The spirit of Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountains upbringing is present at HeartSong Lodge & Resort, a rustic haven situated near Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Following the opening of The Dollywood Company’s DreamMore Resort and Spa in 2015, the addition of more lodging establishes the charming park as a multi-day attraction for visitors.
“We fulfilled a dream of Dolly’s,” says Pete Owens, vice president of marketing and public relations for The Dollywood Company, of Dollywood’s first resort, DreamMore. “She said we should build a hotel so that her friends could have a place to stay.”
Opening Dollywood resorts was a longtime desire for Parton. She envisioned on-site lodging when she first partnered with Herschend Family Entertainment to develop the park in the 1980s.
Dollywood first got into the lodging business through Gemstone, a third-party hotel management company that prepared processes and coached the company. The hotelier stayed on for about two years to get DreamMore up and running. Dollywood now manages and operates both hotels in-house.
Since its launch, Dollywood has broadened its appeal well beyond its core market, attracting folks from neighboring cities such as Nashville, Atlanta, and Charlotte, and even more far-flung places such as New York, Chicago, and Tampa.
“Now, 65% of our guests are destination guests,” notes Owens.
Emboldened by the results, Dollywood crafted a strategic plan to build a second hotel and bring another 300 keys to the burgeoning campus.
While developing HeartSong, its planners applied lessons learned from the first property. It retains many of the DreamMore’s features, including trolley service to and from the park, activities programming, complimentary TimeSaver queue management that allows for quicker access to rides and shows, and Stay and Splash packages that bundle overnight accommodations with free passes to Dollywood’s water park.
The company made modifications when planning the new hotel based on guest feedback and operational experience, including larger outdoor and indoor pools and a spacious 195-seat restaurant.
HeartSong also offers a larger meeting space with a 26,000-square-foot event center—including two ballrooms and multiple breakout rooms. It can be configured to accommodate as many as 700 people for functions, business meetings, weddings, and other gatherings.
“With the DreamMore, we were not in the big meeting business,” says Owens. “We think we can build that with HeartSong.”
Among the places available for bookings at the new property is the distinctive Acoustic Lobby. A cozy, lounge-style space, the room is outfitted in purple hues and displays Dolly Parton memorabilia, such as one of her spangly outfits, musical instruments, and handwritten song lyrics.
Private parties can rent the one-of-a-kind space and plan dinners for up to 50 guests. If it’s not booked, members of the public can check out the Acoustic Lobby.
Surrounded by foothills and nestled in a “holler,” the HeartSong has its own personality.
“The DreamMore is southern chic,” Owens notes. “The HeartSong, on the other hand, is a Smoky Mountains National Park lodge experience. It’s why Dolly comes back to the mountains.”
Dollywood isn’t done expanding its lodging business. Its master plan calls for multiple additional resorts and a campground. In fact, as guests make their way into the HeartSong parking lot, they can see an access road across from the new property. The road marks the site of the next hotel, which is already under development.
