, but the bathroom fan was crazy loud. We have small children and resorted to using the light on our cell phones to keep from waking them up when turning on the bathroom light.
Breakfast was pretty good with oatmeal, fresh fruit, cereal, waffles, juice, and biscuits and gravy.
Our only real complaint is we could only access Wi-​Fi in certain locations on the property; our room was not one of those locations. This made planning our activities more challenging. I also could not get cell data in the room, but could get LTE standing in the balcony.
Given the price, we would stay there again.

Negatives of this place
— Wi-​Fi at this place is horrible. It took 3 phone calls and 17 hours to rectify situation with the Wi-​Fi not working. Even when it was corrected the wi-​if kept dropping and was super slow and I was literally 5 doors down from the front office. I rely heavily on having internet for work.
— Woke up at 5am to water gushing down into my washroom from upstairs. (not hotels fault)
Positives of this place
— Quick check in
— Very affordable
— Room was very clean and perfect to my standards
— Location of hotel is perfect, right in the middle of pigeon forge
— Hotel grounds kept very clean
Overall I would surely go back, but, hope next time Wi-​Fi is upgraded.

I bought a groupon for this place under the impression that it was a jacuzzi suite at a lodge. It was not a lodge, it was a motel. The exterior seemed dirty and a little run down. The staff were friendly and helpful. The room was dank and smelled strongly of mildew. Although it was 30 degrees outside, the room was still hot and humid; so much so that there was condensation on the inside walls and window. The jacuzzi was large enough for two people, but the jets were not fully operational. The walls in the bathroom had mold on them and there was some sort of hair ball on the ledge of the shower. The complimentary breakfast consisted of biscuits, egg patty, and waffles. It was so crowded, that my wife and I avoided breakfast for the remainder of our stay. Although we had the do not disturb sign on the doorknob, the cleaning staff knocked on the door to see if we wanted service. My stay was decent, but the accommodations fell well below my expectations. I feel that the photographs on the Groupon site were a misrepresentation of what reality is.