Blowing Rock Victorian Inn

My wife and I sent her parents, as a gift, to Blowing Rock, NC and set them up for one night at the Blowing Rock Victorian Inn. According to her parents, it was a wonderful experience. We heard about the wonderful room, the great service and how it was a perfect getaway. They stayed in the «Turret Room» and by all accounts, it was one of the best getaways they have had. That was enough for me to give the Blowing Rock Victorian Inn at least 4 stars.
I have to give it a 5 star rating because the service aspect went above and beyond. Because it was a gift, I had reserved the room on my credit card online. I wanted to make sure that my in-​laws would not have any issue with check-​in, so I gave the Victorian Inn a call. I spoke with Ted Henry, one of the owners. Ted made sure everything was copacetic, emailed me my receipt and even texted me once my in-​laws arrived letting me know they were checked in. I expect this type of service from a Marriott (my usual hotel of choice), but to get the same type of personal, top-​rate service from a small hotel in Blowing Rock, NC greatly impressed me.
If you’re looking to escape to the Blowing Rock or Boone areas of North Carolina, I would highly recommend booking your stay at the Blowing Rock Victorian Inn.
I would hurry though… with this kind of service and wonderful accommodations, they’ll be booked solid quickly.

Before I sat down to write this review, I had to cool down for an hour or so.
I had booked the Garden Suite at the Victorian Inn about 5 days ago. Hubs and I are travelling along the Blue Ridge Parkway and needed a place to stay overnight. After reading seemingly countless hotel and B&B sites, I decided to book with the Victorian Inn. They had a suite available for the night and, best of all, it was ground floor.
Hubs has had back surgery and ankle problems for years. When I book travel, I try to get a downstairs room because he won’t have to haul luggage upstairs. Also, sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night due to pain. After he takes a pain pill, he likes to read for awhile to allow the medication to kick in so that he can return to bed. In a regular hotel room, that means he sits on the toilet seat — neither comfortable nor a pretty picture. You can understand how happy I was when I found this suite available. So, I completed their reservation process and was content that the issue was resolved.
Five days later, in the midst of cleaning my floors (UGH), I received a call from the Inn. Seems their «computer» made a mistake and I should not have been allowed to book this room for that night since there was a «two night minimum» for the suites. The caller offered one of their upper floor rooms instead and I felt she was pushing me to make a decision immediately. I told her I was in the middle of something else and couldn’t make such a decision. She also informed me that it would be difficult for me to make a single night reservation in Blowing Rock because everybody requires a two night stay. I asked her twice to just cancel the reservation. Within the hour, I booked a single night at another location.
In the hospitality industry, customer service is everything. If I were the Innkeeper, I would have explained the mix-​up and, possibly, offered one of the following:
1. Allow the one night stay. It’s April, NOT prime season. She may have lost a night of lodging income, but she would have had a happy customer. Guess the money was more important.
2. Offer the upper rooms at some sort of discount (10−25% would have been nice) to offset the inconvenience to me, her customer. And with this, offer assistance with taking our luggage up to the room so that my husband doesn’t have to drag them up.
3. At a minimum, give me her name and telephone number and request that I give it some thought and call her back when I am not busy.
Instead of any of these, I found her brusque and the conversation caught me off guard. I ended the call feeling that I had been brushed off and nearly threatened that if I did not book one of the other rooms with her, I would find nothing else in the area. I’m glad I took the chance for no way would I stay at the Victorian.
I can only assume that she was somewhat embarrassed that her «computer» had made this mistake and had no idea how she came across on the phone. Since the Inn has such wonderful reviews, this probably was just an error, but blaming the «computer» for a mistake is overdone and unprofessional. I’m glad I’m staying elsewhere, but you will most likely enjoy your stay.