The Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa — Restaurant in Asheville

Let me preface this review by saying that I have had the pleasure of staying at some of the finest hotels in the world. I currently hold lifetime status at both American and United Airlines and am a Lifetime Marriott Titanium Elite member. |So we arrived at the Omni and it was majestic to pick a word. Our expectations were high based on the online description and the beautiful property. Unfortunately they did very little to live up to the expectations which they had set. This is truly a 2 star property at a 5 star + price.|Where do I start:|Check in was lengthy but smooth until I followed their directions to park. My key would not work in the gate so I pulled a ticket. I had sent my partner to the room from the lobby along with Chico, my traveling Bicheon, so that there would be someone to accept the luggage from the bellman. After a bit I decided to go to the lobby and check on luggage.|This place is massive and sprawling and it sadly lacking good signage to help guests get where they want to go easily. After wandering around lost for more than 15 minutes and touring the spa and other “caves” I finally found my way to the concierge desk. They checked on the luggage which was still waiting to be delivered, I gave them the parking ticket to which they responded that the gate was inconsistent and “acting up” but they remade my key just in case. I commented on being lost and the lack of directional signage and the concierge commented that the GM didn’t like signs and the ones that did exist were so small they were easy to miss.|After finding my way back to the room we waited an additional 20 minutes for our luggage and needed to rush in order to make our dinner reservation at Edison. As it turns out, there was no need to be in a rush. We arrived on time. There were two other groups waiting…and waiting….and waiting to just check in for our reservation but the host station was totally ignored for almost 15 minutes despite numerous employees scurrying around arranging menus etc. Finally the hostess broke away from her socializing to help us. In all fairness, it may have been her breaktime and likely management’s fault that customers were not being taken care of.|So far, not such good impressions.|Since this is lengthy, I will just recap the other issues.|1- Bathroom – The shower was awful. First of all the shower head was so high my partner could not reach it and I barely could on tippy toes. The water pressure was very weak and the shower head looked like a $5 Lowes bargain head. There are no grab bars in the shower so for us older individuals it is very unsafe. The bathroom amenities were so tiny that there was not enough body was for two people.|2- Housekeeping was hit or miss and they did not bother to replace the bath amenities one day and the in room coffee the next day. Also it appeared that it was no one’s responsibility for upkeep in the halls at we watched room service items sit on the floor in the hallway for 2 days. Also they appear to have a practice of using cups to throw water on the windows. I got caught in the “splash zone” while they were busy “cleaning” the windows and the water was being thrown out the windows onto the walkway. |3- The bed was very uncomfortable, and the pillows were awful. Between that and the constant mechanical roar that was funneled through our room we barely slept the 3 nights we were there . The shower and bed at the $69 Baymont Inn I stayed at recently was far superior.|4- The Omni is “pet friendly” for a friendly fee of $250 and per their website is supposed to include dog amenities like bowls and treats. Those were not offered to us. Also the “poop disposal” can was next to overflowing the first night and for the consecutive days it was never emptied. It was gross and we started disposing of our bags in another trash bin elsewhere because it smelled so badly and we did not want to even touch the can to open the lid. You would think for $250 per pet they could at least dump the trash.|In general, this was a very pedestrian stay that nowhere lived up to the promise of luxury. We would have been far more well served to stay at one of the hotels in downtown Asheville which likely would have been more comfortable and far more convenient. Unless you are a golfer, the Omni is somewhat isolated in comparison to everything else Asheville has to offer. Don’t get sucked in by the promise of a high end hotel experience. This place does not even come close to a Ritz, St. Regis, a Mandarin, a Four Seasons or a Shang-ra-la even though they promote it and...

My family and just stayed at the grove park for Christmas, if you’re planning to go DONT! It’s not like it was when under previous ownership, the food was terrible, cheap and stale, they charge you for 5 star accommodations and you get budget with a great view, here is my email to the manager explaining what happened during my stay:

Hi Daniel

I appreciate you asking, I booked this Christmas trip for my family (two rooms 1171 & 1173), I stayed here several years ago and I was very impressed with the property and the dining, I bragged about it all the time and finally got the time to come back and introduce my Brother and his wife to the Grove Park.

To say it has been a great disappointment would be an understatement, it’s so sad how this once great property has fallen. When I arrived the check in was pleasant, and we came up to our rooms, the rooms were very cold and it took me calling the hotel operator to get an engineer to come fix the issue. I had booked breakfast for the ne next morning so I called room service, which I was informed was shut down since the Hurricane and only available for breakfast which was not mentioned on the website. We ordered Uber eats. The next morning we went to the breakfast buffet, I remember this buffet the last time I came and it was amazing, not this time. When we were seated the seat covers had food and food stains on them, the column next to us had food stains on it, the floor was slippery and food particles all over it. We went to the buffet and wow, it was day old pastries, most of the self serve silver treys were empty and the ones that had good remaining the serving spoons were caked with food residue. I ordered egg whites from the only server that was cooking and he gave me egg whites out of a container then proceeded to doze the eggs with so much salt it was inedible, the pancaked and waffle are the same ones you buy in the freezer section of the grocery stone and the French toast was hard and did not taste like French toast, we ended up not eating breakfast. I also booked a month earlier the Christmas buffet, so I convinced my Brother that it would be a different experience since they would be serving it freshly cooked, arrived at 7pm on the 24th, same experience with the cleanliness, the selections were minimal, meaning there was only a bucket of bread to choose from and it was the same stale hamburger bun, all the silver treys were the same as breakfast, mist the food was gone, what remained had serving spoons caked on remains from earlier that day, the deserts were from I guess a local bakery, something you would see at a Golden Corral, but the worse thing of all, they were out of the Turkey, out of the Beef and the lady serving the remaining Ham was hesitant to give you more that 4oz for the fear they would run out of that. Suffice to say, we paid our bill (close to $300) and left to find food.

