Nashville Hospitality Market Report

Visitor count towering over historical norms. While a moderation in households’ discretionary spending could undermine travel budgets and hotel demand in 2023, Nashville’s hospitality sector retains advantages over other metros. A favorite destination for social gatherings, the Music City benefits from its vast array of photo-worthy entertainment venues and distinctive group activities, as well as bars and restaurants. At the same time, Nashville avoids some of the exclusivity and high costs commonly found in similar entertainment-centric markets, such as Miami-Dade and Las Vegas. This is reflected in a local average daily rate that sits about $90 per night below the former and on-par with the latter. Nashville’s relative affordability and comparatively low-hassle for entertainment encourage domestic group travel, supporting local hotel demand. This contributed to the fact that during 2022, traffic at Nashville International Airport reached a record 20 million passengers, marking a 25 percent improvement compared to 2019. Aside from some economic pressures, this momentum should remain in 2023, with visitors pushing annual occupancy past the long-term average by more than 500 basis points.