Hilton is “betting big” on Nashville, according to John Koshivos, the company’s vice president and managing director of development of the Southeast region. “It's one of the fastest growing markets, cities and economies in the U.S., and it's a great place for growth,” he said. “Its status as a top leisure destination hasn't changed. As a matter of fact, it continues to expand.”
Beyond its appeal as the Music City and a popular destination for bachelorette parties, Koshivos noted that major businesses are setting up offices and headquarters in the city, attracting business travelers. Similarly, a new football stadium is under construction, and the city is looking to host a Super Bowl once it is complete.
To meet this growing demand, Hilton has doubled its presence in Central Nashville since 2019, and is still growing. Of the 83 Hilton-branded hotels across the greater Nashville area, 30 are open and operating in Central Nashville, which encompasses the Downtown, Midtown and East Bank neighborhoods. The company plans to add another three to four hotels to the area over the next three years.
(Hilton is not alone in seeing value in Nashville. According to the Q4 2025 United States Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics, the city has 120 hotels with a total 15,983 rooms in its pipeline.)
Developer Appeal
The company’s Nashville expansion has been “very strategic,” he added. “We do a lot of analytical research on the market, so we know what the average rate potential is in one part of the market versus another part of the market. Is it walking distance to where some of the corporate offices are? Is it more of a leisure location?” Once a partner has identified a site, he said, the company will help determine what brand is the best fit for the location.
“As an example, we could have very easily put six or seven Hamptons in the downtown core, in various parts of the market, but I don't necessarily believe in that philosophy.” Instead, Koshivos says he believes in “the philosophy of growing all the brands appropriately in a market—provided the market can support them.” To that end, nearly two years after the company opened its first Tempo-branded hotel in the city’s downtown, the next one is slated to open in the West End. “That way each hotel—with their owners—has the ability to grow their base of business, because they're spread out enough where each can leverage various ends of the market.” Similarly, downtown Nashville has two properties in Hilton’s Tapestry collection—the Printing House and The Bankers Alley Hotel—on opposite ends of the neighborhood.
This strategy also keeps current owners interested in future projects with the company. Koshivos estimates approximately 80 percent of the deals that Hilton has done in the greater Nashville area are with owners who already owned hotels flying one of the company’s flags.
Signings and Openings
Almost all of Hilton’s brands are represented in Nashville by hotels that have opened or started construction over the past six years or recently signed deals. Koshivos estimates that the company is working on more than 20 deals that are in “various stages” in the pipeline across the greater Nashville market.
Among the company’s most recent Nashville openings and signings:
- In June, a dual-brand Canopy by Hilton and Homewood Suites opened in the city’s Gulch neighborhood. The Canopy will either be the brand’s flagship or “close to our flagship” in a downtown location, Koshivos said.
- In July, 3H Group and Aztec Group opened the LivSmart Studios by Hilton. LivSmart Studios by Hilton Tullahoma, an 89-room property in Middle Tennessee.
- In August, Driftwood Capital announced plans to oversee construction of a Tempo and Homewood Suites hotel near Oracle's future headquarters and Nissan Stadium.
- In September, SHIV SAI Hospitality Group opened the Tru by Hilton Goodlettsville Nashville.
- Also in September, Sun Development & Management Corporation opened the Printing House Nashville, Tapestry Collection by Hilton as the second LEED-certified hotel in the city.
- In January, Apple Hospitality REIT opened the 260-room Motto by Hilton Nashville Downtown in the South of Broadway neighborhood.
- In February, Vision Hospitality Group opened Nashville’s second Tempo property in the city’s Midtown district..
“Ideally, we want to be the number one choice for any traveler coming into Nashville,” Koshivos said. “That means that I need to populate additional brands in the market so that I am able to hit every segmentation of the market.” That, in turn, means that Hilton may seek to add “a few more hotels” in the upper-upscale segment, “where we might not have them right now.”
This article was originally published in the February/March edition of Hotel Management magazine. Subscribe here.