Nashville hotels adjusting to the coronavirus pandemic

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    NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — The doors at the Hilton Downtown Nashville are revolving again as guests return to the hotel starting this month.

The hotel temporarily suspended service on March 23rd once it became clear that cancellations were the only calls they were getting.

“Unless something goes wrong like COVID, we’re open 24 hours a day, so when we had to close those doors it was big for us,” said General Manager Will Freeman.

The Hilton says they typically have about 92 percent occupancy for the year from various conferences, tournaments and events that come to Nashville.

But Broadway is a major driver to the hotel too. When the bars aren’t busy, the hotel feels it.

“We’ve been filling the hotel you know OK, it’s not been great, not what we’re used to here in Nashville,” Freeman said. “I think that speaks to how much the convention business is important to Nashville and its success.”

The Hilton started booking rooms again on June 8th, with all floors open, including the hotel restaurant – the only exception being the bar in the front lobby.

“We saw some optimistic signs that people wanted to get back to travel, we saw the airline metrics and we said you know we wanted to get back in the game honestly,” said Director of Sales and Marketing Howard McNier.

Now, social distancing markers, sanitation stations and plexiglass shields have all been added. The Hilton knows guests are expecting a different hotel experience when they check in.

“Each of our guests will be ensured that their room was last touched by a cleaning person prior to them checking in,” McNier said. “There will be a seal on their door so once they open it that seal will break.”

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