Last summer, in the quieter period after I got my COVID vaccine jab and before Omicron made its presence known, my brother and I traveled together to a few places for the first segment of a trip. One of those places we visited was Nashville, Tennessee (my first visit!) I had intended to write about the trip, but life happens and I never got around to it.
This week, I was browsing though the channels and landed on American Idol, where they were showing auditions from Nashville, Tennessee. As it was showing the highlights of Nashville, I perked up. It never gets old to see places that are recognizable to you and say, “Hey, I’ve been there!”
For the Nashville trip, we did all the tourist traps (by design). This includes visiting the Grand Old Opry for its House tour and Country Music Hall of Fame Museum, and dining at Honky Tonk Central, among others.
Kimpton Aertson Hotel
During this American Idol segment, they were featuring the signage in front of the Henley’s. I recognized the place and exclaimed, “Hey, that’s the restaurant we dined at!” Are they filming near the Kimpton Aertson Hotel? During this trip, we stayed at two hotel properties: the Kimpton Aertson Hotel (1 night stay) and Hilton Downtown Nashville (a couple of nights). For this post, I will focus on Kimpton Aertson.
The key things I remembered:
- It wasn’t obvious where the self parking entrance is before we found it. The hotel is located next to the Aertson midtown apartments so it wasn’t immediately clear where to park (same garage, watch for signage once in the garage).
- Check-in was uneventful and the staff was friendly.
- Henley Restaurant is right next to the hotel (it’s a Kimpton restaurant). We had been on the road for a couple of hours before we arrived at the hotel, so we were tired and we didn’t want to drive out again. I made a reservation for the evening so we can just head downstairs to grab a bite to eat.
Highlights of some artistic touches:
This isn’t my first time staying at a Kimpton. Most of the Kimptons have its own unique artistic flair to their hotel design.
On the side of elevator. I like this.
We were given a end corner room. To get to our room, we have to get through a hallway of black/white portrait styled paintings. The portrait only occupies half the painting and the rest is just the black background. While I’m sure someone put in a lot of thoughts into designing this concept for the hotel, I personally didn’t enjoy them. I tend to like more vibrant colors and the decor actually creeps me out a bit since the people in the portrait are kind of staring back at you. I appreciate art; but I’m not a fan of this one.
Hooks for hanging in the room, on a wall full of text.
The Room
I still remembered when I first stepped into the room, I looked at the ceiling and wondered, is the ceiling on this wall finished? 
It’s always a little odd to me when the bed is directly in front of the bathroom.
Lots of windows since it is a corner unit room.
One of the views.
The bathroom is very spacious. There is some design work on the window so that light reflects into the shower area.
Room had standard room items and the mini-fridge is stocked…
The Henley (Restaurant Hotel)
We had a great experience at this hotel restaurant. They seated us quickly once we arrived for our reservation. The server was very friendly and we even chit-chatted about where we were driving from and she gave a couple of tips of places that we should check out.
The ambiance was nice. Service was great. And food was solid. We wanted to try the Southern Chicken Wings. They were hot coming right out of the kitchen. They were delicious, and we’d totally order it again. The chocolate souffle with red velvet cake and ice cream in the center was one of the recommended desserts. It was a real treat. Yum.
Would I stay at this hotel again?
If I’m a first-timer to Nashville and looking to visit all the major tourist attractions, I’d probably book a hotel closer to downtown Nashville. There are a number of options in downtown Nashville. Even though Kimpton Aertson offers a very comfortable room and I enjoyed the hotel restaurant, I’m unlikely to re-book at this hotel in part because the hotel’s art just didn’t vibe with me.
As they say, art is a very individual experience.
Have you stayed at this hotel? What was your experience? Share in the comments below.
Minor correction: it’s the Grand Ole Opry, not Opre.
Good catch (typo) and fixed. Thanks!