Wellness, Recovery, and Reconnection: Asheville Wellness Tours Comes to Engadine Inn and Cabins

Asheville Reboot – Episode 3: Wellness, Recovery, and Reconnection at Engadine Inn with Asheville Wellness Tours

In this episode of Asheville Reboot, Ward Henderson from Engadine Inn and Cabins sits down with Nicole Will, founder of Asheville Wellness Tours, to explore how wellness experiences are helping visitors reconnect with themselves, nature, and the Asheville community after Hurricane Helene.

Nicole shares:

• The impact the hurricane had on her team and operations
• How Asheville Wellness Tours adapted and stayed resilient through the storm’s aftermath
• Why partnerships, like the new one with Engadine Inn and Cabins, are key to rebuilding tourism in Western North Carolina
• What travelers can now experience onsite at Engadine — from private yoga and massage to tarot readings and goat yoga

Whether you’re planning a trip to Asheville or just need a reminder to slow down and breathe, this episode offers a grounded and hopeful look at the future of wellness travel in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

🌿 Learn more and book your stay at EngadineInnandCabins.com
🧘‍♀️ Explore wellness experiences at AshevilleWellnessTours.com

Follow Engadine:
📸 Instagram: @engadineinnandcabins
📘 Facebook: @engadineinnandcabins
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AshevilleReboot

Transcript

Ward Henderson: 0:00

Hi everyone. This is Asheville Reboot, where we talk with people and businesses. rebuilding Western North Carolina, stronger, more grounded and more connected than before. I'm Ward Henderson, part of the Engadine Inn and Cabins team, and today I'm talking with Nicole. Founder of Asheville Wellness Tours, a company that helps visitors slow down and reconnect through curated wellness experiences like yoga hikes, forest bathing, massages, tarot readings, and more. I'm especially excited because Engadine is now partnering with Nicole and her team to offer these services right here on our property. Nicole, welcome. For folks who may not be familiar with Asheville Wellness Tours, give us a quick overview of what you offer and what kind of guests you typically serve. Asheville Wellness Tours, we offer lighthearted meaningful experiences that all have a wellness lens you've mentioned some of our most popular, we also have goat yoga and mobile massage. We're doing sound baths these days. Adding foraging soon. Anything that falls into that bucket of wellness, in a fun way. In the groups that we serve, we serve a lot of, women gathering together to celebrate something. We serve executive corporate teams. We work a lot of weddings. We've done quite a few bachelor parties, and some multi-generational travel. These activities can be tailored to a bunch of different group sets. Primarily private groups, which is one of the things we're excited about in working with you all. I wanna ask you some questions the first one focused around the hurricane. Let's talk about the impact of Hurricane Helene and what challenges the storm created for you and your team, both logistically and emotionally. It's interesting to look back on that time. It feels like it was a decade ago. The initial challenge for us we're a very communication heavy. Company. We work with our guests very closely so that we're crafting the experience that that fits their vision and fits their group dynamic to not be able to communicate with them because we were without cell service, internet, water, power, for such an extended period of time that was the most challenging we had all of these people booked in for October, our busiest month of the year, and we couldn't reach them. Immediately post storm until the news shared with the rest of the world what it was like here. That was a period of high anxiety for our guests'cause they didn't know. Thinking about that every day. They're anxious and I can't reach them. There's literally nothing I can do about it. That was challenging. Then of course, we're also in the space of where are all of our team members? Are they okay? We can't reach them, when we connected with each other, we were sending people out. Who could reach this neighborhood? Can you drive by, here's an address of this massage therapist or this forest bathing guide, and can we know that everyone's okay? And then our basic needs too. That was the immediate, week. Longer term, there's been an incredible decrease in visitors to the community. We're still down. Significantly, 60% year over year. That's a challenge, we were set to grow and now we're going backwards. The first month after the hurricane, I maintained our admin staff and said everybody, take care of what you need to do. Get out into the community if you can volunteer. I'm gonna do my best to get in touch with all of the guests, and then let's reconvene. I'm thrilled to be able to say that I've kept those folks, still, they're still with me, I know personally from meeting with your team and our countless conversations, how well you've maintained, your business through this time. That leads into my second question, now that we're post hurricane. Things are looking a bit brighter. How we're building back better, how you're building back better. My question is, how has Asheville Wellness Tours adapted? Since the storm. Have you made any changes to how you operate or introduced anything new as a result? We are doing some boring projects, standard operating procedures. Formalizing all of those things. I kept the admin team and actually added, a third. There are four of us. Total trying to find ways to keep us all engaged has been a fun, creative project. We are looking at 2025 as the year of collaboration and community, and that has been a lot of fun. It brings me joy to. Crafts unique packages. We have this new detox to retox package with our buddies over at Asheville Brewery Tours, we can do some yoga and some hiking in the morning and then enjoy the craft beer scene for a nice balanced day. And being in that space of program development again has been fun. To be engaged in the community with partnerships like the one that we're building. That's the part of this business that gives me joy. Having space and time to reconnect with that piece has been incredible. For me personally, I think as a team, we're all trying on different hats. Maybe somebody who has no sales experiences, given that a try and marketing here and the accounting it's limitless possibilities of what do we each individually want to learn and we have the time and space to do it. Looking forward to the future with optimism and hope and having fun in the meantime. Of course we're also excitedto offeryour company's experiences right here at Engadine. Everything from onsite massages to tarot readings to private yoga. A follow up question to that second one is, how do you see this kind of partnership helping both travelers and local businesses reconnect after such a disruptive year? A lot of the experiences we offer have a nature element. I think that not only is it important for all of us to slow down no matter where we are, life is hurried some urgency that it's important to escape. That natural element, that element of connecting deeply to nature too can be healing especially in this area, we just experienced this traumatic period. With nature and how can we reconnect to the beauty of this place and the waters and the trees and all of that in a way that's more grounding and in line with the wisdom of these wise, old, gentle mountains. That's the one piece. I think also there's so much to do in our area that there's value in having something come to you so that you're not. Rushing around not leaving space for yourself to actually enjoy. We don't want the, you need a vacation from your vacation. Vibes to happen. Fitting a little bit more in while still being able to take time for yourself and to connect more deeply with each other, and the land. Those are all really important pieces and something that we're thrilled to be able to facilitate. In coming out to your beautiful space. Thank you and I appreciate it. For those who don't know, this background's behind me, that's of our ceremony site. This is one of those locations that you're talking about where, goat yoga or yoga massages, anything like that that'll be happening there. Nicole, thank you for joining us and for the work you're doing to help guests experience, this region in a more intentional and meaningful way. It means a lot. And if you're planning to stay in Asheville area, we invite you to stay with us at Engadine Inn and Cabins, and now you can book wellness experiences like massages. Tarot readings or even private yoga sessions right on site through our partnership with Nicole and Asheville Wellness Tours. We're also planning group wellness retreats in the near future and Nicole and her team will be a big part of that. To learn more and the book your stay visit Engadine Inn and Cabins.com and to explore wellness experiences across the region, head over to Nicole's website, asheville wellness tours.com. Thanks for listening to Asheville Reboot and we'll see you next time.