Asheville is Open: Hotel Industry Leader Rick Bell on Tourism Recovery in Western North Carolina

Asheville Reboot – Episode 2: Asheville is Open for Business – Hotel Industry Leader Rick Bell on the Region’s Comeback

In this episode of Asheville Reboot, Brian Hamrick speaks with Rick Bell, Executive Director of the Asheville Hotel Association, about how the hotel and lodging industry in Asheville and Western North Carolina is bouncing back after Hurricane Helene.

Rick shares:

• The real impact the hurricane had on local hotels and B&Bs
• Why the media’s portrayal exaggerated the damage
• How businesses are recovering—and why now is actually the perfect time to visit Asheville
• What visitors can expect this summer and fall, including deals, fewer crowds, and restored trails, rivers, and attractions

If you're wondering whether Asheville is ready for your next vacation—the answer is yes. We’re open, welcoming, and better than ever.

🎧 Listen now and help spread the word that Asheville is back.

📍 Learn more about Engadine Inn & Cabins at EngadineInnandCabins.com

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📘 Facebook: @engadineinnandcabins
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AshevilleReboot

Transcript

0:00

Welcome back to Asheville Reboot, where we talk with the people behind Western North Carolina's comeback, one story at a time. I'm Brian Hamrick, co-owner of Engadine Inn and Cabins, and today I'm joined by Rick Bell, executive director of the Asheville Hotel Association. While our last episode shared the story of, of our property, Engadine Inn and Cabins, today's conversation looks at the broader picture. How the hotel industry in Asheville has been impacted by Hurricane Helene and what recovery looks like from the top down, Rick. Thanks for joining us today. Can you give our listeners a quick overview of the association and who it represents? Hi, Brian. Thank you for having me. The Asheville Hotel Association, is actually just a couple of years old. It was born out of a desire of some of the major hotel owners in town to, form a local business group to represent, hotel interests, and interactions with elected officials and with tourism officials in Asheville and Buncombe County. Currently the membership exists, what we have about 40 members out of the approximately 100 hotels, lodging businesses in Buncombe County. That would include the bed and breakfasts. As I say, we meet regularly to, talk about issues and opportunities facing the local market, the local lodging market. Let's talk about the hurricane, because that's had a huge effect on the businesses that you just mentioned. What impact did the hurricane have on the hotels and the Bed and breakfast in the Asheville and Western North Carolina area? Well, the irony is, as I said, there are approximately a hundred or so hotels or motels, or b and bs in Buncombe County. There was actually only one hotel. That was severely damaged and it was bad. It was the Grand Bohemian in Biltmore Village, which is adjacent to the Swannanoa River. Most of the other hotels, encountered, some damage. You know, trees and wind and, leaking roofs and things like that. But, not the kind of severe damage that the media, portrayed at the time. A lot of the really severe damage was, primarily in areas where the rivers float. So that is to say, close to the French broad, which flows, past downtown Asheville and the Swannanoa River, which goes through Biltmore Village. In fact, the day after the storm, if you walked into downtown Asheville, you wouldn't know that anything had happened. What people have seen, on the news, is a fairly accurate presentation of what happened along the river, say in the river arts district, but not to the majority of the hotels. Even one of the hotels in the river arts district had no damage at all. It was up high enough that it wasn't affected. Obviously the storm created a lot of new challenges for Asheville, especially in areas adjacent to the rivers. That included some infrastructure problems that caused Asheville to struggle to get back up on its feet again. But all of that's been resolved. Some of the tourism assets that exist along the rivers, including the lower part, but not the upper part of the river Arts district. Most of that cleanup has happened. The damage to the infrastructure was repaired fairly quickly. That included damage to the water system and to bridges and roads. Much of that has been taken care of. There are some exceptions to that. There are some places along the Blue Ridge Parkway that remain closed. People can still come to Asheville today and enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway. By the time we get to leaf season, which is typically the month of August, much of the parkway, will have been repaired. There are some sections that it may take years. For them to fix. But those aren't necessarily the closest sections of the parkway to Asheville. In some respects, there may have been some good things that will come out of the storm because with repairs to some of this infrastructure. Including some of the natural assets that we have, so waterfalls and hiking trails and things like that. Volunteer groups have gone in and have cleaned these up, and in some instances they're actually in more pristine condition today than they were prior to the storm. So there's a lot of good going on here right now. You know, we suffered through. Those first few months and the damage that it did to our businesses, but we're happy to say that slowly but surely we're building it back. In a lot of ways, it seems as though the hurricane, had double dipped on Western North Carolina and Asheville. You had the damage from the hurricane, but then you also had what I believe to be damage from the media and the perception that it put out there that Asheville is completely underwater. Western North Carolina is still flooded. And I think that perception still exists. Even though it's no longer true. Can you kind of speak to that? I mean, if people want to come visit, there's still plenty to do and a lot of the things you could do last year at this time, you can still do today. