We’re Open! Covid-19 Policies

Welcome Back to Asheville! Our Covid-specific Policies & Procedures:

Included in this post, you’ll find the following Covid-specific information:

• Re-opening Status of All Tours/Services/Experiences
• General re-opening guidelines
• General FAQs

Tours | Services | Experiences in Asheville that are currently open and available to book:

Tours | Services | Experiences that are available virtually:

This is a great option for you and your group if you are:

• Traveling to Asheville and want to experience the culture but are not yet comfortable venturing out into town or inviting someone like a masseuse, chef, instructor, etc into your space.
• Dreaming of Asheville but are not yet ready to travel
• Visiting Asheville but are missing some members of your party due to travel restrictions or comfort levels with traveling

Virtual Group Experiences are a lovely way to bring everyone together, no matter how far apart you may be! Current online experience offerings include:

• Dance Classes
• Yoga Classes
• Cooking Classes
• Forest Bathing
• Tarot Readings

Tours | Services | Experiences that are on pause until further notice:

• Urban Wellness Tour
• Food Tours
• Essential Oils

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Covid-Specific FAQs

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General Re-Opening Policies:

In alignment with industry best practices, national standards established by the US Travel Association, and guidance from the CDC, local, and state governments, we, the Asheville Wellness Tours team and our community of local partners, are committed to reopening at the appropriate time with the highest priority placed on the safety of our employees, community, and guests. 

A community is stronger when collaborating. To that end, we have developed a plan for a core set of health and safety guidelines that may be adapted as appropriate. We understand this is a dynamic, evolving situation and expect to adapt as we receive new information from the medical community and local/national government.

Our Commitment: 

Our team will regularly review federal, state, and local health department recommendations and integrate them into our plan, taking into account OSHA and CDC recommendations.  We will continue to develop procedures and update employee training with the recommendations below as a framework for supporting the safety of our employees, community, and guests:

• Create Transmission Barriers. We will implement social distancing guidelines when applicable as well as consistent sanitizing procedures in order to make our staff and guest experience as safe as possible. Where applicable, we will:
  • Promote touchless or low-touch solutions for ticketing, check-in, payment, etc. 
  • Support physical distancing whenever possible with measures that may include:
    • Provide signage
    • Update guest communication
    • Reconfigure public spaces
    • Limit group sizes as established by local and state declarations
    • Develop alternative routes to avoid high density areas, particularly for guided tours in public spaces
  • In customer facing positions, particularly when physical distancing is challenging, the use of PPE and physical barriers may be required for all or part of the experience such as:
    • Cloth face coverings
    • Gloves
• Enhance Sanitation: though specific practices will vary from one experience to another, our sanitation procedures will align with leading public health authority guidelines and may include the following:
  • Clean high touch areas and equipment more frequently
  • Provide hand sanitizer as available in public areas
  • Promote more frequent hand washing

• Implement health screening measures: As currently required by Buncombe County Health & Human Services, all employees and independent contractors will participate in a health screening prior to interaction with guests. We will also:
  • Review policies to more easily enable employees to stay home when sick or when possibly exposed to the coronavirus.
  • Require all employees to:
    • Monitor their health
    • Not report to work if they are ill and/or showing any symptoms
    • Self-isolate if showing symptoms of COVID-19, if awaiting test results, or if diagnosed with COVID-19
  • Communicate expectations with guests and implement guest screening procedures
  • Provide information as appropriate and possible to aid in contact tracing efforts
• Follow Food & Beverage Service Guidance: Where applicable in our attractions and tours sector, we will follow best practices in food and beverage service as established by government regulation and industry standards to promote the health of employees and guests.

The Traveler’s Role:

We’re committed to doing our part to care for our employees, community, and guests and we cannot do it alone. Responding effectively to Covid-19 is a shared responsibility that includes you, our guests. We will communicate the below expectations, based on government and industry guidance, to help protect yourself and others:

• Communicate clearly with our team as soon as possible regarding any health concerns you may have.
• If you feel ill, have Covid related symptoms, or have recently cared for someone with Covid-19, please stay home.
• Follow the recommendations or rules in place for each experience to protect our employees, other visitors, yourself, and our business. 
• Be patient with, understanding, and supportive of new procedures in place.

In Conclusion: 

As proud members of the Asheville community, we value our employees, community and guests. Our primary goal has always been to have guests enjoy our services safely. These guidelines will assist us all in continuing to accomplish this goal in the midst of this current crisis and beyond.

Important Note: the use of masks in ALL public spaces where social distancing is challenging has been mandated by our county. As a company with a wide variety of experiences, we do not have a blanket policy for use of face coverings but instead have requirements and guidelines specific to each experience. Please see the tours & experience pages for specific policies. In general…

While we do not require face coverings during outdoor activities (forest bathing, yoga hikes, SUP yoga, outdoor private group yoga, etc) when social distancing is possible, we do encourage you to have them available for the duration of your stay in Asheville as you will need them elsewhere.

As we slowly reopen indoor experiences (mobile massage, winery tours, etc), please be aware that face coverings are required for both our guests and our team of service providers (drivers, massage therapists, guides, etc). Please see specific experience pages for more details.

Our guides are a friendly bunch but will refrain from hugging, hand shaking, or getting close unless necessary (injury, first aid, etc). Please respect their space as well.

Some experiences include use of equipment (yoga, SUP, massage, etc). In general, when you can use your own equipment (bring your own mat/towel/blanket for yoga), we recommend that you do so for the time being. When this is not possible, we’re happy to provide the necessary equipment and you can rest easy knowing we take extra care to sanitize before and after each experience/service/tour. While our spa/wellness industry has always held high standards for cleanliness and sanitation, we are paying even closer attention now. Please contact us in advance of your visit if you have specific concerns or requests.

We will also:

• Require all employees, partners, and independent contractors to:
  • Monitor their health
  • Not report to work if they are ill and/or showing any symptoms
  • Self-isolate if showing symptoms of COVID-19, if awaiting test results, or if diagnosed with COVID-19

We’re committed to doing our part to care for our employees, community, and guests and we cannot do it alone. As part of our shared responsibility, we expect you to: communicate clearly with us regarding any health concerns you may have; if you feel ill, have Covid related symptoms, or have recently cared for someone with Covid-19, please stay home and alert us 24hrs or more in advance when possible (we will issue you a refund in full); be patient with, understanding, and supportive of new procedures in place. These policies are meant to keep all involved as safe as possible and to support our business in remaining open!

COVID UPDATE: Please visit each experience page for its specific cancellation policy. The below will give you a general idea but some activities have even more flexible parameters…

Until further notice, full group cancellations more than ____ days/hours (see each tour/experience for specific time frame) prior to your scheduled experience are refundable minus administrative fees ranging from $5-25/person (see each tour/experience for specific amounts) or you may choose a store credit for 100% of your purchase price. If individual members of your party need to cancel due to Covid, we will refund that group member in full provided minimums thresholds for group size are met. These minimums ensure all experience providers, guides, instructors, etc are paid a living wage for their work. Thank you for your understanding as we strive to be as flexible as possible.

Out of respect for our guides and experience facilitators, cancellations between ___ -0 days/hrs (see each tour/experience for specific time frame) prior to your experience are non-refundable.

We’ll always do what we can to work with you. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with specific concerns.

Have questions about our reopening procedures, group travel in Asheville, or anything else as you prepare for your visit? Contact us anytime! We’d love to chat with you.