Bearskin Lodge on the River

Nice three day trip. Will stay again.

Location, quiet rooms and pools!

Outstanding. Would stay there again. We picked it for the Lazy River but everything was awesome. Quiet end of town. Walked everywhere!!! Room was fantastic with a fireplace and large spacious room to move around in. Breakfast was good.

Amazing! Clean, great breakfast (thank you Racine!), great balcony over the raging beautiful river, great staff, (thank you Emily!)

The pictures of the hotel must be from when the hotel was first built, and it seems the focus was on the outdoor aesthetics, and not maintaining the room cleanliness and quality. Our room was dingy / dirty and smelled extremely musty. The AC appeared to have never been cleaned. The tiles in the bathroom were dirty and had obvious dirt in the corners and grout. The floors and hallways also felt dirty, we didn't really want to walk around without shoes. Workout room was almost non existent. Elevator broke when we were there. Beds were comfortable and felt clean, and the staff was friendly and nice. The pool and Firepit were very enjoyable, but the pool house / filter was very noisy and hard to tune-out while sitting around the fire.

Breakfast was actually better than expected: cold offerings like cereal/milk, fruit (fresh cut pineapple plus apples, oranges, bananas), hard-boiled eggs, and yogurts; as well as some hot—pancake machine, breakfast sandwiches (prepackaged, microwaveable), bread and bagels to toast. Basic drip coffee, tea bags, hot cocoa packets, OJ, and apple juice rounded out the drink options. Not 5-star by any stretch, but enough options for most. The pool area was smallish but much loved by my 4-year old! The pool (deepest depth 5’) was cool (temp), while the tiny lazy river was warm—a few tubes were available (1st come, 1st served). The area is a bit noisy due to the equipment needed to run both water areas in a hut right in the middle of the pool area. Parking was easy and covered, which was a boon given the traffic and high parking fees in town. We were able to walk to some local spots (3mins to the Ober Mtn tram) and use the free bus/trolley (a stop right out front) to access restaurants and shopping further up the main strip. In all, it was a very pleasant stay and I’d return!

The rooms are a nice size. The lazy river is very small.

Breakfast People was super nice and welcoming Clean rooms View in front of the River Location was amazing Nothing, I liked everything

We had a good stay overall. Our room was clean, and housekeeping made the beds and emptied the trash every day during our three-night stay. The pool was smaller than we expected, and we didn’t get to use the fire pit. Seeing a bear near the parking garage was exciting for our boys and other guests. The breakfast area and ice machine were on the third floor, and our room was conveniently located near the elevator. My 16-year-old wasn’t very impressed with the location, except that it was across the street from CiCi’s Pizza.

Great location, great pool/lazy river, but we had to ask for extra toilet paper each day, had to ask for our body wash to be filled up, and take out our own trash. They checked the room the first 2 days, but we had a 6 night stay. It would have gotten 5 stars if it wasn’t for that.

Loved everything about Bearskin Lodge! The older gentleman at check-in was super friendly and helpful. All workers we encountered went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and answer our questions… did you know Gatlinburg has a free shuttle service? We didn’t, but the staff were helpful with helping us navigate the map and app for the shuttle. The room and property were clean and well-kept. Breakfast had several options, and the muffins were delicious. The location was at the edge of town with quick access to the national park. Things like Anakeesta were a bit of a walk (maybe 3/4 mile), but the shuttle was a convenient way to get to places when you didn’t want to walk. It’s a nice location if you don’t want the noise from the busier part of town. We didn’t use the pool or lazy river, but they were very clean. The fire out front and rocking chair along the river were a nice place to relax. If we ever return to Gatlinburg, we will definitely choose Bearskin again.

Superb

Only problem was that one elevator was out of order while we were staying, so it was a long wait for some of the people waiting to check out.

Wonderful staff and great hotel.

Loved the size of the room and the balcony overlooking the river. The kids loved the pool and the lazy river. The beds and pillows were comfortable. We did not like the breakfast options.

Loved the vibe of this hotel. Nothing fancy but had a great mountain feel for my niece and her best friend first visit to the mountains. We enjoyed the view of the river from our balcony and the girls just sat on the balcony when we were in the room. Parking was right out front and we never had a problem finding a spot. Breakfast area looked nice with lots of pastries and a pancake machine, but we never ate there, since there wasn’t any hot protein. But the best breakfast place in Gatlinburg, Crockett’s is just a short walk up the hill. The trolley stops right in front of the hotel and you can get anywhere in Gatlinburg on it. We loved this place and would definitely stay here again.

It’s right near several good restaurants and attractions like the sky tram, the space needle, the great Smokey mountains national park, which held some of the best hiking trails I’ve ever seen. There’s zip lining, white water rafting. You can ride sky lifts up to the top of a literal mountain and then eat at a restaurant up there. Pigeon forge was an awesome town too. Things to see every step you take. However, there are some things to consider with the Bearskin Lodge. As previously mentioned, nice staff, nice looking building. But there were some drawbacks. It has two elevators. One was out of service the entire time, and the other just seemed like it was ready to break every time you got on it. The doors were slow, it made jarring noises, and the whole thing visibly shook. This led to feeling more comfortable using the stairs, despite being on the 4th floor. And the stairs were confusing to find, as the building’s unique layout, while cool, made it difficult to locate them. The bed I slept in noticeably felt sank in on one side from the first night there. Easy fix, just moved to the other side and it felt fine. But might not be for couples. There was a broken towel rack and bathroom door.

Could use some updating but was clean Elevator stinks really yuck and quit working all together. Good location away from the chaos

Location was great. Room were very clean. Staff was nice. The bed might as well had 2x4s in it. The hotel was really nice but then when we went to sleep the bed was horrible. Absolutely horrible. We only stayed one night If we would have stayed two nights I would have tried to gotten my money back and went somewhere else just because the bed was so bad. This is really sad considering we had a good room with a view of the creek and we saw some bears in the parking garage across from us. For a little over 300 a night with taxes the bed should have been better. It kind of felt like your feet were higher than your head and the bed was so stiff It was literally like sleeping on a board. I don't know if all the beds are that bad. We were in room 212.

Very good