Holiday Inn Express Blowing Rock South

It’s a Holiday Inn Express and the room was fine. The front desk staff were on their cell phones texting when I walked in and seemed to be playing a game of who can ignore the customer the longest.

TIP. Major road construction in the area. Normal entrance is blocked. Watch for small 2×2 sign about a tenth of a mile north of the hotel. GPS directions will be a bit off. Also, no lighting in the parking lot near the main road. Back of hotel has good lighting and is now the temporary main entrance.
So to confirm and counter earlier reviews. True, the toilet lid will not stay up. Apparently the management does not seem to think this is a big enough issue to fix. Water pressure seemed fine to me as did the water temperature. Beds were good and each bed had four pillows. On the downside, the bed near the air conditioning unit gets a lot of direct air. I had to build a pillow wall to keep the air off of me while still keeping the room comfortable. The room had both a small fridge and a microwave. And a coffee pot of course. Both the room and the entire facility was clean and seemed to be in good repair.
Most of the staff was pleasant excepting the person who checked us in on day one. Not that she was rude but she did lack the friendliness I have grown used to in the area. The breakfast was better than most economy hotels. The biggest drawback of this facility is that it totally lacks a cool place to sit outside and enjoy the mountains. There are a number of really cool motels in Blowing Rock that have great gardens, seating areas, and even fire pits so that you can enjoy the mountains while in the mountains. I would strongly urge this facility to add a great outdoor area so that they can better compete.
Overall an ok economy motel.

Great location. 8 miles from Boone. Walk home from The Woodlands BBQ joint. Friendly staff. This place works much better for women however. I’ve been waiting years for them to fix the issue with the toilets. Have a sit down men because the lid is going to fall on you you.

How does anyone give a run of the mill, highway hotel 5 stars? This hotel is moderately clean but smallish rooms. The water pressure sucks and you can’t lift the toilet seat all the way up because the counter top being in the way. The beds are average and the pillows seem newer and they do give you 2 soft and 2 firm on a king bed. The hallway was noisy all night as people don’t know how to close a door without letting it slam. I could hear the next room very easily when tv is turned down. The clocks are still the old style where there isn’t any connection for iPhone and there wasn’t any charging station for all the techy stuff. The breakfast was above average with a auto pancake machine (no messing with batter) and they had fresh scrambled eggs, sausage patties, biscuits and gravy along with all the other typical breakfast items.

So far, not great. Kids running up and down the halls all night, now not enough water pressure to take a shower and intermittent how water.

Typical Holiday Inn Express. Parking lot in the back area could be a little more lit up, but that’s really the only «complaint» I could think of. Pool seemed a little sketchy since it was older, but I did not actually go in. Breakfast was good (typical eggs, cereal, pancakes, sausage etc), check-​in/​out was fast and easy and there are many restaurants within a mile of the hotel.
The customer service here was outstanding in my eyes. When I got to the room, the drain in the shower seemed to be backed up. I called the front desk and let them know and literally within minutes someone was knocking on the door to get it fixed. My first night, the fire alarm went off at 2am due to smoke in a vent, and although everyone had to stand outside in the cold for about 30−45min, when I approached the manager about compensation, she had no qualms with me requesting a full night refund.
In a nut shell, customer service was great, hotel was clean and I left very satisfied. I would go back without question.

A solid, reliable hotel that’s pretty much the same as other Holiday Inns all over the country.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Blowing Rock as part of our road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is significant construction on the road leading to the hotel, so keep your eyes open for the entrance as it tends to sneak up on you pretty quickly.
Check-​in was easy and efficient (paid $ 159 for a Friday night in October), and the woman processing our information was very nice, even to the guy in front of us asking all sorts of inane questions. She even offered recommendations on food places nearby, and discounts to those places for staying at the Holiday Inn. We received a 10% discount to the nearby Foggy Rock and high praise from the front desk lady. We were not disappointed — if you’re staying here, GO TO FOGGY ROCK FOR LUNCH/​DINNER. The food is delicious.
The room itself was great — clean, well maintained, the beds were comfortable, not too cold/​hot etc. The walls seem to be particularity thin, as my girlfriend and I were awoken by a couple fighting in the next room at 2 AM (nothing good ever happens after 2 AM). Like the other reviewer said, for some reason they have a shelf area over the toilet (as part of the vanity/​sink) was too low such that it wouldn’t allow you to keep the toilet seat up. At first I was appalled, then I realized that I would never forget to leave the toilet seat down, sparing me the wrath of an angry girlfriend. MAVERICKS.
But this is a food blog, so let’s talk hotel continental breakfast. It was pretty standard and what you would expect: eggs, sausage, biscuits & gravy (we are in the South after all), various juices, coffee, danishes, muffins, bagels etc. The one thing I did see they had was a pancake maker, although I didn’t get the chance to use it. I’ve seen waffle makers before but not a pancake maker. Fascinating.
Overall, based upon the awesome food recommendation and the innovative toilet seat, I give this place four stars. It didn’t wow me but it was perfectly okay.

