Bear Pause Cabin - DMR

Thank you to everyone who supported Bear Pause over the years. We have had a wonderful time owning and operating this beautiful property. Recent events forced us to sell but we hope you'll continue to support the new owners. Thank you and stay safe!

We should be ready to rent within the next couple of weeks! The furniture is in and all we're waiting for now is the installation of a railing on the new entryway. It has been a long road but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We received our Cert of Occupancy this week. Bear Pause II will be available to rent very soon.

I haven't posted any pictures in quite a while! We're almost finished! Will be back on the rental program soon!

Getting closer!

The foundation was poured today! Framing begins in a few weeks!

Today is the last time we have to look at an empty lot. The plans are complete and a building permit has been issued. The builder plans to break ground tomorrow! We were lucky enough to find the gentleman who built Bear Pause. Bear Pause II is finally in the works!

The rebuild of Bear Pause has begun. The debris has been removed and we've picked out the new floor plan. We walked through the Log and Timber Home Show at the Sevierville Convention Center today with our builder. This gave us many ideas for Bear Pause II. We'll continue to provide updates throughout the build process.

We are so very saddened to report that Bear Pause was a casualty of the Gatlinburg wildfires. We plan to rebuild as soon as possible. Please keep the people of Gatlinburg in your thoughts and prayers as there are so many who lost much more. Thank you.

Many of the guests who have stayed at Bear Pause have left messages in the cabin log book. You are welcomed to view what they said about their stays. I cut their names to keep out personal information. The list is all inclusive and not "cherry picked" to show only the good reviews. We listened to our guests comments and have spent much time over the past year+ implementing upgrades to make the cabin more comfortable.

Dear Friends of Bear Pause,
This note is in response to Kacey Lynn’s review of our cabin posted on Diamond Mountain Rentals page on August 14, 2016 (https://www.facebook.com/search/136391876438060/local_search?surface=tyah). We can no longer sit idly by and watch people trash our cabin on social media simply because they can. Let me preface this response by communicating to you that we have rented several Gatlinburg cabins over the years before purchasing two of our own in the last two years. We have rented from multiple agencies and chose DMR to manage our own cabins because of the great experiences we had as renters. DMR is very responsive, manage their cabins well and have excellent customer service. There is a good reason why they get an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Oftentimes it is the owner himself who responds to issues because he cares deeply about customer satisfaction.

We are very sorry that Kacey Lynn’s group did not have the experience they hoped for on their Gatlinburg vacation. The reality is, things break and that’s life. I have done extensive research and have yet to find any heat pump systems on the market today that have prognostic health maintenance features (systems that can warn you there is a problem and failure is imminent). Unfortunately, in current systems one doesn’t know there is a problem until failure occurs. DMR responded to their situation immediately and offered to move them to another cabin. They declined the offer stating, “they liked it here.” DMR scheduled a service repair where we owners paid more in fees to keep them comfortable than we made in rental revenue (in other words, we lost money). The cooling system had a leak and we paid to have it filled with Freon twice during their stay. I’m sorry this wasn’t good enough to please them. The heat pump was replaced as soon as the cabin was vacant.

We cannot comment as to whether or not anything was stolen since we weren’t there and can’t prove it but we’d like to say something in general about this problem. Many of our guests have requested we invest in buying Disney movies for their kids to watch while they’re there and we would really love to do this but cannot afford it. Our cabin is stocked with 60 movies and Direct TV with NFL Sunday Ticket to provide our guests with many options for entertainment. Over the last year, more than 10 movies have come up “missing”. With Disney movies costing $25+ a pop, this is untenable. We’ve perpetuated the bear theme by buying a bear wine holder, bear salt and pepper shakers and other bear knickknacks. All of these items have gone “missing” since we visited in April of this year. We are huge “foodies” and have invested in a good knife set and cooking utensils so our guests have nice equipment to cook with. All of these items have also gone “missing” since April. So the reason the remaining knickknacks are all broken is because they are the only things left that haven’t grown legs. On top of all this, we constantly deal with people carving their initials in the knickknacks, log railings, furniture and even on the side of the cabin itself which is absolutely abhorrent. We intend to retire here someday and do not care to look at a carving stating “Avery was here”.

With respect to the water – this is a cabin in the woods which gets its water from a well just like the majority of cabins in this area. This is not a hotel in downtown New York City which has processed city water available. We have an extensive water system in the crawl space below the cabin to treat the water as best as we can but sometimes it smells worse than others. We recommend using this water for showering purposes only and bring bottled water with you to drink. If the smell is very bad, please don’t hesitate to call DMR. They will respond in a timely fashion. We are looking into newer systems to improve the quality of the water but this will have to be taken care of in the future as we’re still trying to recover from the heat pump and hardwood flooring installations this year.

We know you work hard for your money so we try to provide you with the best amenities we possibly can. The hot tub is not new but it is in good repair and gets cleaned and re-filled after every stay. We enjoyed it just last weekend with friends. We have movies, expanded cable TV, a pool table plus many board/card games to keep your group entertained during your stay. The view is simply awesome! The beds are clean and comfortable and so is the cabin in general. We visit regularly so we can take care of some of the deep cleaning that the daily crew does not have time for. If this doesn’t sound like what you’re looking for in a cabin, we can recommend several other alternatives to Bear Pause. Otherwise, we welcome you to reserve our cabin confident in the fact that we (owners and DMR) will go above and beyond to make your stay one that you will want to repeat again in the near future.
Thank you,
Bear Pause Owners (L&V)

We were able to make it back before the end of the year to wrap up the hardwood flooring installation. We even got to see a bear while we were there!