Western North Carolina is often revered for its beautiful mountains. Among its unique landscape, ideal for adventurous activities like fly-fishing and white-water rafting, sits a meetings and events oasis: Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort. Located about an hour from Asheville at the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the 56-acre property has been around for a long time (since 1997), but it has continuously upped its rooms, amenities, and event spaces.
Its latest expansion was unveiled in 2021, and BizBash got a firsthand look in May at all of the new additions, as well as many reasons this sprawling property—managed by Caesars Entertainment—is perfect for groups. Here are four of our highlights...
The Cherokee Ballroom spans 32,000 square feet.Photo: Courtesy of Caesars Entertainment
1. Flexible meeting and event space
In 2021, Harrah's Cherokee completed a $330 million expansion project that included a fourth hotel tower, The Cherokee, and the 83,000-square-foot Cherokee Convention Center. Since its debut, the facility has hosted an array of events from trade shows to poker shows to youth sports tournaments. Those tournaments are something that the owners of the property, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, wanted to see come to life in the space.
"The tribe really supports it—they want kids here playing sports," says Stacy Pegg, property sales manager for the resort. She adds that, along with diversifying revenue, community outreach was one of the main reasons the tribe wanted to bring on convention space.
At the convention center, planners can work with a 32,000-square-foot ballroom featuring 26 different meeting spaces, a boardroom, two floors of load-in, and beautiful prefunction space that looks out onto the property's vast landscape.
And the property makes the rest of the details easy for planners: "We're kind of our own city here—we do it all ourselves," Pegg says, including pipe and drape, audiovisual, and, of course, F&B.
Large windows in the prefunction space give attendees great views of the surrounding Western North Carolina landscape.Photo: Courtesy of Caesars Entertainment
Other standout event spaces on the property include the 3,000-seat Event Center, which often hosts star-studded performances (on its slate recently: comedian Nick Offerman, Joan Jett, and Air Supply). But planners can make attendees feel like stars in their own right: Banquet space can accommodate up to 800, and VIP suites can seat more than 60.
2. Entertaining on-site amenities
Before we highlight all the fun to be had off-property, we'd be remiss not to mention the plethora of entertaining on-site amenities. The casino, of course, is a major draw. It offers more than 160 table games, over 3,000 slot machines, a high-limit games area, a Caesars Sportsbook, and a World Series of Poker poker room. The casino floor also houses the impressive Myst Bar, featuring an elevated stage in the center of the bar.
A tranquil waiting room at the Mandara Spa is the perfect place to put up your feet before or after a spa appointment.Photo: Sarah Kloepple
On-site dining highlights include Gordon Ramsay's Food Market, BRIO Italian Grille, Guy Fieri's Cherokee Kitchen + Bar, and an outpost of Wicked Weed Brewing, which hails from Asheville and is an ideal pitstop between meetings.
3. Opportunities to get outdoors
Groups visiting this region of North Carolina will surely want to get outside—and they don't even have to go far. The fast-moving Soco Creek, stocked with trout, runs right through the Harrah's Cherokee property, and it's perfect for fly-fishing beginners. The band of writers that BizBash was a part of for this trip were strapped into waders, given important pointers from guides, and were able to experience fly-fishing at various points on the creek.
The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad lets passengers off for an hour at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, where they can shop, grab a drink, and watch white-water rafters go by.Photo: Sarah Kloepple
For those wanting to venture farther from the property, consider a trip to nearby Bryson City, where groups can board the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. The scenic train ride is about a half-day trip, but it's worth it to see unparalleled views of Fontana Lake, the Tuckasegee River, and cool historic structures. The train even lets passengers off for an hour at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, where they can shop, grab a drink, and watch white-water rafters go by.
At the Oconaluftee Indian Village, contemporary members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians demonstrate traditional arts like pottery.Photo: Sarah Kloepple
During our stay, the Caesars team made sure the group was able to learn more about the land the property calls home, as well as the surrounding Cherokee community. The agenda included a stop at the nearby Oconaluftee Indian Village, which is an authentic replica of a Cherokee town of 1750. Here, visitors can learn about the Indigenous culture of the area and observe traditional arts like basket weaving, wood carving, finger weaving, pottery, and weapon making.
Our trip's final night also included a performance by the Warriors of AniKituhwa, a dance group designated as official cultural ambassadors by the Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The trio explained to our group the significance of two different dances—the War Dance and the Friendship Dance—before they performed them onstage at Harrah's Cherokee's Event Center.
