Hampton Inn Blue Ridge — Attraction in Blue Ridge

To preface, we are from Florida and visited during Hurricane Milton, but were not in an evacuation zone. We did not know when we booked that the rest of Florida had evacuated here! The town was pretty busy for its size, but Hampton Inn and Nicole welcomed us with open arms!

Upon entering the lobby, we were greeted and given information about the hotel and local area. The lobby was clean and inviting with a few sitting areas and a fireplace.

Our room was a "balcony" room that overlooked the railroad and shops. The room was modern, clean, and spacious. The bathroom was also very generous. The balcony is not a walk-on balcony, but a door that opens to the outside with railing around it. Because we were within feet of the railroad and where they park the engine, it was fairly noisy between the hours of 6-8AM. This did not bother us, as we are early risers, but something to consider when booking.

The breakfast serving area was small, but there were plenty of tables when we attended breakfast. There was much to choose from including hot breakfast items, waffles, and bakery items. Coffee, tea, and hot chocolate were always available 24/7.

The hotel does have a small gym, which I did not use, but took a peek. It had standard gym equipment to include treadmills, elliptical, and weights.

This hotel does NOT have a pool or hot tub, but boasts a rooftop bar with dining available. We frequented the bar, which also overlooks the railroad and shops. The bartender and server were both very friendly, and the atmosphere was perfect! We thoroughly enjoyed our drinks, but did not get any food. The town mostly shuts down between 7-9 (no package/liquor store), so plan your drinking accordingly! :)

Parking is gated and accessible by room key only. There is also a small, reasonable daily fee.

The location of this hotel is perfect for shopping, dining, and riding the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, which parks in front of the hotel. All of this is within walking distance, which was perfect for us.

Nicole and Bailee both made our stay feel like we were right at home! They always greeted us with a smile and took time to help us personalize our trip by making some local recommendations. I used to work for Hampton Inn several years ago, and these two are complete gems. They thoroughly accommodated us.

Overall, we had a lovely stay and would definitely...

Wife and I have stayed at other Hamptons and was looking forward to this NEW location in Blue Ridge. Chose the king balcony. Really nice for first appearances but was shocked with the obvious cutbacks not upholding the standard we were used to with a Hampton room. The worst part of all of this was the bed. Hampton beds were amazing. This king we had was a very firm spring mattress. What happened to the cloud-like pillow topped mattresses? The front desk associate said this was the new standard!?!?!?!?!? WHY? You could easily trace the outline of each spring. We were only staying over-night and we almost made a decision at 11pm to just head back home. Next was poor design with the bathroom that faced the door to the adjacent room. The neighbors conversation was crystal clear and their hairdryer was even louder as if in the room with us. Speaking of bathrooms, when did they stop installing exhaust fans above the toilets. We all go and none of us smell pleasant. So, just closing the sliding barn door only traps the smell even after a couple of hours of shopping. You also might want to bring your own TP unless you like using 1-ply sandpaper on your undercarriage. Back to the design, not sure the balcony option was worth the increase in cost. You might be able to put your toes out on it, maybe. And the door to the balcony was a very narrow, heavy metal constructed door with a difficult lock and operating function. A better seal around the door would help with the noise and chill factor outside. The last negative was the coldness of the room (and not the temp) and the echo feeling given off by the choice in flooring and concrete walls. Hung paintings can only do so much. It's just shocking to pay the price we did and get less than expected Hampton quality. I have to say that if there comes another try at this location, I'll be calling directly to make the booking. Making sure to request a non-balcony room with a better mattress and inquire about the...

Overall we loved it and plan to stay here again. Foremost, the location is excellent. You can walk to tons of shops and restaurants downtown. Perfect place to stay for Arts in the Park. Rooftop restaurant overlooking town is surprisingly good too. We went twice, once for dinner and once for coffee and desserts. Would recommend everything we had: Cobb salad, chicken caesar, creme brûlée cheesecake, lemon cake, french press coffee. The coffee wasn’t available the second time (no coffee of any kind) and there was a lot of confusion from the staff who said “no one knew how to do it.” Hopefully they will work that out soon. The complementary breakfast was good. We had eggs and sausage and waffles and yogurt. The coffee was good. The breakfast was supposed to run until 10 AM but when we got there at 9:30 the second day, they were out of eggs and told us they weren’t putting out any more. The rooms are spacious had a very comfortable mattress and lots of outlets and USB ports for charging. There’s a ton of counter space in the bathrooms which is much appreciated, as well as the roomy walk in shower with good water pressure. Parking was convenient and all of the staff were extremely nice. We stayed two nights and housekeeping never showed up so hopefully they’ll get staffing issues sorted out as they’ve been open longer. They had only been open a few weeks when we stayed. We were in room 331 which overlooked town and the train. It was fun to wave at the people on the train as they were coming and going. I’ve waited many years for there to be a decent hotel in Blue Ridge and this one really fits the bill. I’m pretty sure that the problems we did run into where the result of new staff being trained and staff shortages from Covid hiring issues. I’m sure the next time we stay a lot of these kinks will be worked out. Highly...