Fred B.
Yelp
This is a luxury hotel, and it is by definition not inexpensive, but it is worth the price, imo. I picked this place after reading through all the Yelp reviews, and I picked it almost as much for the negative reviews as the positive ones. The relatively few negative reviews seemed like isolated situations, or were the results of someone not doing their homework about the hotel, what it is, what it is not, and where it is located.
The location is excellent if a visit to Biltmore is on your agenda, or if you are content to dine at the Red Stag Grill (which is excellent, but that's a separate review) - otherwise it has less to offer than some other hotels. The traffic is always very busy, and most of the better eating places are in the downtown area, 2+ miles away. The manner in which the front entrance is setup (it is enclosed, rather small, with narrow entrance and exit points) makes it a bit of a nightmare to loan and unload if they are busy. This is somewhat off set by the excellent job the valet parking and bell personnel do.
The interior of the hotel lobby area is an interesting mixture of hunting lodge decor (stuffed animal heads, large open fire place) and an art gallery - paintings all over the place, every floor, every room. These paintings are for sale, and run into the low to medium 4 figure range - we passed.
The rooms are very nicely appointed, the beds and pillows soft and comfortable. The bathrooms are large, the shower is massive, and the shower head moves water at an incredible rate. They now have opaque doors in the area that encloses the commode - so those concerns have been addressed - at least in the main hotel building - not sure about the Manor Building across the street where the rooms with spa tubs are.
They added the Manor House as a separate building because there is a city ordinance about buildings not being taller than a church in Asheville - that's what I was told anyway - obviously came into play after Biltmore was completed.
All in all, we enjoyed our stay, and we came away impressed with the very professional nature of the hotel staff - and their tact in dealing with a variety of nut jobs - not us, of course!