We were there two nights to see the fall color; alas we saw a lot more of the fall fog. But that meant we were socked in to the HIE room for most of a day as well as two nights. It was clean, the beds were pretty comfortable, the WIFI was good, enough TV channels, adequate breakfasts, free USNWRs, friendly service. Very close to Woodlands BBQ which turned out to be valuable; it kept us off the road in the pea soup fog for a day.
Not five stars because the beds had become wearing by the time we left; not quite soft enough I think. Then there’s the non-​critical but nagging toilet problem and the fact they didn’t have a sign bright enough to clearly see in fog, which is not unusual enough there; we drove right past it and had to turn around and come back which was less pleasant in the fog.
We would go back.

Though Holiday Inns aren’t usually known for their personality or character, they do excel at their primary goal: providing a reliable experience across the entire chain.
So while this particular hotel is a bit further from the downtown section of Blowing Rock, it is, regardless, a perfectly fine hotel. A free breakfast is included each morning before 9:30AM, and free coffee is available around the clock.
There’s plenty of parking, and some of the suites are almost palatial in size.
The only minor quibble I have is one that is echoed by another reviewer: the toilet placement.
You see, the toilet is located partially underneath a marble vanity shelf. And while attractive, the vanity shelf prevents the toilet seat from opening to it’s full extent. As a result, if you’re of the masculine gender, you’re going to be forced to hold the seat up with one hand while you perform your typical, ummm, maneuvers.
I guess one could sit down, though, and obviate the whole problem, I suppose.
Regardless, it’s a good hotel at a decent price. And if you’re looking for something a bit less «rustic» than some of the mom-​n-​pop lodging closer to downtown, it’s well worth considering.
As a side note, there is an awesome barbecue restaurant within walking distance, with live music most every night, and sporting some of the best pulled-​pork and ribs I’ve had in quite some time. Make sure to drop by.

Great place to stay. VERY clean, room was excellent, nice beds, bathroom was great, breakfast was top notch for a regular hotel, bacon, eggs, sausage, etc. Price was unbelievably fair, paid $ 66 a night. Has an indoor pool but I didn’t use it, wish they had a hot tub but I can’t complain. I’d stay there again for sure.

We had a mixed experience in this hotel. The room was clean and well maintained. But the customer service of both the 2 different front desk ladies are horrible. Both was very moody and unprofessional. the male front receptionist was courteous and helpful but the other 2 ladies made us seem unwelcomed and a bother to them. If you want a good clean room with bad customer service, this a decent place to stay. Really though, if they could be properly trained for their job, this place can be one of the better hotel in the boone — blowing rock area. But sadly seems like they dont care how they treat the customers.

Really excellent hotel — everything was fresh and clean — looked like it had been recently redone. Staff was very helpful and coffee was ready around the clock. Breakfast was just right. Loved our stay.

I am a Holiday Inn Rewards patron, and I was able to book this room with my points. Nice, clean room, although it was designed definitely in the 70s, and hasn’t been updated since unfortunately. Our
room had microwave/​refrig and typical flat screen tv nothing special beyond that. Overall, enjoyable stay was ok just for my one-​night stay.

This place is pretty nice. It’s cleaner than the Holiday Inn Express in Boone. And it has widescreen TVs in the rooms. The price is great.

If there were a zero, I’d give it. The front desk gave the crib that we reserved away. This resulted in 3 out of 4 kids & both adults in the room being up all night. The kids are screaming and crying. The worst part is the woman at the front desk looked me right in the face and lied about it. I abhor dishonesty. I am so disgusted right now. I am sure tomorrow at the amusement park is going to be tons of fun with 5 out of 6 people being up all night. Thanks Holiday Inn Express for ruining our vacation. Thanks.