Kimpton Aertson Hotel, an IHG Hotel ★★★★

A Hotel Named for a Family, Built Like a Gallery

Kimpton Aertson takes its name from Jan Aertson, the Dutch ancestor of Cornelius Vanderbilt who Americanized the family name, a nod to Nashville’s pioneering streak and to Vanderbilt University a few blocks away. Gensler designed the 180-room hotel, which opened in 2017 with a brief built around “grit and honesty with elevated style,” favoring natural wood, herringbone floors, and a double-sided fireplace over the glass-and-marble formula common to new-build hotels nearby. The result leans rustic and eclectic rather than polished, a deliberate choice for a property positioned as boutique rather than flagship-scale. The open-concept living room sets that tone immediately on arrival, with cascading river stones built up in front of a double-sided fireplace and reclaimed wood overhead, a lobby built to be sat in rather than passed through on the way to an elevator.

Why It Works

We selected Kimpton Aertson because its art program does real structural work rather than filling blank wall space. Orly Genger’s hand-knotted rope sculpture anchors the reception desk, Anne Lindberg’s Egyptian-cotton thread installations run through the elevators, and the guest corridors carry portraits of the Vanderbilt family rather than generic framed prints. Welded headboards, leather stitching, and custom casework with belt-buckle pulls carry the same handcrafted logic into the rooms themselves, down to belt-buckle straps and leather pulls on the casework, details that would be easy to skip on a 180-room build but weren't.

Why This Location

The hotel sits in Music Row, Nashville’s historic recording-industry corridor, within easy reach of Vanderbilt University and a short rideshare from Broadway’s honky-tonks. It suits a quieter stay oriented around the university or the music business over one built around late-night downtown noise. Vanderbilt's campus and medical center are close enough to make the hotel a natural choice for visiting faculty, parents, and conference attendees tied to the university, alongside the music-industry guests Music Row itself attracts.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€

• Vibe: rustic-eclectic, art-forward boutique

• Chambres: 180 rooms

• Best For: design-minded travelers, Vanderbilt visitors, music-industry guests

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Orly Genger’s hand-knotted rope sculpture at reception

• Dining: Henley (chef RJ Cooper)

• Amenities: rooftop pool (8th floor, seasonal), fitness center, ballroom and meeting space

• Attractions: Music Row, Vanderbilt University, Broadway honky-tonks

Art That Holds the Building Together

The rope sculpture at reception is the piece guests photograph first, but it is one part of a program that threads through the whole building: Anne Lindberg’s installations use Egyptian cotton thread to trace the shape of Nashville’s streets inside the elevators, and the portrait gallery running down the guest corridors keeps the Vanderbilt name present well past the lobby. None of it reads as added after the fact, which is the detail that separates a hotel with art from a hotel built around it. Even the open-concept lobby doubles as an informal gallery space, with the river-stone fireplace display functioning less like hotel furniture and more like a piece that happens to also provide heat.

Henley and a Rooftop Built for Nashville Summers

Henley takes its name from the collarless shirts worn by early-1900s laborers, a working-class reference set against James Beard Award winner RJ Cooper’s modern Southern menu and craft cocktail list, open for brunch and late-night service on weekends. Eight floors up, the rooftop pool runs April through October with cabanas, lounge chairs, and an outdoor living room, giving the hotel a warm-weather draw that extends well beyond its 180 rooms. The pairing of a historically grounded restaurant concept with a straightforwardly fun rooftop scene captures the hotel's broader balance: serious craft in the details, without taking itself too seriously in the experience.