Review of Laurel Point Resort 2*

Since the early 80's, our family has owned two weeks in July at this time share resort. Normally, we have been reasonably happy with the resort. So it is with some regret that I write this scathing review. Before the really negative report, please know that if you stay here you MUST drive to and from the resort. The Trolley does NOT service the resort. Parking is problematic in Gatlinburg, and traffic doubly so. Being forced to use your car in this area is real consideration. Also, if you are not comfortable with steep roads hair pin turns, pass on this location. The weeks before, during, and after July 4th are the busiest weeks in the summer Gatlinburg resort market. Why would anyone ever schedule onerous and loud projects during peak season, especially when it is not emergency work? Today, since 8am on a Tuesday, we have had Yellow Tape out in front of our unit. Hammers banging away. Drills hammering through concrete. Workmen clanging. All of this right outside my door. The sign attached to the yellow tape blocking access to our unit said for residents not to use the elevator. Let's hope noone is handicapped on the upper floors, since that is the only ADA access to the upper floors. But that is not all. My unit is at the end of the A building. The C Building was under construction on Sunday, yes, Sunday. The C & A building are next to one another, and the units under construction were on the end of the building next to A, so we could hear saws ripping wood, drills, and I think we even heard a hammer drill or jack hammer. Monday, seven or eight parking spaces in front of A building, most of the parking, were taped off, preventing access and use for most of the day to those units, 4 floors of units. On other fronts, when I arrived at the resort, I had trouble even accessing the room. I always arrive After Hours, and there is a After Hours lock box service to gain your room key. This year, the 3rd party call center had no record of my arrival, and therefore did not have a key. It turns out, after finding another number to call into the system, that they were able to find a person who works at the resort who had not been at work in several days, who answered the call from her second job. She was able to let me into the lock box, and sure enough my key was in the box. The resort staff simply had not given that information to the answering service. The staff member who was on call that night, July 5th, was not answering her phone. So, it was dumb luck that Kayla answered her phone when she was not even On Call, and she at work at her second job. If she had not answered, I would have had to seek a hotel room elsewhere at 11:45pm with a cooler full of food that would have spoiled by morning unless the hotel room had a refrigerator. As for the unit itself, the furnishings in the living room have not been updated in about a decade, maybe longer. The dining room table has a leg that will collapse and send the entire table to the floor. The coffee table has a similar problem, so don't put your feet up on it, or rest anything more than the weight of a magazine. The sliding glass doors are in poor repair, and look to be about 30 years old, and do not securely shut. You can hear the traffic from all those fun loving & adventuresome Harley Davidson riders going by on the road, just below the entire stretch of the A & C buildings. Leaving the resort, you are taking you life into your own hands since the driveway is a very steep and access the road from the inside of a blind hairpin turn. There was a fish eye mirror across the street, but since last year, someone has customized it with gun shots. Gives a very homey, Mountain feel.