As Nashville Grows, Hilton Diversifies Development

Nashville's seemingly bulletproof standing as a top U.S. leisure destination, underscored by the growing number of celebrity-branded honky-tonks on Broadway, in recent years has been supplemented by a surge in hotel development targeting business and extended-stay demand.

The city's post-pandemic hotel boom continues, and more supply is expected: Nashville ranked fourth among all U.S. cities in total fourth-quarter 2025 hotel projects in the development pipeline, according to Lodging Econometrics. Also under construction is a new domed stadium for the NFL's Tennessee Titans, and designed to host events of all sizes year-round.

This development comes at a time when business travel buyers may have some opportunity in the Tennessee city. Fourth-quarter business travel costs in the city dropped 8.8 percent from the third quarter, according to BTN's Corporate Travel Index, which includes corporate hotel rates as well as food and beverage costs and car rental rates, along with incidentals. That drop is well below the overall 0.3 percent quarter-over-quarter increase among the 100 U.S. cities in the index.

Hilton Worldwide, among several large hotel companies, is in the midst of a varied development palette, with new or upcoming properties in several service tiers, including dual-branded development, and shared with BTN a look at its progress.

"We're focused on a number of dynamic, high-growth markets where we’ve seen strong demand from owners and guests for our brands, including Nashville," John Koshivos, Hilton VP and managing director of development for the Southeast U.S., told BTN via email.

That growth is unfolding through Hilton's development in Nashville at multiple service tiers and price points.

Hilton in September opened The Printing House Nashville in the city's South Bank neighborhood, an 11-story property with 187 rooms. The Printing House is part of the Tapestry Collection, an upscale soft collection brand. The hotel offers 12 deluxe suites, a cocktail bar and restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating and 3,200 square feet of event space.

The hotel's design pays homage to Nashville's historic printing industry, and Tapestry Collection brand leader Elizabeth Scruggs said that approach helps differentiate the brand. 

"Our first and most important requirement is an independent identity. Each hotel has to have a clear story of brand identity," Scruggs said. 

She added that the Tapestry's 192 properties are particularly popular among members of Hilton's Honors loyalty members. "Tapestry is one of the highest Honors-occupied brands in the lifestyle category, which tells us that Honors guests—often business travelers—are looking for stays like this," she said.

Hilton in June opened the upper-upscale Canopy by Hilton Nashville the Gulch, a 181-room property at Division and Overton Sts. The property includes 27 suites with connecting terraces and a two-story presidential suite. 

"We did a lot of research prior to launching Canopy, and one thing we found was that there were a lot of lifestyle brands that got food and beverage right, but it wasn’t very often that [they] also delivered a really premium guestroom experience with consistency," said Amanda Byrd, director of brand management for Canopy by Hilton.

The hotel's layout also was affected by market research. "We actually found that more than 60 percent of guests asked to be located away from ice machines, so we removed them from the floors and deliver ice on request," said Tiffany Tucker, general manager of the hotel.

The Canopy has several food and beverage outlets, including Silo, a gastropub with a large ground-floor patio, a Five Points Pizza slice window and a coffee bar by 8th & Roast. Set to open in March is Coa, a rooftop Mexican restaurant with 8,000 square feet of space as well as indoor and outdoor bars.

The Canopy is dual-branded with the Homewood Suites by Hilton Nashville Downtown The Gulch, a 152-room extended-stay property. The all-suite property has its own rooftop lounge,  and each suite has a full kitchen with full-size refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and stovetop as well as pots, pans and utensils. The property shares a fitness center with the Canopy, and Homewood Suites guests can order room service from the Canopy's restaurants.

While designed for extended stays, Hilton officials noted the Homewood Suites' downtown location also attracts many one- and two-night transient business travelers. 

Hilton in January opened the 260-room Motto by Hilton Nashville Downtown, an upper-midscale lifestyle property mostly targeting leisure travelers. To wit, about 30 percent of the 13-story property's guest rooms connect to others, allowing togetherness for larger groups. The property's proximity to the city's Music City Center could draw business conventioneers and short business stays, though. The Motto has an all-day bar and restaurant called Junie's Drink and Graze, a ground-level coffee shop and bar, a fitness center, flexible meeting spaces, and a common area with an outdoor patio.

A bit outside Nashville in Tullahoma, Tenn. is the LivSmart Studios by Hilton Tullahoma, the first entry in Hilton's new LivSmart Studios midscale extended-stay brand. The new-build property, which opened in July, has 89 rooms, each designed as a suite with a kitchen, stovetop, dishwasher and microwave.

The LivSmart is designed for long stays, and Tullahoma general manager Trent White said the average guest stay so far has been about 14 nights, with some guests staying up to 45 and a handful up to 80.

"A lot of our guests are work crews, hospital staff, people tied to infrastructure projects, or military-related assignments," White said. The Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital is next door to the property.

LivSmart Studios brand leader Isaac Lake said Hilton used its experience with its other extended-stay brands and research to develop the new brand's offerings.

"We saw phenomenal performance from our Home2 Suites product over the years and realized there was white space underneath it to create a new extended-stay product and go after a new customer segment," Lake said. "We started a two-year qualitative research study on about 3,200 guests, and then we used all of that data to influence how we created the physical product."

Among the finding, Lake said that "94 percent of guests staying long-term told us they cook in the room, so we over-indexed on kitchen quality." LivSmart kitchens include a garbage disposal, full-sized refrigerator, microwave and a two-burner cooktop, as well as an assortment of pots, pans and utensils. 

Lake also said that Hilton's research showed "75 percent of guests, after the quality of the guest room and the location of the hotel, make a buying decision on where they're going to stay based on the quality of the fitness center." The LivSmart fitness center was constructed across from its app-controlled laundry facilities, near the front desk. The property also features an outdoor patio with two gas grills available for guests and a fire pit.