HotelChatter

Tags: Hotel Packages / Nashville Hotels / Tennessee Hotels / Elvis Hotels / Elvis Presley / → All Tags

All Shook Up Over The Loews Vanderbilt's Over-The-Top Elvis Package

Where: 2100 West End Ave [map], Nashville, TN, United States, 37203

Don't call the Loews Vanderbilt Nashville the "Heartbreak Hotel." At least, don't plan on it unless you're booking their "Elvis in the Music City" package in celebration of The King himself. Elvis Presley's 75th birthday falls on January 8th of next year, and in honor of the music icon, the Nashville hotel has cobbled together a over-the-top package that's all glitz, glam, and calls to mind images of gold lame jumpsuits. Expect plenty of royal extravagances to be included, with a price to match: $3,975 for accommodations and a host of Elvis-themed activities.

We're still "All Shook Up" after hearing the price, but if you're an Elvis-lover, this hotel news couldn't have come at a better time, or with more Elvis-centric perks. They're slightly ridiculous as you might expect, but remember, this is the same hotel that hosted a $1,599/night "Hound of Music" package for aspiring canine singers. The Elvis offerings are tame and relatively normal in comparison.

Check out the full list of what's included after the jump.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Video Tours / HotelChatter Reviews / Lynchburg Hotels / Tennessee Hotels / → All Tags

A Budget Beauty If You're Visiting Jack Daniels

Where: 423 Majors Blvd [map], Lynchburg, TN, United States, 37352

Here’s an admission – until last week, we had never stayed in a motel. Sure, we’d suffered the odd Travelodge or Ibis in Europe, but in America, we stayed in hotels in big cities.

So we were determined to stay in one when we went on a little roadtrip last week. And having seen way too many movies in which motels mean certain death, we were after a nice one. And that’s exactly what we found at the Lynchburg Country Inn in Lynchburg, Tennessee (yes, we were visiting the Jack Daniel’s Distillery).

more ›

Tags: Tennessee Hotels / Indigo Hotels / aloft Hotels / element hotels / → All Tags

Getting aloft and Indigo in Your Element in Nashville

In the surest sign yet it's catching on that there may be more to Nashville than twang, three "corporate boutique" hotel brands are coming to town.

Construction crews have been at work for a while on West End Avenue in Nashville, where InterContinental's Hotel Indigo brand is scheduled to open up this summer. Yesterday it was announced that two Starwood attempts to be hip will join it. Aloft and Element will both arrive downtown as part of a new Nashville Sounds minor league ballpark.

We're not sure how excited to get about all these new brands since only a few Hotel Indigos have popped up and not one Aloft or Element is more than a bunch of SecondLife pixels. Of course that's kind of fitting in this case since it will be years before these announcements turn into real buildings. An InterContinental that was announced for Nashville several years back has only made it as far as a leveled lot and a big sign. A Westin that was to be built downtown may never happen because it will require ripping down historic buildings and changing the height allowances along Broadway.

We keep reading how there's a net migration of people and businesses from the largest U.S. cities to mid-sized ones with lower costs, so perhaps the corporate boutique hotels want to be there to take advantage of the trend: most of the Aloft announcements in particular have been for up-and-coming secondary markets like this.

Tags: Luxury Hotels / Tennessee Hotels / Relais and Chateaux Hotels / → All Tags

Luxury in the Middle of Nowhere: Blackberry Farm

Where: 1471 West Millers Cove Road [map], Walland, TN, United States, 37886

Looks like it is high luxury Thursday here at HotelChatter. We reported recently on how the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville snagged a coveted Mobil 5-star rating--one of only 27 in the U.S. Tennessee has another hotel, however, that has shown up on best-of lists for years: Blackberry Farm in a little dot on the map called Walland.

It's not often that a rural hotel in the south can vault onto nearly every "best of" list and then stay there year after year, but Blackberry Farm has managed to pull it off. On an estate that once served as a getaway for the founder of Ruby Tuesday's restaurant chain, it has been expanded over the years to become a 4,200-acre estate in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. It was first built with six guest rooms for friends and family and now contains 51 rooms, suites, and cottages.

This is not cutesy country B&B full of cross-stitched hearts, wooden ducks, and gingham, however. Expect sumptuous linens, tasteful furniture, and lots of little extra touches that make each room special. Rates start at $745, with a two-night minimum most times of year, and can climb to $4,800 for a three-bedroom cottage. This includes all three meals, however, which are spectacular enough to get the place written up in most every food magazine and to get it accepted into the Relais & Chateaux organization.

This is mainly a place to relax in style, but with this much room to roam, there are plenty of opportunities to hike, ride horses, or go fly fishing. It's safe to say you'll be taken care of here as well as any place for hundreds of miles around: Blackberry Farm has been rated #1 in the world for service in Travel & Leisure, #1 in Service in the U.S by Condé Nast Traveler (with a perfect 100 score), and #1 in the U.S. by Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report.

[Photo: Magnolia Jazz]

Related Stories:
· Blackberry Farm [TripAdvisor]
· Hotels in Tennessee [HotelChatter]