The Hotel Chalet

"Good service and location but one star level rooms. At $450 / night the value just isn’t there. First, the service and location are stunning and convenient. Plenty of place to relax as an adult and places for the kids to run around and explore. But, and these are really big “buts”. 1. The electronic locks were installed wrong, they fixed this at 11pm but with young kids this is not ideal. 2. There is no insulation for heat/cold. We had it set to 78 and it probably hovered in the mid to low 60s at night. 3. You will hear your neighbors pushing the light switches and talking. The train will rock whenever someone goes through the stairs. Since I could hear normal conversation levels from our neighbors I can’t imagine what the kids sounded like for them. 3. The deadbolts don’t work. We had to move rooms once and they were installed wrong on both. 4. Hot water lasts between 10-15 minutes. Traveling with young kids this was a significant problem. There’s a lot of potential here but right now until the hot water, locks, and insulation is fixed this is more of a daytime novelty than the luxury hotel they are priced as."

"What an amazing hotel, the prices are very reasonable, we stayed in one of the train cars with a private bedroom, private bathroom with a heated floor, so well decorated, it’s like going back in time and traveling in a Pullman car. Everything was perfect. The train car was super clean, wonderful bathroom with a full shower, the way the cars are parked, are perfect, gas lights outside, and we only had to walk 50 feet to Elsie‘s daughters restaurant on the property, I will review that separately as it was also excellent, and recommended by hotel chalet. From the moment we checked in our stay went perfect, Molly and Lily at the front desk were excellent hosts, made sure we had everything we needed, when the rain started they checked us out a two person umbrella to get to the restaurant. Management clearly cares about what’s going on at this property, as all the staff are courteous, polite, and super professional. The location is also excellent, right downtown Chattanooga, we were able to walk to everything, I highly recommend this hotel, and staying in a train car, if you are capable of climbing, a few steps, and especially if you enjoy trains."

"Spotless room, beautiful decor, and amazingly comfortable mattress and pillows. One of my big pet peeves is loud hotel air conditioning and thankfully this system was very quiet! I think we were the first people to ever stay in our room. Winter deals include a $30 credit at Elsie’s Daughter, which is also amazing! I’ll be staying here any time I visit Chattanooga. I do wish parking was included but $15/day wasn’t bad."

"When Travel and Leisure raved about the opening of this unique hotel, we booked a suite. The hotel itself has so many cool spaces! An outdoor pool surrounded by a yellow caboose that served us drinks and a lovely outdoor courtyard with lounge seating. We were able to walk through a room built inside an historic train car that was in a train station setting. I felt like I was in another era- so beautiful! We had to walk through this sweetly decorated train station to get to the restaurant, which was not only a charming space, but also had great food. The hotel staff were also sweet and helpful. I loved the hotel was directly adjacent to the Chattanooga Train station, many good restaurants, good coffee, downtown Chattanooga and close to the mountain hiking. My kids were obsessed with the trains at the hotel, aquarium, the incline railway, walking the bridge. So convenient!"

"A deeply uncomfortable stay. We couldn’t get the train car above 58°F even with the heat on full blast. And the thermostat was located in the warmest section of the car. The actual bed, which sits against the far wall is the furthest from the heat, and I believe it is reasonable to estimate that the temperature at the actual bed was in the low 50s / high 40s. For $300+ a night I expect to have the option to be warm. We asked staff for a space heater, but there were none. They switched us to a room with a heated bathroom floor, which did make going to the bathroom slightly less terrible but, as you can see, it was still very cold in the room. When showering, the shower stall leaked onto the bathroom floor. Also, the towel I used to dry off just ripped. All in all, a big disappointment. Pros: Staff was great even though the circumstances were not. The location is great. The train cars are cute, albeit uncomfortable. And the lotion in the room smelled really nice - Spicy Thyme. The next time we are in Chattanooga, we’ll stay elsewhere."