‘Afternoon Tea With Santa’: A Magical Five-Star Experience (HURRY, ALMOST SOLD OUT!)

Wherever you are and whatever it is you’re doing, stop for a moment and use your imagination with me.

You’re a child again during Christmastime and you’ve come to The Hermitage Hotel.   Your eyes widen as you enter the hotel’s elegant lobby, with it’s gilded décor, stained glass ceiling and elaborate holiday decorations.  A three-tiered tower of holiday treats is placed in front of you along with a steaming pot of comforting tea as Santa Claus himself greets you before discussing what it is you would like for Christmas this year.  I can hardly imagine an event more exciting for a child during the holidays.

We simply cannot wait to see the expressions on the faces of children starting this weekend as we kick off our first Afternoon Tea with Santa event.  This is the first time in our 99-year history that we have been privileged enough to host the jolly old elf himself.

December 6 and 20th are both already sold out, but you can still make reservations for December 13 if you’re quick. Adult’s tickets are $35 and $15 for children under age 12.

Get your seats before they’re gone!  Call (615) 345-7149 to make reservations.

100 Wines Under $100 at The Capitol Grille & Happy Hour Pricing at the Oak Bar

Sharing a bite to eat with friends over drinks and great conversation is one of my favorite pastimes here in Nashville.  If friends and family are coming to visit for the holidays and you’re planning on being downtown, take a break and pop in to the Oak Bar here at The Hermitage Hotel.

The Oak Bar serves drinks and a casual dining menu from 11:30 am Monday through Saturday, starting at noon on Sunday, and doesn’t close until after midnight every day.   It’s a nice little hideaway from the hustle and bustle of Music City that boasts a relaxing quiet atmosphere, perfect for catching up with old friends, winding down with co-workers, or discussing business with your clients or customers.

Need another reason to visit?  We are now offering happy hour pricing and 100 wines under $100.

From 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Happy Hour prices include $6 food plates, $6 glasses of wine, martinis for $5 and beers for $4.  Food includes our ever-popular BBQ sliders, fried green tomato & pimento cheese bites and chicken confit spring rolls.

As we hope you’ve all heard by now, we’re in the middle of celebrating our Centennial year as Nashville’s gathering place for locals, visitors and celebrities alike.  To celebrate, we’ve created The Hermitage at 100: 100 wines for under $100 at our four-star restaurant, The Capitol Grille.

Whether your favorite is a Cabernet, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling or Merlot, we’re confident you’ll find a bottle to suit your tastes.

Looking forward to seeing you,

Janet Kurtz
Director, Sales & Marketing

P.S.–Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up-to-date on the latest news, contests and giveaways.  Search “The Hermitage Hotel” on Facebook or find us @hermitagehotel and send us a tweet!

The Knoxville Hot 100 Reception

The Hermitage Hotel/Business TN Hot 100 caravan continued across the state last night with a reception for Hot 100 winners in Knoxville. We had a great time meeting with folks at The Orangery in Knoxville, a unique and beautiful restaurant.

It is such an honor for the hotel to recognize Tennessee’s business leaders in this way. Tomorrow, we wrap up the Hot 100 tour with a reception in Chattanooga at the Read House.

Janet and Orme Bradley

Janet Kurtz, Tiffany Midyett, Drew Ruble and Brent Midyett

Janet Kurtz, Tiffany Midyett and Drew Ruble

 

Follow us on twitter at @hermitagehotel or Facebook (search hermitage hotel) for the most up-to-date news.

Business TN’s Hot List: Nashville

Here is a list of Nashville-area companies listed on Business TN’s “Hot 100.”

Scroll through and click on a name to be directed to their individual websites.

