This spring, we’ve had the pleasure of hosting quite a few groups at the Inn, traveling together and reconnecting with one another. We even had a week where we hosted 2 groups each on back-to-back weekends. This influx of folks using the Inn as a base camp for family or friend reunions highlighted to us just how perfect B&B’s like the Andon-Reid are for groups. As we’ve looked back on our favorite things about being Innkeepers, seeing friends and family connect with each other at the Andon-Reid is definitely one of the more rewarding parts of the job. We’ve also traveled across the southeast ourselves extensively, and each B&B we’ve gone to has felt like a great place to travel and visit with friends.
Compared to hotels, B&Bs and Inns are significantly more intimate, cozy and charming, and often have unique common areas for friends and family to chat, relax and catch up. Compared to Airbnb’s or short-term rentals, inns and B&Bs normally have hosts present that live on property and provide the extra hospitality and attention you can’t get when trying to plan everything on your own. And of course, where else can you get fantastic gourmet breakfasts each morning, which is one less meal to plan for the group? We know how stressful (and expensive!) it can be to find and organize 3 meals a day while on vacation or a getaway.
As for the Andon-Reid in particular, our house and grounds are the perfect places to enjoy group get-togethers. We have seven unique rooms to accommodate groups of all different sizes, plus spacious guest areas like our wraparound porch with rocking chairs and views of the mountains; our stone patio with table for six and rocking chairs by the fire pit; our lawn with comfortable Adirondack chairs; our guest lounge with reclining chairs, comfy sofa and fully stocked guest refreshment bar; and don’t forget our extensive game room, with TVs, a bar area, board game wall, shuffleboard, darts, pool and plentiful seating. As you can see, there’s plenty of common spaces to enjoy, but also relaxing private rooms to retreat to so you can recharge and get ready for more fun times with friends and family.
And for those other meals you need to plan, Waynesville has you covered with a great array of unique restaurants with the space and menus to be able to accommodate any size group. Places like Frog Level, Boojum, Dough Boys/Mad Anthony’s, Assembly on Main and The Scotsman are great places for groups, and newer options like the Red Fox and Main Street Diner are also emerging as top spots in our town.
Since we are centrally located in Western North Carolina, there’s always an adventure to be had in our area and we’ve revamped our “Things to do” page on our website with tons of details on options for great excursions, events, and activities for groups.
As Innkeepers, we try to do our best to provide an Inn for our guests that allows solo travelers and couples a place to relax and recharge, but we’ve come to realize how uniquely situated our Inn is to provide amazing memories to family and friends looking to reconnect with each other. We’ve hosted small multi-generation family reunions, girls’ weekends, motorcycle weekends, skiing trips, birthdays, sorority reunions, and plenty of friends just traveling together and enjoying life. It’s incredibly gratifying to host these groups and we can’t wait to do more in the future. And when we have multiple different small groups at the Inn at the same time, the atmosphere is so convivial, that sometimes those groups end up becoming new, bigger groups of friends!
We hope you consider independent B&Bs and Inns in the future for your group adventures. We can do multiple rooms in a block, or we can also rent out the whole house. Please note that we do have a minimum guest age at the Inn (16+) for standard or block reservations, but if you rent the whole house, there is no minimum age limit. Hope to see you soon at the Inn with more of your friends and family!
Your Innkeepers,
-Brenda and Peter
