Leatherwood Mountains Cabin Rentals — Hotel in Blowing Rock

We reserved a rental house called “Sacred Ground” at Leatherwood Mountains Resort in July, planning to stay a full week in September. We stayed only one night due to seeing a dangerous growth of mold on a bedroom ceiling from a leak; plus, a dead baby snake found in another bedroom. The house was dirty and dusty: filthy sink and tub in main bathroom, clumps of dog hair in the return air ducts and on stairs, dead bugs in ceiling light fixtures and on floors, greasy stove, spring pollen-coated patio furniture, window blinds covered in dust. This could have been prevented by proper quality control and pre-arrival inspections, along with proper and thorough cleaning. (Obviously, the mold rendered the house not habitable and needed remediation, but the trip could have been cancelled in advance, saving car rental cost, time off from work, and lots of time packing food for the week.) Fortunately, we brought our own bed linens, so the children were able to sleep on the main level couches away from the two lower-level bedrooms. Of course, we checked out the next morning. The staff was empathetic, offering a different rental house or a refund. However, the refund process added to an already stressful event because it became “the check is in the mail” situation. After some time, we had to resolve it using the dispute process through our credit card company. To improve for future guests, we recommend: 1) This house needs a thorough cleaning, dusting, and some updates 2) implement a quality control system to check on cleanliness and condition several days in advance to allow notice if the house is not ready, and then do a final check the day before check in (staff is on site so it’s not hard to do). 3) fix things that don’t befit a $395/night house: replace burned out light bulbs; repair sliding bathroom door that doesn’t close all the way in main bedroom; replace glass in patio door—it’s fogged and ruins the beautiful views; replace washer and dryer with standard size units—the current ones hold only 2 cubic feet and take an hour and forty minutes just to wash; related to that, don’t make guest pay a cleaning fee yet require them start a load of laundry of linens before check out (which also raises questions about the Sanitizing pledge) along with running the dishwasher and unloading it—all before the 11 am checkout; put trash cans on site and arrange garbage pick-up after stay—for now, guests need to try to fit trash in the car to take to the dumpster at the main gate that is 10 minutes...

Serenity Now...was the name of the rental property, where we stayed. It was a charming cabin in the NC mountains. This was our first visit to this property. Upon arrival, everything was very clean and inviting. There was a welcome bag of gourmet popcorn waiting for us. We travel a lot, and this cabin had most everything you would want.||This place had so many extras. Most places leave you with one extra roll of toilet paper. Serenity Now, was so well-stocked. Not just TP, but body wash, shampoo, conditioner, makeup removers, contact lens solution, and so much more. The kitchen was great as well. I wanted to make a Mississippi Pot Roast, and brought my own crock pot from home. My hubby was looking through the cabinets, and found a crock pot!||There was foil, plastic wrap, a great assortment of glassware and plates. There were cookie sheets, baking pans as well as frying pans and utensils. The coffee bar was great!! There was a Keurig, many selections of sweeteners, creamers, Torni Syrups, teas and coffee pods. There was biscotti, little lemon cookies and chocolate covered walnuts. ||We slept in the upstairs bedroom , and the bed was very comfy. There was pretty good water pressure as well. We were met with a 4' black snake upon arrival. My husband thought he was stepping on a water hose, lol. Mr. Snake hurled himself off the porch into the woods. The cabin had so many books, card games, games for kids and a cute little tee-pee area for wee ones to nap in. They also have a very nice fire pit. ||I only have one complaint. While the hot tub was beautiful and large, we had to wait 24 hours for the temperature to be up to 104 degrees. When we look for a cabin, we use having hot tubs as one of the filters. Since we only stayed 2 nights, it would have been nice to have had use of the hot tub both nights. My back is old, lol. ||We look forward to visiting again! ...

We’ve been going to Leatherwood for several years now. At least once a year. In the beginning it seemed very personable, private. The past 2 visits just didn’t have that feeling. The first of those two visits was in a fabulous cabin. Very clean, no bugs (always an issue in the mtns) but the day of our check-out which is 11:00am, we were all packed up and doing everything they ask you to do. They ask you to do a lot that I think should be done by the housekeeping crew seeing that you have to pay a cleaning fee of $100+. A lady drove up to our cabin. Our car was still there parked out front and you could clearly see through all the open glass windows that we were still there. It was only 10:00am. She knocks on the door and says (doesn’t ask, says) she’s going to go start cleaning the hot tub. I was really shocked. This has never happened before. So I said uh ok....I later take all the used towels downstairs to the laundry room and see that she had come in downstairs and also started a load of laundry. I was not happy. Left many complaints about it to Leatherwood and never heard anything back. The 2nd time..... we went and stayed at another nice cabin that was down a terrible driveway. Almost ruined a tire. The stay there was fine. After a week of returning home, my husband gets an email saying that the cleaning crew said that there were signs of a pet and we should be charged an extra $75. We NEVER take a pet. Never. And I always leave the cabins spotless. If I can pay $2000 to stay in the cabin, I can pay $75 for my pet. It was a pet free cabin, which is what I always look for because I don’t want to stay where others have brought their pets. After some back and forth, We said we didn’t bring a pet and they didn’t charge us. It’s just something, once again that shouldn’t have happened. Just doesn’t have the same friendly...