Dolly Parton's SongTeller Hotel Is Open in Nashville: Inside the Suites, the Museum, and Chef Vannesa Bordoy's Kitchens

Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel Is Open in Nashville: Inside the Suites, the Museum, and Chef Vannesa Bordoy’s Kitchens

Dolly Parton. Her SongTeller Hotel opened September 29 in downtown Nashville. Photo: Caras / Editorial Televisa.

Most celebrity hotels are a transaction. A famous name on the marquee, a photo wall in the lobby, a cocktail menu built around puns on the hits, and rooms that could belong to anybody. Nashville just got the exception. Dolly Parton’s SongTeller officially opened September 29 at 211 Commerce Street in downtown Nashville, two blocks from the Ryman, and the building does not ask you to admire her from a distance. It asks you to move in for the night.

SongTeller at 211 Commerce Street in downtown Nashville. Photo: SongTeller Hotel.

SongTeller Hotel

Book: songtellerhotel.com · Reservations: 1-877-766-4835

The rooms: book the suite

Two hundred forty-five rooms and suites, all designed around her songwriting and her life, and the top of the range is where the money goes. The flagship is the SongTeller Suite: 1,865 square feet over two stories, with a fireplace, a marble bath, Frette robes, and nightly turndown. It is a statement suite, not a family room.

The SongTeller Suite: 1,865 square feet over two stories, the flagship of the building. Photo: SongTeller Hotel.

Below it sit the Acoustic Suites, built for the aspiring musician in every guest: an in-suite guitar and keyboard, and a private songwriting session.

An Acoustic Suite sitting room, with guitars on the wall and a private songwriting session on offer. Photo: SongTeller Hotel.

The Six Sisters Suite sleeps six, a tribute to Parton’s bond with her five sisters, with a living room under a rainbow-droplet chandelier, a record player stocked with her albums, and an in-room beverage cart.

The Six Sisters Suite sleeps six, with a record player full of Dolly. Photo: SongTeller Hotel.

Standard kings start around $433 a night before taxes, King City View rooms run $453, and river-view rooms start at $408, all before taxes (rates reported by The Tennessean at opening, September 29, 2026). Valet is $65 a night. The “I Will Always Love You” Romance Package adds a bottle of sparkling wine, chocolate truffles, a framed print of lyrics from your favorite Dolly song, and a floral arrangement. Suite rates for the flagship SongTeller Suite have not been published. Book through songtellerhotel.com or 1-877-766-4835.

The lobby: walk in for the butterflies

The Greeting Lobby, with the butterfly installation and Dolly portraits lining the walls. Photo: SongTeller Hotel.

You do not need a room key to feel the building. The Greeting Lobby hangs a cascade of butterflies overhead, lines the walls with portraits of Dolly across the decades, and stamps the floor with the lyric everyone knows. Her costumes are exhibited in the lobby itself. Complimentary lobby drinks pour daily at 4 p.m.

The food: Chef Vannesa Bordoy runs the kitchens

This is the part that matters to anyone who works in hospitality. The hotel appointed Vannesa Bordoy as Executive Chef, leading all culinary programming across the property. Bordoy came up from Quito, Ecuador, trained from Japanese fusion to French and Italian kitchens, sushi to pastry, and climbed Nashville’s ladder at the Graduate Hotel’s White Limozeen, sous chef to executive chef. She oversees menu development, guest dining, and kitchen operations across every venue in the building.

Executive Chef Vannesa Bordoy, leading all culinary programming at SongTeller. Photo: Hospitality Net / SongTeller Hotel.

What she is running:

Parton’s Live (second floor): an intimate room built for songwriter nights, where writers trade songs and the stories behind them, alongside shareable plates and seasonal cocktails. The Bluebird format, which is harder to pull off than it looks. The menu leans Southern: cornbread biscuits, pimento cheese, brisket, a catch of the day with green tomato sauce, collard greens, and white bean stew. The cocktails carry the references: one nods to Dollywood’s cinnamon bread, and two are named for old-school Nashville haunts, The Stock-Yard and the Ace of Clubs. Tickets run $39 to $300 depending on the seat and the performer, with a $25 food and beverage minimum per guest (per The Tennessean’s opening-week reporting).

Parton’s Live, the hotel’s second-floor songwriter room. Photo: SongTeller Hotel.

Jolene’s (top floor): named for her most-streamed song, a chic lounge with nightly sets from Nashville singers and songwriters, cocktails, small plates, and panoramic downtown views. The contemporary American menu centers on shareable small plates: pimento cheese arancini with jalapeño jam, glazed pork belly, tuna and scallop tostada, mushroom pâté, beef tartare tartelette, and biscuits with caviar, plus desserts. Early diners on OpenTable are already calling out the truffle fries, the pork belly, and the chocolate flan. Expect it to draw locals as well as guests.

Jolene’s, the top-floor lounge with nightly sets and downtown views. Photo: SongTeller Hotel.

First Watch: the hotel’s cafe, serving breakfast and lunch daily. Black Tap: the upscale diner chain known for its burgers and indulgent milkshakes. The SongTeller Café handles coffee and quick service.

The museum and the music

The Life of Many Colors Museum takes the entire third floor, more than 20,000 square feet, with its own entrance at 126 Third Avenue North. This is not a themed lobby with a velvet rope. It is a full museum dedicated to her life and legacy: a recreation of the cabin where she grew up, her Writing Room with handwritten lyrics, Dolly’s Wardrobe, and a Hall of Fame display of her awards. Parton guides visitors through it in footage she filmed for the project. Open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., timed tickets through dollyslifeofmanycolors.com, and you do not have to be a hotel guest to walk in. Museum admission starts from $32 (per Afar).

The Life of Many Colors Museum takes up more than 20,000 square feet on the third floor. Photo: SongTeller Hotel.

How to get in

The hotel is open now. Rooms book through the official site at songtellerhotel.com or by phone at 1-877-766-4835. Museum visits run daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with timed tickets at dollyslifeofmanycolors.com. Booking ahead is the smart move for both.

The verdict from the pass: celebrity hotels almost always end up being about the name on the building. SongTeller is about what is inside the building, and that is the whole difference. Book the suite, walk the museum, catch a set at Jolene’s, and eat whatever Bordoy is putting on the pass. Nashville has plenty of places to sleep. Now it has one worth going to on purpose.

Sources: The Tennessean, Hotel Dive, Hospitality Net (Bordoy appointment), Afar via TravelHost, stayinthenew.com, the hotel’s official site. Photos credited individually above.