After arriving in Nashville on our Delta flight from Atlanta, we grabbed an Uber from the airport to the hotel. It was after midnight by the time we got a car so there was very little traffic on the way in and we made it to the hotel in under 20 minutes.
Booking
When we decided on Nashville I hopped onto Marriott.com and started looking for hotels. Prices were through the roof and even the Moxy wanted over $500 a night for an interior room with no windows. Going out of downtown didn’t find many better options but, thanks to an AAA discount code, I was able to grab a room at the Aloft for a little over $300 per night. I also checked with AmEx Hotels and didn’t find anything reasonable so the Aloft it was. I’m not sure why hotels were so expensive as, as far as I could tell, there were no major events happening that weekend.
Location
The Aloft Nashville is located on 18th Avenue South between Broadway and West End Avenue. The hotel is across I-40 from downtown, between downtown and Vanderbilt University and is walking distance from both, though you may want to Uber depending on where you’re heading downtown.
Lobby/Check-In
We arrived at the hotel after midnight and were quickly checked in by the night clerk. We knew going in that all of the suites were taken so I was happy to be “upgraded” to a room on a higher floor. Since it was so late, I barely took a look around the lobby before heading upstairs.
The next morning, I went down for coffee and was able to fully explore the lobby. Upon entering, the reception desk was located directly ahead with a game area to the right and a lounge to the left. The game area consisted of a large version of Connect Four as well as a pool table which I saw being used multiple times during our stay.
Off to the left was the wxyz bar. When Aloft initially came onto the scene it was intended to be the younger, cheaper version of the W which is where the bar name came from. They had love music here some nights during the week though there were no shows scheduled during our stay.
Finally, in the back of the lobby, was the breakfast area. This space functioned more like a coffee shop with a menu board of breakfast sandwiches and pastries along with various coffees that could be ordered through a window.
Room
We took the elevator up to the 10th floor and our waiting room. Upon entering, the bedroom was straight ahead with the bathroom off to the right. The king sized bed took up the middle of the room and was built into the wall with some art overhead as well as lights.
Across from the bed was a desk which held a coffee/tea station as well as a phone and ice bucket. There was also a large flat screen TV hanging above it.
Towards the rear of the room was a chair and a pair of windows divided by a column. The view wasn’t great, but it was better than we would have had down lower.
The bathroom was fairly standard and had a vanity, toilet, and open shower all located in one room.
Sitting on the vanity were some makeup remover wipes along with some toiletries that were drybar branded.
The shower also featured reusable shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel from drybar. There was also a massive crack in the shower that had been caulked over. While the Aloft is far from a high end hotel, this still seemed like a shoddy repair.
The next morning, we woke up to some better views out of the window and even better views of downtown from the hallway.
Gym
The majority of the hotel’s common areas were located in the lobby, and therefore I already covered them. However, behind the breakfast area was a decent sized gym area. The gym had a few treadmills and elliptical machines along with some weight machines and free weights.
Summary
Nashville has no doubt become a popular spot, but paying over $300 a night for an Aloft when there isn’t an event going on is almost criminal. The hotel was nice enough but I definitely feel like we overpaid based on the quality. There wasn’t anything bad about the hotel itself, just the pricing was steep. If the price was right, I’d stay here again.