Other issues involved the club level, the breakfast served is very limited, no bacon, no croissants, what they had looked and felt hard and left over, the Coffee pots are mostly empty after breakfast with only a remaining container of hot water left to make tea, on top of that, their printer does not work, etc. I did order breakfast this morning from room service at 7:45am, food showed up at 9:30, missing the toast and fresh berries, at that point, I didn’t even complain as it was assumed that was going to our experience.

House cleaning was great, the only issue is a few of the towels they left in room has large dark stains on them (took pics), but other that that, was satisfactory.

Purchased spa passes, try to cancel the night before, but was told I would be charged a penalty, the penalty is the same cost of the spa passes, why not say there is no refund? And I’m not sure why the hotel couldn’t refund the passes as they told me there was a long waiting list for cancellations, I was told the Spa management was not part of the hotel?

For the money I spent, this was unacceptable, I don’t like writing bad reviews, but this experience was so bad I don’t see...

Oofah this place is a MONEY PIT.

I’ll say off the bat that the building itself & the views are absolutely gorgeous. The building is steeped in history & well-maintained, & the property is set up that you’re always looking at great views. The building and property is the ONLY reason Grove Park Inn gets 2 stars instead of 1 from me.

Why the hell did I pay to spend the night on property?? I feel like I got SWINDLED. I booked for a few nights for a solo birthday trip, wanting a relaxing spa vibe for myself. I didn’t realize that hotel guests are not granted access to the spa, you still have to pay $250 per person for a day pass to the spa. That’s literally JUST to use the pools/sauna rooms, and doesn’t include any services or treatments. Not even a discount for hotel guests?? The spa is plastered all over the website but it is very poorly communicated that guests have to pay for a day pass. Spa access should definitely be included for guests who are paying to stay on property, but at the barest minimum give a discounted rate for hotel guests who are spending $400+ a night to experience the property. And don’t even get me started on the cost of services. Over $300 (incl tip and service charge) for a 50 minute massage is INSANE. Also the no-tech policy (including e-readers) is ridiculous. First of all, an e-reader is not a streaming/gaming device. It is literally just my book, in a more sustainable form. It is on airplane mode 100% of the time unless I’m downloading a book. And travelers can’t always bring physical books for space reasons. Charging people $250 for access and then policing how they get to relax is insane. As a solo traveler who had to just silently listen to all of the girls groups & couples yammer away while I could not be on my phone or e-reader, the no electronics policy actively hindered my ability to enjoy my spa day.

I really disliked my check-in process. I’ve had a more thorough orientation from a hostel check-in. It was ridiculously quick & transactional, handed me my room key and a pamphlet of activities (no map!) and sent me on my way. Particularly for a larger property like this, I would have hoped for a map walkthrough, show me activity & shopping options, talk to me about the hours of everything, when & how to get reservations for food and the spa, etc. To get information like that, I was kicked between 2 different guest services desks before finally landing with a concierge who would help me, but even then he was really only answering my specific questions and wasn’t down to just freely give me information. He seemed surprised I was asking at all.

The hours of the resort businesses were weird too. A lot of shopping as well as a few of the bars were only open Friday to Sunday, even during the peak summer season. Doesn’t really feel like the kind of vacation where you can just relax until you forget the day of the week when things are only open Fri-Sun.

The bed was also not comfortable at all. They use top sheets substituted for fitted sheets so the sheets bunched up a ton throughout the night. I know other hotels do this but it is a hotel practice I HATE and will always dock a star for. The mattress pad was clumped up & created lumps under the sheets. The comforter was paper thin. I called to ask for another comforter, they told me there was another one in the room, but nope it was an even thinner blanket.

A few other ridiculous charges…$30-40 a day for parking, $10 a night for wifi, $30 for breakfast buffet, ridiculously high upcharges for anything at the Marketplace.

Overall, this is a property that boasts luxury & a roster of A-list guests over its history but don’t get it twisted, these are 5-star prices for a 3-star experience AT BEST. I’d give anything to go back & book at a different hotel and&just spend the money for a day pass at the spa. I am truly so heartbroken I am out almost $2,000 for just 2 nights & spa at this place for my birthday weekend with this bad experience. Management, if you’re reading this, I WANT MY...