Changes on the Mantle at All Decked Out

Ever since we did the total redecorating at All Decked Out in early 2011, we've been adding new items, moving things around, and continuing our improvements.

This is most evident on the mantle over the fireplace in the Main Room.  We started pretty simply in March 2011:

By last summer, things had changed pretty dramatically.  We moved the vases to other areas and added several new items, including the 'Betsy Ross' and 'Drummer Boy' carolers.  We also had two guests who added some decorations:

Now, after we took down the Christmas decorations a few weeks ago, we did a little more changing:


 Hmmmmm.  I wonder what's next.  You'll just have to come to All Decked Out and find out!

How we got into the rental business

You may have read some of our comments that talk about our participation in Yahoo! Boards with other owners who rent their cabins.  We're members of two Boards - one just for the Smoky Mountains area (with about 60 members) and one that covers the whole world (with over 4,500 members).  These Boards are very active - with as many as 50 messages a day being posted.

On the worldwide Board, there has just been a discussion of why people choose to stay in a rental home (or cabin) instead of a hotel.  It seems that more and more people are "converting."  One of the posts mentioned that rental home guests are not just people on vacation.  He noted that business people who are staying in one location, or groups of business people traveling together, also are using rental homes.

That prompted me to post this story of how we got into the "rent-by-owner" business: 

The same is true for convention/business meeting attendees.  In fact, that’s how we got into the “rent-by-owner” business.  We were attending a business meeting in Orlando with 3 other couples.  The hotel wanted $175.00/night/room and we needed to stay 2 nights.  But we found a 4-bedroom house for the two nights that was only about 15 minutes from the hotel.  The cost – about $50/night/couple.  And, we had the fun of being able to visit together in the spacious living room, play games in the game room, and do some of our own cooking – which saved even more money.

At the time, we were renting our Gatlinburg cabins through a rental company and had just found out they were doing some things that were, at best, unethical.  So we fired them and shut the cabins down.  But the house we rented in Florida was owned by a guy in Manchester, England.  We did the entire transaction online and never talk to anyone.  After going through that experience, we said, “If this guy can rent his house from 3,000 miles away, we should be able to rent ours from 300 miles away!”

And the rest is history!

Oh, by the way, we rarely attend a business meeting or convention now and stay in the convention hotel – especially if we’re with other couples!  We only stay in hotels if we’re driving somewhere and need to spend a night on the road. 

Think about it!  Maybe your church group is coming to Gatlinburg for a convention.  You might be able to save money - and have more fun - if you stay with us at All Decked Out or Smoky Mountain Tower, rather than being crammed into a tiny hotel room!

Oh no - another landslide

We're back home from our 'business trip,' and just got news of another winter landslide in the Smokies.  This time, it's the main road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The slide happened last Wednesday, but we just found out about it.  About 90,000 cubic yards of rock undercut the road that goes through the Park - Newfound Gap Road.

You can get more details and see a video on the WATE site at http://www.wate.com/story/20603776/newfound-gap-road-closed-indefinitely-after-landslide-washes-roadway-away.  And you can always get road information for the Park on their site at http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm.

Sorry for the bad news.  But there's good news, too.  You should be able to get up to the Newfound Gap parking lot from Gatlinburg very soon.

Stay tuned - we'll keep you updated.

Checking out the competition - at the beach

Phyllis and I are on a 'business trip.'  We are in Myrtle Beach, SC, visiting with Phyllis' sister and husband, who spend several weeks here to escape winter (they live in northern Michigan!).  So while we're here, we've been checking on what's involved to rent a beach home, instead of a mountain home like All Decked Out or Smoky Mountain Tower.

Now, remember, when you rent our Gatlinburg cabins, we only charge you the nightly rate and the tax.  We don't charge any extra fees, like registration fees or cleaning fees, etc.

So we wanted to see if we could rent a beach house under the same circumstances.  Guess what.  Not a chance!

