Stephanie Ziebarth

Review of Edencrest

We stayed in one of the cabins formerly part of th...

We stayed in one of the cabins formerly part of the Smoky Mountain Christian Village. The cabin itself was beautiful, though much more closely located to the neighboring cabin than we would have guessed, based on the pictures.

Trying to summarize: apparently Eden Crest had acquired this property sometime during the year between our booking and our arrival. I do feel badly that they had to deal with transition pains, but hoped they would have made some more sensible decisions in preparing guests who booked prior to their acquisition of the property. I had kept all of my correspondence and reviewed it prior to our arrival. I had even chatted with a customer service rep both by phone and via the online service shortly before our arrival (motivated in part because we received a second contract to review and sign, despite us having already returned our first one, which seemed odd to me). During those communications, Eden Crest had ample opportunity to share with me about the new office, key codes, etc. Instead, we showed up at the SMCV office, which was closed. We tried calling the listed number, which had no answer. We discovered our parking was being used by another guest. We were unable to find the key to enter our cabin (which we were to initially pick up at the original office).

Via smartphone, we were able to get the current number and were urged to drive the 50-minute round-trip to the current office. It was late and it was not our mistake so we did manage to get a key code over the phone (despite the reluctance on the part of the customer service rep). We made the trip out of our way the next day and had the same problem someone else mentioned about the building being hard to find.

Bottom line: they apologized and gave us a free lunch out. The cabin was lovely and we prefer not to make a scene, so that was enough for us.

Please don't give me a long, unpleasant response like you gave the others who have given less-than-stellar reviews. (Tip: that's not helping your image; keep it simple and humble.) You asked repeatedly for my review and I have given it.

We may even return someday, hoping that the transition pains are over and that you have learned to humbly respond to criticism. It's a beautiful area and you have much potential.

Thank you.