The new Westin hotel in downtown Nashville welcomed its first guests through its doors, adding 453 hotel rooms to a city where about 1,200 more are already under construction.
A national survey completed by CheapHotels.org recently named Nashville as the most expensive city in the U.S. to book a hotel room, at an average of $261 per night.
"We couldn't find anything lower than $200," said tourist Kathleen Plant, who traveled from Rhode Island to see Music City for the first time. "Everything was between $250 and $260."
Hotel industry expert Jan Freitag said his firm, STR, found the average cost is closer to $130 per night, but that included hotels outside of the downtown core, though he said many hotels are eyeing the downtown area for future projects.
Freitag said more hotel rooms may not drive down cost - at least not near Broadway.
"The question is at what cost level," Freitag said. "I know a lot of those rooms are certainly on the upper end, set by the Omni, the Westin or the Hermitage. I think a lot of properties are seeing their success and saying we could probably do something like that."
Across the street from the Westin, crews also constructed a JW Marriott. Once completed, it will be the tallest building in the city.
According to Nashville's Convention and Visitor Corp., the city is on an unprecedented streak of 69 months of consecutive year-over-year growth in hotel room sales - a streak no other city in the country has experienced.
Over the summer, hotels.com ranked Nashville as the 14th most expensive city for hotels in 2015.