Aegis Sciences Corporation
American Music Channel, Inc.
Avondale Partners
C3 Consulting, LLC
Capital Confirmation Inc.
CareHere, LLC
Cell Journalist
CentreSource Inc.
cj Advertising
Community Ties of America, Inc.
Cumberland Consulting Group, LLC
Cybera, Inc
DSi, Document Solutions Inc.
EDAS, Inc
Educational Services of America, Inc.
eMids Technologies Private Limited
Emma, Inc.
Essex Technology Group Inc
Franklin American Mortgage
Froggys Fog LLC
HearItFirst.com
Highways, Inc.
HometownQuotes
IMI Health
inBusiness Services, Inc.
Informatics Corporation of America (ICA)
Iostudio, LLC
Lattimore, Black, Morgan & Cain & The LMBC Family of Companies
MAC Presents
Magazines.com, LLC
Major Commercial Cleaning Co.
Music City Tents & Events, LLC
New Constructs, LLC
OHL (Ozburn-Hessey Logistics)
onFocus Healthcare, Inc.
Optimum Technology Solutions, Inc.
Paradigm Group
Passport Health Communications, Inc.
Perfection Uniforms
PivotHealth, LLC
Pure Safety
RFD-TV
Rustici Software, LLC
Simplex Diabetic Supply, Inc.
SMS Holdings
StudioNow, Inc.
The Buntin Group
The Human Capital Group, Inc.
The Pruett Financial Group of Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
TrackPoint Systems, LLC
Uniguest
Universal Safety Response, Inc
Video Gaming Technologies, Inc.
Waddey & Patterson, P.C.

Business TN’s Hot 100

The Nashville Hot 100 Reception

I was privileged Tuesday night to mingle among some of Nashville’s best and brightest entrepreneurial minds.

The Hermitage Hotel is the 2009 sponsor of Business TN’s Hot 100, an annual list of the fastest growing companies across our state that are brimming with promise.  The first of four receptions honoring these talented folks was held Tuesday night in the hotel’s veranda and was attended by close to 100 individuals.  It was a wonderful night spent networking and meeting new friends.

Drew Ruble, Business TN editor, with Hot 100 winners Robert Stewart and Julie Warren of Major Commercial Cleaning Co.

I wanted to send my congratulations once more to the local companies and individuals honored Tuesday night.  In the face of challenging economic times, your entrepreneurial spirit and optimism are a large part of what continues to set Nashville and Tennessee apart.

Pick up the Nov/Dec edition of Business TN for the full list of honorees.

Thank you to all who attended and for demonstrating again that The Hermitage Hotel is the premier gathering spot for the ‘who’s-who” of Nashville.

The Memphis Reception

Our celebration of Tennessee’s fastest growing companies continued Wednesday night when we honored Memphis-area members of the Business TN Hot 100 at the fabulous Peabody Hotel.

David Schuerman and Joey Hagan of Architecture, Inc. with Janet Kurtz and at the Hot 100 reception in Memphis.

More than 20 business leaders joined us for a fun evening. It was wonderful to meet some of the leading lights of West Tennessee’s business community. Just like in Nashville the night before, everyone I met was excited about the prospects for a stronger business climate in the months to come. After all, this is the Hot 100! These folks know how to make things happen even in tough times.

It was also gratifying to hear many of the Hot 100 winners in Memphis talk about how, when they visit Nashville, staying at The Hermitage is one of the highlights of their trip.

Stay tuned as The Hermitage Hotel Hot 100 Caravan travels across the state. Next week we’ll be in Knoxville and Chattanooga.

Janet Kurtz
Director of Sales & Marketing
The Hermitage Hotel

Memory: A Moveable Feast & Our 2009 Fall Menu

We have all heard or said something along these lines before:

The smell of leather makes me think of new shoes on the first day back to school…

Coffee brewing and bacon frying reminds me of Sunday mornings at my grandmother’s house when I was small…

The taste of that spaghetti sauce takes me back to my honeymoon in Venice so many years ago…

In an exceptional way, our sense of taste and smell are intertwined with our memories.  Food not only satisfies our appetites, but also has the power to evoke a sense of place, feelings of comfort and satisfaction that have nothing to do with how full our bellies get.

It is certainly a tall order to provide that sort of experience to our guests, but that is exactly what we work hard to accomplish at The Capitol Grille, The Hermitage Hotel’s award-winning restaurant.

