A 1 Vacation Rentals, Helen

Do not waste your time with these people. A-1 double booked our cabin. When they figured out their mistake they offered a larger cabin for the same three nights as our original, the only catch being that we had to pay an additional $400 on top of the original price because of THEIR MISTAKE. Thanks for the terrible service A-1!! Terrible service! Still blown away by the whole situation and how it was handled.

Once they take your money they forget about customer service. To many fees once you get there that they do not tell you about. Blueridge cabin rental much better place.

We checked in Saturday at Country Charm cabin. It was hot andmusty when we walked in.I went to check out the hot tub and it was over 15 years old.Nothing like the pictures,it had worms and leaves in the water,did not look like it had been cleaned in months. Called office they sent a guy out a hour later. He was there another two hours trying to get it to work,it never did.We called office again and these people are so rude you would think the amount of money I spent they could show some respect.The refrigerator was set on the lowest setting so our food we brought with us almost spoiled while trying to get it cool. Only two eyes worked on the stove. TV only had 7 stations and by 9 o clock we had none and I spent 45 min on the phone with Directv trying to get it fixed.We went to bed and was turning back the sheets and a scorpin was in the bed !! Well that was it we left at 11 o clock and we had it booked for two nights. We called the very rude office again this was out fourth call,they said we would lose our money we paid for both nights.I told them no way, so waiting to here from a manger...DONT RISK IT !!

I will not be renting from A-1 again. I recently stayed at The Old Gold Mine and feel completely ripped off. We checked in at the A-1 office and received our directions. Everything was going well until we left the paved road, drove behind a warehouse on a pot hole filled gravel "road", continued past another warehouse where the road became narrower, left the gravel for a trail, turned onto our "driveway", scrapped the car on the overgrown plants, and eventually found the cabin across a foot bridge (~75' walk to front door). All told, it is ~3 minutes drive from the last paved road and takes ~10 minutes to walk to town. I suppose "in-town" really means "within the city limits". What we found inside was a warm and musty cabin with two window A/C units - one in the kitchen and one in the master bedroom. The bathroom for the master bedroom is a re-purposed closet. Literally. There is not much else to say about the interior. Heading outside, I was stung three times by the yellow jackets at the door, the grounds appear to not have been maintained all year and was severely overgrown, and we had a stinky hot tub after one day. We stopped back by the office to inform them that the hot tub needed chlorine and were ensured that enough was added to last three days (we were there for 5) and that somebody would stop by to add more. Nobody ever showed, so we purchased some bleach to add ourselves. I browsed through the feedback book and was left with the impression that the cabin has not been managed well during 2010. Several entries mentioned the smell and the hot tub not being stinky and cloudy. I could go on with complaints but will stop here. Basically, I will not be using A-1 again and definitely do not recommend The Old Gold Mine to anybody.

My wife and I stayed at the Castle Inn, the room had an oder to it ,the walls where they met the ceiling had cobwebs (a lot) the ceiling fan blades were crusted with dirt the balcony/terrace was full of webs and dead bugs and had not been cleaned in a while, the hallway and stairways smelled sour. The building is old but old is not dirty a good cleaning of the hallway and stairwells is in order.Be carefull what you ask for while you're staying at the Castle Inn as you're charged for any and all "extras" .The only "Plus" is that the hotel is located in the center of helen and you can walk to restaurants and stores. There is no elevator . Forty stairs from parking area to room level .

The cabin is a very nice cabin in a lovely location. They nickel and dime you at every turn. In addition to the daily charge for the cabin, there is a less obvious $30 cleaning fee for every reservation. They also require a $200 Deposit for damages or not following rules, and if you use your credit card for that instead of cash, they charge you a non-refundable $12 because you used a credit card. If you pay cash, you won't get your deposit back for two weeks. Even though there is a $30 cleaning fee, the rules state that all dishes must be cleaned and put away before you check out. My cabin was advertised as having a fireplace, but it wasn't until I got into the cabin, that I saw that if you actually USE the fireplace, there will be an additional cleaning fee. The notice does not disclose how much that fee is. You also have to pay a $5 deposit for each key, but if you happen to lose the key, they charge you an additional $100 to change the locks anyway. It's cash only for the key deposit. My room was advertised as having internet access, but I'm glad I realized that I needed to call the office back for the code, while the office was still open, since the code was not provided at check-in. Also, the driveway is the scariest, steepest hill I have even seen in my life.

I have about 5 girls I went to school with and some how we have been able remain friends, so every year we get together and plan a trip away from our men and the littles ones. Kind of like a girls only trip. We choose to go to helen this year. One of my friends goes every year, so she reccomended this town. What a wonderful town small but tons to do, calm enough for a family but nitelife good enough for a party, Mountains and lakes all around... Beautiful scenery. We stayed at A-1 Vacation Rentals in a cabin called Eagles Eye Lodge. This house was spectacular! Firepit outside overlooking the town, 5 bedrooms(all with there own theme), pool table, hot tub, patio, grill, walking distance but still secluded. Relaxing is an understatment we were just blown away it was spectacular. The house was clean, fresh, and modern... The owners of the cabin really put some heart into this house the beds were so comfortable. The staff was extremely helpful with things to do in the area and check-in and check-out we very simple and stress free... When calling to make the reservation I spoke with Lauren she was great and very helpful... I would reccomend them to anyone... And well be back...

What a wonderful place We stayed in a cabin called Fish Tale. It was right on the water and close to town. On the river and oh so romantic (2br/2ba). This cabin brought us the best of luck we had a wonderful time and found out we were pregnant while there. It is now called Bears Den but i highly reccomend A-1 vacation rentals and bears den It will always hold a special place in our hearts. And I wanted to mention the women that work their are super nice we stay so much I kinda think of them as family..... The Farleys

The Cabin was breath taking. We stayed in a 2bd/2br 2 story cabin. It had a nice size kitchen, huge living room and amazing back porch with a hot tub. The master bedroom had a very bad wasp/hornet problem and when we told the ladies in the office, they reccommended we buy bug spary! It was even worse the next night. My finace and I had to share the couch! The ladies in the rental office were somewhat rude and unhelpful. They just gave us a map to find the place...no real directions. And you have to put a pricey deposit that gets mailed back to you a couple of weeks later. I loved the cabin-except for the bugs-but I did not like the company. I wish I could tell the owner what kind of company that they are dealing with.

My family loved this cabin (deer run) the cabin is just 10 minutes out side of town and 5 minutes from beautiful Unicoi State Park. Nice and new, great kitchen all Stainless steel appliances. Great playroom with pool table, slot machine, and arcade games. There was a Jacuzzi tube in the master bedroom and large hot tube out side. And I can’t forget the big screen TV, and free wireless internet. We found management to be very responsive when we needed more towels.