[light upbeat music]
- This is Rob Willis and Stacy Conn getting married
at the magistrate's office in downtown Boone.
It wasn't exactly what they had in mind.
- We were getting married in June,
and we had a lot of rooms booked,
but then the pandemic came,
and so we didn't get to do it that way.
- [Narrator] The rooms and the wedding were booked just
down the street at the Horton Hotel.
- [Stacy] This is such a unique boutique hotel right here
in our hometown.
It is just a treat to come and stay.
- [Narrator] In fact, the Horton
is downtown Boone's first boutique hotel.
- It's unique. It's intimate.
It offers a more personal experience.
It is innovative in ways that you wouldn't necessarily find
in a more commercial or big box hotel.
So I think it allows us to be very creative
and ever changing.
- [Narrator] The building has changed a lot
in over nine decades.
A man named Walter Horton built it
in 1929 as a Studebaker garage.
It later became a department store
and housed a few other businesses over the years.
When it went up for sale, the building caught the attention
of local realtor Fulton Lovin.
- I would walk by from my office and kept thinking,
"What would work there?
What would work there?"
[bright upbeat guitar music]
- [Narrator] He and his wife, Denise,
decided to buy it and turn it into a hotel
since there wasn't one in downtown Boone.
- [Fulton] We wanted a place that
was iconic for downtown Boone that
would be community based as well as tourist oriented.
- [Narrator] Turning the building into a hotel
required some creative renovation.
- Oh, it was a piece of cake.
[Denise laughs]
- [Narrator] It took a year and a half.
- We had to go with the flow of the building
to create the spaces that worked for the building.
- [Narrator] During the renovation,
the Lovins solicited ideas for the hotel's decor.
- We had a really fun time gathering insights
and opinions and ideas from people
that chose to follow us on social media,
and so there was an energy around our opening
because so many people contributed
to the elements here.
- [Narrator] The 15-room hotel opened in February 2019.
- No one room is quite like the other
because we're in a historic building.
[soft upbeat jazzy music]
There are no cookie-cutter hotel rooms here,
and they're all really elegant and clean,
sleek, little notes of luxury in each of them.
- [Narrator] With guests' comfort and curiosity in mind.
- [Andrea] We want them
to feel like they're having a really special experience
that's new and fresh and has maybe elements in them
that they've never seen in a hotel before.
- [Narrator] Including elements of the building's origins,
which can be found throughout the hotel.
- We wanted to make sure to hold on to the history
of the building, the history of the town,
the story of the Hortons.
- [Narrator] There were old Studebaker parts
in the lobby lounge.
It's a great place to enjoy a craft cocktail,
a glass of wine, or a local brew.
- [Andrea] It's kind of like almost a speakeasy kind
of cozy cocktail lounge.
- [Narrator] The exposed brick walls add to that feel.
- [Andrea] It's really cool because it's original
to the building, and so you get to see the history
and the layers of the building.
- [Narrator] Three floors up is the hotels rooftop bar.
[bright rhythmic lounge music]
- [Andrea] We're the first and only rooftop bar
in downtown Boone and really all of this area.
- [Narrator] There's a 360 degree view
of the surrounding mountains and booths and fire features
to gather around on chilly nights.
- [Andrea] It's the perfect place to enjoy daytime drinks
or nighttime under the stars.
There's really nowhere else in this area
that offers something like that.
- [Narrator] Since the Lovins are from Boone,
they're a wealth of local knowledge
for their out-of-town guests.
- I think both of us really enjoy
providing that personal touch and have staff
that can do the same.
- [Narrator] From the complementary breakfast
to the comfortable rooms to the cocktail bars
and connections to history, the Horton Hotel
is all about creating an experience for guests.
- I want them to have an experience
that they never thought that they could ever have in Boone.
- [Narrator] Even if they are from there,
like Rob and Stacy.
They may not have been able to marry at the Horton hotel,
but they did spend their wedding night here.
It was their third stay.
- You feel like you're somewhere else,
not that I don't love Boone; I do.
But you feel like you've had a mini vacation
once you stay here.
- When you see the front door, you know you're
gonna go into somewhere special.
- [Stacy] It is just a lovely place.
- [Deborah] The Horton Hotel is
at 611 West King Street in downtown Boone.
For more information, give them a call at 828-832-8060
or go online to thehorton.com.