Executive Chef Tyler Brown recently debuted our Fall 2009 Menu and has produced an outstanding menu of finely crafted Southern heirloom cooking.

If we are lucky enough to call you a guest in our restaurant, we hope that the fork-tender short ribs, the cod wrapped in comforting bacon and lentils or the slowly roasted chicken remind you of the comforts of home, evoke a sense of comfort, warmth and the beauty of true Southern hospitality.

A Preview of Our 2009 Fall Menu:

“Pot Roast” of Beef Shortribs, puréed & puffed potatoes, roasted vegetables.

Bacon Wrapped Cod, stew of lentils and wild mushrooms

Roast Chicken, maitake mushroom, acorn squash, Swiss chard

Pork, Brussels sprouts, pancetta, apple butter

Grilled Venison, house-made venison sausage, heirloom field peas, braised romaine

Boneless Rack of Lamb, Anson mills farro, spinach, local radish

Celebration of Fall, chef’s selection of local seasonal vegetables

Make your reservation at The Capitol Grille online via our website: http://tiny.cc/nwrh7 and be sure to find us on Facebook to keep up with the latest news and information.

Janet Kurtz
Director of Sales and Marketing
The Hermitage Hotel

Looking Back on Hermitage Hotel Day

Isn’t it amazing how time flies?  I cannot believe it has been almost a month since we held our two-year centennial celebration kick-off event, a day declared “Hermitage Hotel Day” by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen.  I wanted to take a moment to reflect on that event with all of you who helped to make it so special.

Even though the rain was steady and the day was unseasonably chilly, business folks from all sides of downtown made the trip to Sixth Avenue North to share an ice cream treat.   We learned that Nashvillians’ ice cream treat of choice is the Nutty Buddy ice cream cone!  It was highly preferred over (my favorite) orange sherbet.

As the ragtime band played old-time standbys like the Star Spangled Banner and everyone stood under the tents to eat their ice cream, I thought about how amazing it is that our not-so-little town can come together, rain or shine, to enjoy a fleeting moment of summer together.

Mayor Karl Dean, actor David Keith and 100 other business and civic leaders were present at the VIP reception immediately following the public ice cream social.  Virtually everyone who has made his or her mark on The Hermitage Hotel over the years attended.

I wanted to take this opportunity as I look back on Hermitage Hotel Day and say, “Thank you.”  If you are a Nashvillian or one of the thousands of guests we’ve had the honor of hosting over the past 100 years, thank you for being a part of the hotel’s success.

Now let’s go out there and start building 100 new years of memories!

Pictures from the event can be found on our Facebook page: become a fan!  http://tinyurl.com/ncw2w6.

Greg Sligh, Managing Director

Book Launch Party Attracts “A List” Nashvillians and TV News

Ridley Wills II probably has writer’s cramp today. A steady stream of over 100 people lined up last night to have Ridley sign their copies of “The Hermitage at 100—Nashville’s First Million Dollar Hotel

Held on the hotel’s famous veranda, the launch party for the new book on the history of The Hermitage Hotel attracted an “A List” of Nashvillians – many of whom were the grandchildren of the original investors in the hotel. It was a great party. I heard many wonderful stories about the hotel.

Our event also attracted television cameras. Both Channel 4 and Channel 5 showed up to capture the launch of Ridley’s spectacular new book. Maybe you saw it if you were watching the 10 o’clock news last night. Channel 5 did a particularly long story about the hotel, with absolutely stunning photography of the hotel. Click here to see it.

Beautifully illustrated throughout, the 258-page coffeetable-style book traces the significant role The Hermitage Hotel has played in shaping the history of the city, the state and the nation. It will be available for purchase in the hotel’s gift shop and local bookstores for $59.99. Wills will also be at two book-signing events on Saturday, Nov. 21: at Davis Kidd Bookstore in The Mall at Green Hills at 2:00 p.m. and at Borders in Brentwood at 330 Franklin Rd.