We were shocked when we discovered all the add-on fees here.  Like this:
   -Sales tax - 13% (okay, that's pretty close to our 12.75% tax)
   -Processing fee - up to 5% of your rental rate.
   -CVB fee - $2.00 per night (I think this has something to do with the convention and visitor's bureau)
   -Security deposit - $500.00
   -Linens - $35.00 per bed (I really can't believe this one!)
   -Cleaning fee - $110.00.  Okay, to be fair, you can clean the house yourself.  Then you have to pay a $25.00 inspection fee - and if you didn't clean the place to their satisfaction, you still pay the cleaning fee!
   -This one I love - Charitable donation fee of $1.00 per night.  Okay, it's optional, but it appears to be pretty tough to get out of.

That totals almost $750.00 in extra fees - plus the security deposit.

So, you ask, are the rental rates cheaper?  The easy answer is "NO."  For a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home in the busy season, the price is $344.29 per night - and you have to rent for a full week.  You can only check in on a Saturday.  With the extra charges listed above, your rate goes up to $451.43 per night.  Compare that with the ability to check in any night and stay for as little as two nights in the mountains.  And, by the time you figure all the extra charges, their rate is more than double our rate per night!

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that a mountain vacation is looking a whole lot better than a beach vacation!  And if you compare Myrtle Beach to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area in terms of restaurants and activities, we've got them beat by miles!  So we hope you'll come and enjoy the mountains with us.

Anybody want to comment on this?  We'd love to hear from you!

Parking on the Parkway in Gatlinburg?

If you've ever been to Gatlinburg - especially in the summer - you know about the heavy traffic.  But here's one more reason to visit Gatlinburg in January and February.  Yes, you are allowed to park on the Parkway - right in the middle of town!  And, as I drove through town last Wednesday around noon, I actually saw a lot of empty parking spaces.

So if you've ever wanted to park in downtown Gatlinburg - free - now is the time for a visit!  Just remember this when you come in July - and you think all four lanes are a parking lot!

Christmas is officially over!

As of today, all the Christmas decorations at All Decked Out and Smoky Mountain Tower have been taken down and stored in the Owners Closet at Smoky Mountain Tower.

You want to hear the BEST news?  The job was done in record time by our daughter, Marcia, and our two grandsons, Zack and Nathan.  Here are the boys putting one of the tote bins of decorations into the closet.  That's Zack on the left and Nathan on the right.

And here goes one of the Christmas trees - all packed up in a box.

As you can see, it's not an easy job - moving everything to the back of the slant-roof closet.  We all have to stoop over and walk.

But nobody complained and the boys worked hard.  In addition to packing away Christmas, they also changed all the furnace filters at both cabins and did a bunch of other maintenance things.  Marcia played a big part in this, too - taking the trees apart and packing everything in the boxes and containers where they belong.  She also helped me straighten out some key box issues and reset the garage door codes at Smoky Mountain Tower.  We'll do our major maintenance sometime in February or March - but we're well on the way, and it feels good to get back to "normal."

Let us be the last to wish you HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here it is - January 4, 2013 - and we're just getting around to wishing you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!  That's what happens when you start off the year with some leftover bronchitis - and a task list from last year that is still too long.

But we are thankful to be in 2013.  We think this is going to be an exciting year.  And it's going to start with a trip to Gatlinburg on Monday - meeting up with Marcia, Zack and Nathan to take down the Christmas decorations at All Decked Out and Smoky Mountain Tower.  We are so thankful for their help!

We'll do our best to report from Gatlinburg.  But we just want to encourage you to make your vacation plans quickly, so you can be sure to get the dates you want.  We just got two inquiries for January dates, along with a booking for a week in June.  And we've already had inquiries for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  We know lots of people are waiting until the last minute to make reservations.  But we can tell you two things from experience:

1. Your chances of saving money by waiting until the last minute are becoming less and less.  Our rates are already so low that we just can't afford to give very many last-minute deals.
2. Your chances of getting the dates you want are also becoming less and less.  Last month, we got 21 inquiries from people who wanted to stay with us over Christmas and/or New Year's.  But those dates had been booked last March!

We really want you to stay with us, and we hate to have to turn folks away.  So please - get out the calendar and start planning now.  That way, neither of us will be disappointed!