Hillwinds Inn

We enjoyed this motel very much. It’s a break from the standard hotel scene. The room was great. Big bed, small fridge, and some seriously hot water! Seriously. Watch your kids in the tub; it could scald. For me, though, I like a steamy, hot bath.
The biggest pro for this place is location, location, location. You can walk pretty much anywhere in Blowing Rock you want to go. We did drive to visit The Blowing Rock because it was a mile away and there’s lots of road construction. We DID walk to dinner at The Best Cellar; five minutes up the road. We passed a couple of restaurants in our short trip. Main Street is ¼ mile away, where all the shops and other restaurants are.
The only con I can think of is the motel walls are thin. We could hear our neighbors talking, showering, etc. .. They weren’t obnoxious and I expected it, to some extent, because of the build of the property.
Overall, for price, location, staff, and coziness, I have to give it 5 stars. I’ve stayed in way worse, for way more.

I’m convinced, CONVINCED, Hillwinds Inn is paying for reviews on Tripadvisor. We just got home from a one night stay — Girls weekend in the mts. I left HIllwinds thinking that i was going to give them three out of five stars. I’ve downgraded that b/​c I can not in good concscious do that. I take my Unilocaling very seriously. Let me break it down for you:
Pros:
1. Awesome location — everything is walkable. Even by my lazy butt.
2. Nice front desk attendant — he was a wealth of info, and very efficient and personable. Gave us good ideas of where to eat and things to do.
3. No two night minimum — it was a home game at Boone and first weekend of fall foliage change. This was one of only a few hotels that had no minimum night stay.
4. Wifi — once figured out (they had several signals w/​the same name so I had to keep trying the code until one connected) — it was really fast. I streamed Netflix no problem.
5. Breakfast — serviceable, we decided not to partake, but if I was on a tight budget I’d make use of it. Plus lots of granola bars and to-​go items that we were able to take with us for later in the day.
Cons:
1. Rooms are dusty, moldy and in desperate need of renovation. Again take a gander over at Tripadvisor. Either these folks have visited an alternate universe, or Hillwinds is paying for reviews… we stayed in 109 for reference.
2. There were missing/​broken bulbs in our room and of the limited outlets (it’s old — I expect that) one of them didn’t work. Good luck charging a cell phone… or seeing anything at night, the lighting is terrible.
3. The bathroom — where to begin. I should have taken a picture for Unilocal.The bathroom fan had been ‘fixed’ by shoving bathroom tissue in the gap as the hole in the ceiling was larger then the fan. WTF. Seriously — I’m pretty sure another guest didn’t do it — so one can only surmise that this was a ‘repair’ done by the hotel. It was just so bootleg — I can’t even… Also, while the shower tile was in really good condition, the grout was very moldy.
4. The A/​C — I realize that I’m in the mts. and maybe you don’t need the A/​C but for one month a year. Well thank goodness — the units are old window units that are half hanging out of the wall. With Black Mold growing around the window casing and A/​C itself.
So in closing — on the surface, this motel is cute. The furnishings are quaint, the lobby is cute and it really is rustic and homey. But when you look beyond and try and hunker down and say relax… ugh. I felt dirty after taking a shower. ’nuff said. I’m sorry — it pains me to leave this review b/​c the kid working at the front desk was so nice.

This hotel is very clean and very centrally located in Blowing Rock. The accomodations are not fancy, but you have everything you need here, and you can walk to a number of places to eat and shop.

We stayed at the Hillwind in the Tarheel Suite for three nights. Loved the fireplace and the balcony. The people are really nice and they have a complimenary expanded continental breakfast included. Plus wine time between 5 – 6 PM. It’s a cool little spot, lots of changing weather with the mountains, great photo opps. Charming village, early night town with dinner over by 9 PM or so. Not far from Boone, North Carolina and Appalachin State. And there’s a Cookout!

This was a great little hotel. The location is walking distance from all the shops and restaurants in Blowing Rock which was nice. We brought our dogs and were a little concerned about the «pet friendly» rooms, but ours was very clean. Rooms are a little on the small side, but still plenty of room. Each night from 5 – 6 they have wine and cheese for the adults and cookies and milk for the kids which was a nice.