Nashville hotels fill with freezing locals, delighted dogs amid power outages

Alyssa Barker stood with her dog, Luke Sky Barker — a fluffy Husky — waiting to get on the elevator.

"He was fine," Barker said. "He’s kind of a snow dog."

But the humans in Nashville were not.

"It was at 50 (degrees) when we left. You could see your breath," she said. "We bundled up, but it was just going to keep going down."

More than 200,000 Middle Tennessee residents lost power during the recent ice storms that hammered the South, a figure that briefly led the nation. Including Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia, more than 1 million customers, and their pets, experienced outages during the storm.

Over the last five years, Nashville added nearly 10,000 new hotel rooms to the city in order to keep up with tourism demand and prepare for massive events like WrestleMania and the possibility of a Super Bowl. In the wake of the winter storm, though, mostly Nashville residents are using them, hotel workers across the city said.

While the Nashville Convention and Visitor's Corp. will not receive official January hotel occupancy numbers until the first week of February, Nashville officials and hotel workers have noticed a clear trend of locals flooding the hotels.

"We saw a large number of travel cancellations last week leading up to the weekend, and with the power outages, we’ve seen an increase in local bookings over the past couple of days," Holston House general manager Michael Klein said. "We worked quickly to create a discount code for locals and are grateful for the opportunity to support members of our community during this time."

Luke Sky Barker is among the Nashville pets taking shelter with his owner in a local hotel while they wait out widespread power outages and freezing temperatures on Jan. 26, 2026.

Once they noticed the need, over a dozen Nashville hotels began offering discount codes for locals to book rooms at more affordable rates, including Holston House, Virgin Hotels Nashville and Waymore's Guest House. Some of them sold out within 24 hours.

"Waymore’s has since been operating at maximum capacity, and will continue to offer a place of refuge as the city works hard to restore power and clean up the debris Winter Storm Fern left," director of food and beverage Daniel Gorman. "We are honored to serve our community in time of need and will continue to open our doors to those that need a warm, neighborhood spot as recovery efforts are made."

For harried guests seeking warmth and comfort, the front desk clerk at Holston House offered a warm greeting Jan. 26: "I'm sorry we have to meet under these circumstances. Here's a drink voucher."

That, plus an attractive Tennessee resident rate, enticed locals to escape from Nashville to Nashville.

Many traveled with four-legged family members and on the morning of Jan. 26, the lobby was full of guests embarking on frosty morning walks.

On the evening of Jan. 26, the hotel's restaurant, Tenn, was closed but its cozy lounge, Bar Tenn, was packed with customers who had traveled in from 1s of miles away. Three Green Hills residents ended up sitting next to each other as the handful of staff members on hand did yeoman's work, keeping dishes coming out and glasses refilled.

In a particularly wholesome touch, one area of the bar was given over to card games of UNO.

Pet-friendly hotels in high demand across Nashville

Looking around the lobby of the DoubleTree by Hilton Nashville Downtown, valet worker Tony White said he had never seen so many dogs in one place.

"Like, there are almost as many dogs in here as there are people," he said.

When temperatures plunged into the single digits Jan. 26, and power outages stretched into their second day, Nashville hotels began filling with residents whose homes had become too cold to stay in. Hotels that allowed pets were especially popular.

Nearby, Aimee McMahan, who lives near Sylvan Park, waited with her golden retriever, Nellie, to check in. She had been without power since 6:30 a.m. Jan. 25, but Nellie seemed unfazed.

"Oh, she’d be fine," McMahan said.

Still, as temperatures kept falling, McMahan decided not to wait it out at home and was relieved she did. Hotel rooms were already beginning to fill.

"I’m glad we didn’t wait," she said.

Nearly 100 Nashville hotels reach capacity: 'Nobody wants to live in a hotel'

A receptionist at the DoubleTree called nearby properties trying to find space for two road-weary guests on Jan. 26. A few blocks away, the Grand Hyatt booked its last available room.

They were among the nearly 100 hotels in the Nashville area fully booked at the start of the week as Tennesseans impacted by power outages looked for a warm, dry place to stay.

The lobby of downtown Nashville's Holston House on Jan. 27. It is one of several hotels offering discounted rooms to locals amid icy conditions and power outages.

"We're proud that we had the opportunity and ability to assist our community in its time of need. We were able to house families and pets seeking warmth and shelter as they'd lost power and heat to their homes," Grand Hyatt Nashville General Manager Marc Sternagel said. "In the lobby, there was a great sense of community. Guests were playing board games and sharing stories with one another."

Amber Rice, a nurse from Bellevue, said the temperature in her family’s house dropped into the 40s overnight.

Rice booked a room at the DoubleTree after watching the temperature fall so low she could see her breath inside. She worried about her 4-year-old daughter, Harper, and found most nearby hotels were already full — and some had even lost power.

"We kept watching it, and we were like, 'We’d better go,'" Rice said.

She managed to secure two nights downtown and worried she might need more.

"It’s pretty rough," she said. "We’ve got two power lines down blocking the road."

As outages spread, the hotel grew increasingly busy, White said. Some nearby hotels lost power and began redirecting guests downtown.

"I came in at about 1:30 and worked until 10 p.m.," he said. "By then, it finally calmed down."

But the next day, the rush began anew. White, who lives in the Inglewood neighborhood of East Nashville, did not expect to make it home before Wednesday. He was grateful to be warm — even if he missed his usual TV channels.

"Everybody wants to be home," White said. "Nobody wants to live in a hotel for two weeks unless you’re in Monaco."

Hadley Hitson covers business news for The Tennessean. She can be reached at [email protected]. To support her work, subscribe to The Tennessean.