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Chateau Elan Winery & Luxury Resort
1 review for Chateau Elan Winery & Luxury Resort
The best word I can use to describe Chateau Elan is overrated.
When I found out I'd have a chance to stay at this magnificent looking hotel, I was very excited! Every year the Formula Drift Championship tours the United States, and one of the annual stops on the tour is at Road Atlanta. Awesome track.
Chateau Elan is the most luxurious, highly rated, expensive, impressive looking hotel that I've seen in the North Atlanta area. To get there from the ATL Airport or from downtown, simply take 85 North until you hit the first Braselton exit.
It's convenient because if you're going to Road Atlanta, Chateau Elan is on the same exit, and it's right off the freeway. There are also gas stations and a Waffle House on the same exit. If you don't need a 24hr place to eat, and can avoid eating at Waffle House, I'd do so. I'd go back up 85N one more exit, and eat at Cracker Barrel!!! WAYYYY BETTER.
Anyway, the rooms at Chateau Elan are definitely nice. The bathrooms are excellent - very huge, spacious and luxurious. The hotel has a huge atrium area downstairs with a vaulted glass covered ceiling where people can dine. I saw tons of people eating breakfast there. That part of the hotel is very nice.
What bothered ME is this - wireless internet service is horrible. I deducted a star from this otherwise 4 star "luxury resort" because of this. First of all, when you check in, they tell you that wireless internet is one of the amenities of the hotel. However, when you actually turn on your computer in the room (we stayed on the 4th floor) the signal is super super low. 1 bar, sometimes 2. When you try to connect, it will only connect sometimes because the signal is low. WTF!!! It is sooo frustrating. Especially for people like me who need the internet every day in order to work. We need to upload/download transfer files and log in to update our client's website, etc. Couldn't do ANY of this from Chateau Elan.
I did get online for like 3 minutes, which was long enough for me to discover I had to pay $10 in order to use the internet at Chateau Elan for 24hrs. WTF. That pissed me off already. I mean, even cheaper hotels like Hampton Inn or Marriott properties include internet for free.
Logged in, entered my credit card number, and paid the $10. Then about 2 minutes afterward, I was logged off and the wireless signal was gone. WTF. I restarted the computer and tried to reconnect, to no avail. Called the front desk. The lady said, "I'm sorry that's not our issue, you need to call the 800 tech support number for internet." I called at 1:30am, but got a message saying "all operators are busy, please continue to hold for the next available representative." I kept holding. And holding. And holding so fucking long that my cellphone battery died. WTF. I was on hold over 45 minutes and couldn't get a live person, either in the USA or in India to pick up the phone. WTF.
Next day, I called again. Same 45 min hold. This time, someone picks up. But he couldn't help me cause he was only "1st Tier tech support" and he needed to consult a higher level person. He said he'd have them call me back, but at this point it was too late. I had to leave to go to the track for the event, I couldn't waste my time waiting for these idiots.
Got back to the hotel late at night that day. Tried to connect to the internet again. No luck. I'm super pissed off about this. And this still hasn't been resolved. No luck resolving this shit, and now my stay is finished, and we've checked out and flown back to Los Angeles.
Thanks for nothing Chateau Elan. The hotel grounds look nice outside, but I had a horrible experience there. Chateau Elan is over rated for sure. I had a better experience staying at the Wingate Inn by Mall of Georgia. Also the Hampton Inn and also Marriott over by Mall of Georgia.
If you're a business traveler like I am, and need to be PRODUCTIVE while you're visiting North Atlanta, I'd think twice about booking a room at Chateau Elan. A hotel that "luxurious" should have basic utilities like wireless internet. Hell, even wired internet with a CAT5 connection. Handle that.
