Doubletree Hotel Biltmore / Asheville

The DoubleTree Hotel Asheville - Biltmore occupies a large, red-brick building with a central courtyard and attached TGIFridays. Inside and out, it offers a lot of what you'd expect from a national chain -- homey, tasteful, transitional decor. The lobby features a stone-tiled entry, patterned wall-to-wall carpeting, and a mix of contemporary and traditional upholstered armchairs and couches clustered together in sitting areas throughout a spacious lobby that also has a little grab-and-go marketplace. Hyper-local details make the space feel a little more personal: a museum-like hallway display describes the origins of the site as Biltmore Dairy, and, during our visit, special decor welcomed fans for the SoCon Basketball Championships. The hotel attracts its share of business travelers and visitors to local colleges, but tourists, including couples and families, are major clientele too, especially with Biltmore Estate right next door.

The DoubleTree Hotel Biltmore is ideally located for tourists, just a five-minute walk from Biltmore Village, a charming shopping and dining area, and adjacent to the entrance to Biltmore Estate (a one-minute drive; guests must drive to get into the estate). Driving to downtown Asheville can take between six and 15 minutes, depending on traffic. A shuttle runs to downtown and to Biltmore Village on a regular basis and on request, for a modest fee, and Historic Asheville Trolley Tours picks up and drops off directly from the hotel. On-site parking is free. Asheville Regional Airport is a 15- to 20-minute drive.

As is typical for the Doubletree brand, guest rooms are spacious and comfortable, with neutral decor that ranks somewhere between traditional and slightly dated. Brown wall-to-wall carpeting meets yellow wallpapered walls, while rust-red accents and dark wood furniture finish the look. It's a standard chain-hotel look to be sure, but tastefully done. Bathrooms can be on the small side and feature wallpapered accent walls and combo showers with small tubs. Rooms have individual AC units, desks with ergonomic chairs, 32-inch flat-screen TVs, free standard Wi-Fi, and coffeemakers, plus safes, irons, and ironing boards. Bathrooms are equipped with hairdryers and free individual toiletries. Many rooms have balconies and upper-category rooms add extras like microwaves, mini-fridges (which aren't standard), plus sitting areas or sleeper sofas.  

The hotel has the range of practical and leisure amenities that guests would expect of a Doubletree property. For breakfast, the hotel has a nook off the lobby offering standard continental fare or a more extensive buffet option, with hot choices that guests love, like cooked-to-order omelettes. However, breakfast doesn't come standard with the room rate. Near the reception desk, an area called the Market Place features a nice range of grab-and-go snacks and drinks. For lunch and dinner, a TGI Fridays restaurant and bar is attached to the hotel, with direct access through the lobby. A limited room service menu is offered 24 hours, and guests are given a free warm cookie upon arrival, a Doubletree standard.Wellness amenities include an indoor pool (with depths ranging from three to five feet) and a hot tub, set in an atrium and surrounded by a stone patio. It's serviceable and well-maintained, but it's a modest space and there's no lounging area to speak of. The gym is somewhat characterless as well, though it has modern cardio equipment like treadmills, an elliptical, and a stationary bike with individual screens, plus a full rack of free weights, exercise balls, and medicine balls. The hotel has 12,000 square feet of space for meetings, events, and wedding celebrations, with all the requisite audiovisual and catering services available through the hotel. Business amenities include a computer and printer for guest use, and standard Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel, with faster options available for an extra fee. Outdoor seating is also available near the breakfast room -- though it essentially faces the parking lot, it does feature a brick fireplace, and there's some sitting areas in a nice courtyard garden. The hotel has free parking and offers shuttle service that runs to Biltmore Village and Downtown Asheville for a modest fee; car service can be arranged. Staff offer concierge service, and tickets to the Biltmore Estate can be purchased at the front desk.