Among the things readers will learn:

• Nashville’s first gold record has connections to The Hermitage Hotel. The song, “Near You,” was written by Francis Craig, whose orchestra played in The Hermitage Hotel’s Grille Room and Ballroom from 1925-1945.
• Edward Hull “Boss” Crump, the notorious Memphis powerbroker who heavily influenced Tennessee politics in the early and middle decades of the 20^th Century, ran his Nashville operations from The Hermitage Hotel.
• The Hermitage was one of three sites for WSM radio’s opening night broadcast on Oct. 25, 1925.
• American Airlines first Nashville ticket office was located in The Hermitage Hotel – and it was a replica of the airline’s Hollywood ticket office.
• The first office of The Nashville Symphony was at The Hermitage Hotel.
• Two of Nashville’s leading civic clubs were founded at The Hermitage: The Rotary Club in 1914 and The Exchange Club in 1920.
• The Country Music Association (CMA) was formed in connection with a convention at The Hermitage Hotel.
• Tennessee was the final state to ratify women’s right to vote n 1920, and both sides of the issue had their headquarters at the hotel.

If you want to know about the ‘real’ history of Nashville, pick up a copy of this incredible book.

Janet Kurtz
Director of Sales & Marketing
The Hermitage Hotel

The Pillow Menu: Because Luxury is Not One-Size Fits All

If you are anything like me, the first thing you do when you open the door to your hotel room is to sit down on the bed.  After the standard “bounciness” test of the mattress, I inspect the most important feature that will undoubtedly determine my comfort level that night—the pillows.

I have had one too many experiences with bad pillows in my life and this has developed into a near obsession about finding the perfect pillow on which to sleep.  It must not be too soft and contain just the right amount of firmness to gently cradle my neck in the side-sleeping position.

Have you ever been in an airport and seen a full-grown man in his best three-piece suit walking through the terminal carrying a full-size pillow?  I’ve seen it more times than I can count and, you know, I completely understand this man.  He is a connoisseur of pillows and understands that duplicating the perfect-pillow experience outside of one’s home is a difficult task.  So he brings his favorite pillow wherever he goes, ensuring his comfort and good night’s sleep in any location.

Behold the 5-star pillow menu.  At The Hermitage Hotel, we know that in order to provide the best service possible, the luxury we provide each guest must be uniquely tailored to fit each individual.   That’s why two years ago, I created and implemented the Hermitage Hotel Pillow Menu.

Here’s how it works.  Every one of our rooms comes standard with four extra-fluffy premium goose-down pillows and plush down comforter.   As the bellman drops off your luggage, he will point out your personal pillow menu—a list that lets you know that we have placed three other pillow options in the closet for your comfort:
•    Buckwheat:  this pillow is stuffed with hulls of buckwheat, a natural and renewable resource that provides excellent support of the head, neck and back because the hulls contour to the weight and shape of the body during sleep.
•    Latex foam: this pillow is recommended for our allergy-sensitive guests.  Latex foam pillows offer medium support and maintain a constant temperature all night long.
•    Memory foam: this pillow, another hypoallergenic option, is our firmest in the collection. It allows complete neck support, a popular option for side-sleepers.

The three options above are already in your room for you to test to find your favorite, but if we can better tailor your pillow experience, other options detailed on your menu that we will be happy to bring to you, free of charge, include:

•    Neck pillow
•    Reading pillow
•    Body pillow
•    Water pillow
•    Contour leg pillow

We’ve had amazing response to our pillow menu—some of our guests love their pillows so much, they purchase them at the time of checkout so they can continue the excellent rest they enjoyed while staying with us.

When you choose The Hermitage Hotel, you choose luxury, and, in turn, we believe it is our responsibility to customize that experience and ensure that we can do everything possible to make your experience comfortable.  It’s one of the reasons we are Tennessee’s only 5-star and 5-diamond rated property.  So, come experience the pillow menu for yourself—and let me know which pillow option you preferred!

Dee Patel

Rooms Executive
The Hermitage Hotel
231 Sixth Avenue North
Nashville, TN  37219

Centennial Trivia Contest Has Begun!

In honor of our Centennial, we’re holding a trivia contest for a free night’s stay for two–it’s not too late to participate! Details here http://tinyurl.com/njjsbb