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I would agree. You know, I mean, the media kind of being what it is, they always looked for the flash and there were some very unique stories coming outta this. There were slides on I 40, both east and west of Asheville, and there were problems with I 26. I mean, I heard the media describe Asheville as an inland island at one point, which was, you know, an exaggeration. But there was a tendency, for the media to really focus on the more dramatic things. In fact, the local TDA, the folks that are responsible for promoting tourism in Asheville, and Buncombe County. Sort of laughingly, but at the same time, seriously said, you know, when the weather guys or the guys from the weather channels start reporting stop standing in the puddles because there were puddles, but for the most part, those puddles only existed in fairly confined spaces along the rivers. You know, if you stood in downtown Asheville, as I said earlier. You would never have known there had been a storm the day before. You just wouldn't because none of the damage existed there. So, the media being what it is, they may have exaggerated just how bad things so, it's interesting that as we look to the anniversary, Asheville wants to get ahead of that narrative and talk about the good things that are happening here what is, the effect on the hotels and the bed and breakfast in Western North Carolina? I mean, what have you seen over the past year? Are they, hurting because we don't have as much tourism, and how are they, finding ways to, bring tourists back and bring business back? Okay. Well, yes, business has suffered. Fortunately, we were able to use the hotel inventory that we have to house, displaced families and, essential workers that were coming in. FEMA took care of a lot of that. But all of that's gone then. So now we're watching what happens with the tourists and across the board, not just with the hotels. But all the local businesses, attractions, shops, galleries, restaurants, most people have agreed that there has been about a 30% decline, year over year in traffic and in business. So we do have, a gap to make up there. The good news for people that are coming to visit, you know, Asheville's always been a crowded place on the weekends. If you're interested in visiting Asheville. Now's a great time to come because you know, with 30% fewer people, especially during the week, there's a lot to do without a lot of crowds and without the lines that you would've experienced in the past. So, out of it, there's a challenge, but there's also an opportunity for folks who have, you know, interest in coming to visit. Asheville and Western North Carolina is just a premier, place to bring your family to do outdoor activities. And right now it really seems like you can find some great deals. Because that perception is still out there, that, we're not quite back up and ready, but we are, and with the anniversary coming up in September, and we're recording this in mid-July, you know, we're in the summer season and we're heading into the fall season, which is always a very popular time. And we know with the anniversary there's gonna be a lot more media coverage showing, what happened last year. The streets underwater, the flooding and everything. What's the real message? What do we wanna say, Rick, to combat that perception? I mean, we want people to know that we're back open and ready for business. Yeah. Well, I think that's the message, you know, and I think, in the past couple of months, we're about nine months out from the storm now. I think you've begun to see some of that, some of the morning shows have visited here to kind of say to the world, you know, Asheville's here and open and doing business. And to kind of show and demonstrate that, the damage that was done is being repaired except in those specific areas where it was really bad. You're really not gonna see or be able to tell that there was ever any difference here. Yeah, absolutely. So before I wrap it up, Rick, is there any other thoughts you want to, make sure we get across? Well, I think not other than just come and see us, you know, it's like we keep saying we're open for business. Asheville's got a great portfolio of tourism assets. Whether you're a foodie or an outdoor person or a river water sport kind of person, hiking in the winter months skiing, there's just a lot to do here and, now is a great time, especially if you're watching your budget to enjoy the tourism assets that Asheville has in Western North Carolina rick, I appreciate you joining me today and for the work you're doing to help lead Asheville's hospitality industry through recovery. And I think we're already on the other end of that at this point. We want people to know that Asheville is open, western North Carolina is open, and the businesses here are working hard to welcome visitors back. And if you're planning a trip to the area, I'd love to personally invite you to stay with us at Engadine Inn and Cabins. We're located just 15 minutes west of downtown Asheville in Candler with a historic Victorian bed and breakfast, six Mountain view cabins and the kind of peaceful setting that can make a trip here unforgettable. And you can learn more and book your stay at Engadine Inn and Cabins.com. And Engadine is spelled E-N-G-A-D-I-N-E, that's Engadine Inn and Cabins.com. Thanks for listening to Asheville Reboot. We'll see you next time