New hotels are being built in Murfreesboro in front of the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center. WGNS confirmed that a Marriott is currently under construction and will open in 2014. Ground will soon be broken next to the future Marriott for a Hilton Garden Inn. No word on when that hotel will open for business.

The additional hotels are expected to actually help and not hinder the Embassy Suites due to the fact that more rooms will equal larger conferences.

That rule of thumb may not hold true for some of the older hotels in our community. WGNS headed to the Safari Inn off of South Church Street, which is two exits away from the Embassy Suites, to find out how business was today. The front desk clerk, who did not want to go on air with us, stated that business would be hurt with the construction of new hotels in Murfreesboro. The clerk would not elaborate on his statement, but did seem genuinely concerned.

While the Embassy Suites, Marriott and Hilton are part of extremely large companies, the local Safari Inn is owned by the Patel family. Safari Inn has been in the Patel family since 1978. Hilton is owned by the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm that is also part of Embassy. Marriott owns a variety of hotels all over the United States under the parent company Marriott International.  

Below: The Safari Inn was built in Murfreesboro in the 1970's. This picture was taken at night by WGNS. 

Below: Sign for the new Hilton Garden Inn

Below: Picture of the Marriott that is under construction at this time. 

Below: Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro