Chetola Resort — Hotel in Blowing Rock

We visited Blowing Rock and chose Chetola to celebrate my wife's birthday in early January, 2024. This hotel is broken, dirty, noisy, and we guess the owners have no interest in the guest experience. Our stay here has set the low bar for our worst hotel experience ever. When we arrived we were told there is no heat in the hotel or in our room. Space heaters were placed in common areas (the one outside our room did not work), and we were told to rely on our fireplace to heat the room. This news was presented to us as if it were just part of the check-in routine, as if nothing was wrong. There was no compensation offered for the inconvenience.

I wanted to find another hotel, but after driving 5 hours, my wife convinced me to take a minute before making that decision. We went to their pub to have a beer and something to eat and as we made our way there, we passed the closed main dining room which was shielded by large plastic sheets taped into place. We were later told there was a leak. In order to access the dining area, we would need to walk through the employee break room / storage area. Maybe this area could have been decluttered knowing guests would need access to it. Looking around we saw food, dust balls, and other particles all over the entire floor, like the place hadn't been cleaned or even vacuumed properly for a restaurant. The table tops were sticky so it felt pretty gross being there. Fast forward to day 3 and I will tell you that throughout the inn, we saw the same food, particles, and dust clumps in the exact same locations in the dining areas, lounges, hallways, and stairways we walked. It was pretty clear that no one uses a vacuum. While we sat in the pub waiting for our food I decided to search for other hotels. I was shocked to see that Chetola was advertising $158 per night. Half of what we were paying. The frustration is building.

No heat, closed dining room, uncleanliness, and high pricing without acknowledgement that there is a problem.

I have no issues paying $310 a night in a hotel as long as we're getting a $310 a night experience.

The band plays nightly directly below our room. It might be a courtesy to let the guests know who reserve this room that it is the case. The front door, also below the room, makes a loud, long creaking sound and a bang, making it impossible to fall asleep to this happening at random times. A loud generator / fan ran late into the night below us in the closed dining room. At 12:30 am on night 3, I got dressed and went downstairs to see what the noise was. I met a man who told me the generator / fan cannot be turned off because it needs to stay on to kill the mold. Outside our room, the guest room and exit doors slammed incessantly when closed by others, and guests using their jacuzzi tubs could be heard late into the night as well. We get it - these things happen at many hotels but they were all adding up to what would be a very unrestful stay, which is ironic because the room key card reads "A Haven of Rest", and this is the most disruptive experience we've had at a hotel ever.

We spoke with Grace at the front desk who said she would speak with management and get back to us. No one contacted us. We sent an email hoping to reach the owners to share our experience privately rather than posting a public review. Here is their impersonal generic response, offering us a discount to return which we will not do.

First and foremost I sincerely apologize that your stay with us was not up to par. I do appreciate the feedback and certainly will pass this along to the appropriate departments as well so we can make the necessary improvements going forward. I would also like to extend a 15% rebooking discount in hopes that you would give us the opportunity to redeem ourselves. Should you choose to use this discount, please keep this email in a secure location. Again, I sincerely appreciate you sharing this with us. If there is anything else we can do for you, please don't hesitate to reach out. Warmest Regards, Chetola...

Poor Check-In, Broken Promise, and No Follow-Up — Not a 4-Star Experience

I’m an IHG member and sometimes stay at 4-star Kimpton & Hotel Indigo properties, so when I booked a two-night condo stay at Chetola—marketed as a 4-star resort with a 4.5-star Google rating—I expected something on par with a 4-star hotel (or close). What my wife and I actually experienced was a long chain of missteps, a broken promise, and total radio-silence afterwards.

Booking & Expectations -Reserved a condo two months in advance for mid-June, 2025. -Picked Chetola for its in-town Blowing Rock location and excellent reviews, plus 4-star rating.

Day-of Arrival (3:30 p.m.) -Security directed us to “Building 2,” yet the campus signage is so vague we drove in circles (front desk staff later jokingly confirmed this with me...so why not fix it?) -Called the front desk three times in the car; I could hear them, but they couldn’t hear me—my issue, since Verizon is sketchy in the area I later learned. -Finally found check-in; clerk was courteous but said the condo wasn't ready, but would be ready at 4 p.m. (the official latest check-in time). We killed 30 minutes at the bar with soft drinks (I was fighting a bad cold).

After 4 p.m.—Still No Room -Drove up to our room and walked into 105 after 4 p.m. to find housekeeping. Towels & linen everywhere...they said nobody had told them about the rental. What? -Parking fiasco: I’d parked in spot #2 because #5—which actually belongs to 105—was blocked by a large SUV. A condo resident then pulled up and loudly scolded me for using “her” space. I had no clue. I told her I was just trying to get into a unit that wasn't ready. After some more awkward conversation she apologized, to her credit. But at this point I was at, "what am I doing here?"

