Cambria Hotel Downtown Asheville — Hotel in Asheville

We went to Asheville, NC to see comedian Leanne Morgan at the Cherokee Center. We decided to make it a mini-vacation in order to explore the area. After reading reviews, I chose to stay at the Cambria for three nights due to the Cambria’s central location to shops and restaurants. It was perfect! We walked to dinner from the hotel each night, never having to worry about parking. I thought the parking fee of $19 each day was very reasonable for a downtown location. Checking in at the front desk was a breeze and the offer of a glass of bubbly was a perk! The front desk staff were really awesome, especially Braydon and Tim. They were attentive and helpful throughout our stay. We had a King room with a Mountain View on the 10th floor, so we were able to see the sunset from our large window each evening before dinner - just beautiful each night. The bed was comfortable, and the room layout was great. For us, having enough hangers in the closet, access to a safe, a refrigerator and microwave were game changers! The hotel is directly across the street from the Grove Arcade’s shops and restaurants, a five minute walk to the Cherokee Center (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, the show venue) and so close to most everything we did. We did drive to the NC Arboretum our first day and it was one of the highlights of the trip. We did not visit Biltmore because we have been several times before. Our first night at the Cambria we went to the hotel restaurant, Hemingway’s. The service was excellent (shout out to Jules) and food was good. We could see the colors of the sunset, but the building across the street did block the view somewhat. The view from our room, being much higher, was the best. Our second evening we had reservations at the Lobster Trap, a short walk from the hotel. We passed the drummers in a small park nearby and the crowd was delighted around them. The whole vibe was joyous, wherever we walked. The service and food at the Lobster Trap was very good. We had a very funny tour of the city earlier that day on the big purple bus from Lazoom tours. I highly recommend them! On our last full day we had a big breakfast at Early Girl Eatery - very good, and then walked around town hitting the shops before our 3PM matinee show. Later that evening we had the absolutely best meal of our trip. We had 8:00 PM reservations at Modesto Italian restaurant directly across the street from the hotel. The evening weather was perfect so we sat outside. I ordered the Chicken Piccata and my husband had the lamb chops. They were both exquisite. I think Modesto has ruined me now for any other restaurant serving Chicken Piccata! It was truly the best I have ever had. My husband’s lamb was cooked perfectly. The service was wonderful (thank you Sarah A) and the drinks were great too. It was so great to stay at the Cambria where we walked a few steps and could go up to our room. A perfect three days...

I called the hotel to book a room under the FEMA TSA program. I evacuated after the hurricane and I need to come back into town to start the process of rebuilding my life.

The woman who answered the phone said the only way to book a room was to show up, in person, on the day I needed it. Unlike every other hotel in the world, I could not reserve a room. She said I had to (1) call them on the day I needed the room to see if they had any availability and, (2) if they did have some availability, I needed to rush to the hotel to reserve a room in person.

There is no logic, of any kind, to this request. If I’m already staying in Asheville, I don’t need a hotel room. Plus I can not be left with no place to stay, sleep, bath, etc, hoping that one day this property will have a room available for me to reserve. Finally, the ego involved in thinking their customers are going to waste their time and their life to call this property everyday, as if the hotel was some kind of homeless shelter doing people a favor instead of a business providing a service for which it’s getting paid, is beyond outrageous.

The woman who answered the phone was unfriendly and abrupt. This policy is asinine. This facility is a 3 star hotel acting like a 5 star luxury resort. For these reasons, I’m giving it 1 star and I can not recommend it.

Edited: The corporate response is incorrect. There is nothing on the FEMA website that says hotels can not take reservations. Here is the information on the FEMA website: “Call the hotel before you go. Ask the hotel if they have availability for TSA. If they do, PROVIDE YOUR ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME [all caps typed for emphasis]. When you arrive at the hotel, be prepared to provide your FEMA registration number, first and last name, last 4 of digits of your social security number, and a valid photo ID.” There is nothing in this policy that states the hotel can not take reservations or that the person must rush to get a room. Every other hotel I’ve stayed at reserved my room. I also just called a nice 3 star hotel in Asheville and reserved my room starting this Saturday. This companies misreading of the FEMA statement explains the illogical policy they now have in place. FEMA does not require anyone to come back to this area, or to go to any area, with no idea where they’re...

when i checked into the hotel i was told that there was a gas leak a few blocks over downtown but it hasn't affected the hotel and when i asked about a place for food they recommended the restaurant in the hotel. i went to my room to drop off my belongings and headed down to the restaurant, which was pretty much empty. i sat at the bar and the bartender told me that it was drinks only and the kitchen had to be shut down hours ago due to a gas leak. so, zero communication from front desk to the fourth floor. i had just drove 12 hours, so all i wanted was to eat, take a shower and go to sleep. i went back to my room to find out that there was no hot water due to the gas being turned off. i thought to myself whatever, i am staying another night i will shower in the morning. again, no hot water in the AM, so i go down to the front desk and ask if the gas leak was fixed and if i could grab food nearby. the two front desk agents told me that the whole downtown was shut down due to the gas leak and advised me the closest place open would be over in west asheville. i asked if they thought it would be restored soon and they said they didn't know anything. when i got back from breakfast, the front desk said the hot water should probably be working. i went upstairs to find it was NOT. i now called around to another hotel 2 blocks away for them to tell me they never had an issue with the gas..... two blocks away... even though the front desk agents had told me the entire downtown was without gas. so i figured id give it some more time, i went to walk around town for hours and when i came back to my room at 2:30pm, still NO HOT WATER. for the price i was paying to stay at this hotel, i would say it was unacceptable for no hot water. i was a paying guest, i did not have a voucher to stay there. when i should have in fact checked out and asked for my money back for the second night, i did not because the front desk agents seemed pretty helpless at this point, just telling people it was out of their control. I came back to my room after 6pm that evening and there was finally hot water. so no, i would not recommend this hotel to someone. the hotel room was also not cleaned well, as you could see the floor was dirty and there were finger prints all over the glass...