Escalation & Reassignment -Returned to Guest Services deeply frustrated. -Front desk went back to talk to the manager on duty. -The manager apologized, moved us to another building, and—in front of the clerk—promised a one-night discount for the series of issues and horrible first impression. I thanked her and appreciated it. -The new building and unit had clearly labeled parking with three digits; small victory. -Interior was functional but dated/meh—more like an average 3-star condo than a 4-star resort. -I was exhausted from the drive, being sick, and all the headaches so we unpacked and did our two nights.

Checkout & Missing Discount -Went to the front desk, turned in our keys & cards, and mentioned the discount. Associate said my folio would arrive by email and left it at that. -When I check my email a few days later there's NO discount as promised. Nothing. Just the other 50% of the bill. Unacceptable.

Follow-Up & Ignored Calls -Jun 19: Called Guest Services and talked to the same clerk during the check-in fiasco; he remembered the discount promise since was standing there at the time. He apologized and said he’d text & email the manager to call me next day. Cool. But no callback. -Jun 24: Called Guest Services → oddly went to voicemail; left my name & number. No response. -Jun 26: Called again, same voicemail loop; left detailed message. Then tried calling again with option 6, but got voicemail again. No response. -Jun 30: Tried both Guest Services & Reservations (option 1 figuring someone would answer). Both calls dumped to voicemail. -Still no response 2+ weeks later; full charge remains on my card. -So, 4 documented attempts trying 6 times, 0 response. The manager’s face-to-face promise = worthless.

Conclusion -I honestly don't know how it has a 4.5 score on Google, they're normally pretty accurate. (My cynical guess? A bunch of owners are ginning up the reviews to rent their units more.) Between the horrible check-in, parking lot fiasco, a mediocre condo, being lied to about a promised discount, and then wasting my time getting blown off for 2 weeks what else can I say? Other than in hindsight we should have stayed somewhere else, like The Embers, The Getaway BR, etc.; plenty of options...

CHETOLA RESORT, BLOWING ROCK: THE GOOD, BAD & UGLY||So many difficulties with these people including the front desk staff & manager.| |1. First, let me state that CHETOLA, on the outside exterior, is a beautiful place, landscaping, manicured grounds, small lake; just a special place. Really nice appearance. Then, you go inside:||2. After check-in, front desk staff immediately overcharged my AMEX by $1,132.38 for a 3-night stay, even after I had paid a deposit of ~$400 weeks before. This overcharge in itself was as much as my initial 3-night room stay as quoted by CHETOLA. This made my nightly room cost almost $800/night for a standard 2 Bdrm hotel room. So, I spent almost an hour the next day showing them how absurd and stupid that charge was. Finally, she admitted their mistake and, of course, blamed it on the “System” instead of herself. A Credit was finally issued. So, I waste an hour of vacation time being harassed by CHETOLA RESORT as to my final room charge.||3. Then, the 1st night my wife is showering in 3”-4” of waste bath water because the drain backs up. And of course, I face the same filthy waste water when I shower the next morning. So, waste time again and go to the front desk and ask for maintenance to unplug shower drain. And their reply is always, “oh yes sir, our folks will unplug that today, no problem.” (REALLY??).||4. And that 1st morning, my wife cannot even put her makeup on at the small desk provided in the room. Unbelievable, because there is NO LIGHT anywhere on that side of the room. There should be either a wall light or a table lamp at the desk area, where people work, read, makeup, etc. So, my wife has to sit at the balcony to do makeup.||5. Speaking of NO LIGHTS on that side of room, the coffee maker was in such a dark location, again no light. You could hardly see where the water is poured into maker. Wife had to get out her small flashlight so we could see adequately. It is obvious that CHETOLA has deliberately cut costs everywhere they can, even at the inconvenience of their guests. DAMN RIDICULOUS.||6. At 2nd night, guess what is happening in the shower?? Wife is showering once again in 3”-4” of bath wastewater. Obviously, no one did a damn thing that day to unplug the shower drain. No one checked on it, no one called to see if everything OK, NOTHING from CHETOLA staff or management.||7. Next morning again to the front desk and request a manager to solve the problem. Out comes “Warren” and I barely start to explain the problem and lack of attention to it by the maintenance dept when he begins to interrupt my conversation. Only to state what a great maintenance staff they have and it will be unplugged. He seemed like an automatic robot only saying what they apparently teach these people to say when they know they have a problem, but won’t admit it to the guest. He continually interrupted us to state his prepared bull____.||8. I told him how damn RIDICULOUS & DISTURBING it was that my wife & I are spending a lot of vacation time trying to correct their own damn problems INTERNALLY that are directly affecting us during this stay. Overcharging fiasco, no maintenance for 2 days while we wash in dirty waste water. Not even mentioning the lack of adequate lighting in the room. He was almost rude in the way he kept interrupting our problems and he would not entertain anything that would at least show they wanted to make up for their internal problems and the difficulty it was making for our lost vacation time.||9. As stated earlier, it is a beautiful resort on the outside exterior, but internally it is a DAMN JOKE and highly DISRESPECTFUL to their guests. At least in our case it was. “Warren” should be sent back to Hotel 101 school and taught how to listen and help guests who are dismissed by his manners (or lack thereof) and train him and the front desk staff who are inadequately prepared in...