The Iris Motel — Hotel in Berry Hill

Do not stay here if you value your safety! Our first night, my friend (another young female) and I were woken up at 2:45am to a loud, alarming domestic dispute in the room next to us. I was very concerned since it sounded like items were being thrown and dragged across the floor. Then, the woman locked the guy out of the room and he began furiously banging on their door. After she wouldn’t open it, he started to bang on our door even louder and it sounded like he was trying to kick our door in. The window and walls were vibrating with the noise. After this continued for several minutes, I reached out to the property manager concerned about our safety. Her response was far too nonchalant for the situation- I have attached copies of the text messages to show. After this continued for over an hour, she finally called me and said she would give the neighbors a warning and have local police “patrol the area.” Note that the police did not approach us or the neighbors and did not contact us. The company’s rental terms and conditions state that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated and would result in immediate eviction. Despite the “warning,” the yelling continued until after 6:30am. My friend and I only got about 1.5 hours of restless sleep. As two females traveling out of state, we did not feel safe and the situation could have quickly escalated to more violent and dangerous conditions.

There wasn’t another room on the other side of the people next to us since they were at the end of the row. By informing the guest next door that someone complained about the noise, they knew it was us. Because of this, we didn’t feel safe leaving our room. I felt that the property manager handled the situation poorly and without concern for her guests’ safety. At one point during the phone call she said she didn’t want to escalate the stay to her team because “they were all sleeping so it [would] have to wait until the morning.” Because of her lack of concern and failure to intervene, the property manager and her team had no idea what the man was capable of doing and seemed unconcerned with the safety of any guest staying in the hotel.

We ultimately ended up leaving the next day and cutting our stay short by two days. I think that it is unfair that our violent and destructive neighbors were allowed to stay in the property but we were forced to leave due to fear of our safety. This situation does not follow their rental terms. Due to the last minute change, we had to pay more to stay in a hotel that would have typical cost on par with the Iris.

Also note that the photos are not reflective of the true condition of the property. This is an old super 8 style motel that has had a coat of paint slapped on. In fact, most of the furniture in our room was plywood and looked only half completed. The bed was totally unsupported without a box spring. Additionally, the walls and windows are paper thin and you can hear everything. However, if you are looking for a space to have a loud domestic dispute with your partner with no repercussions, you will enjoy your stay at the...

As a first time visitor to Nashville there were a few pros and many cons to The Iris Motel. Pros: the location was great! It was 5-10 minutes from pretty much anything, and walking distance from a few places to eat. The room itself was clean but unfortunately that was the only pro of the room itself. Cons: the room was a lot smaller then it appeared in photos, while that’s not a huge issue it was a let down. The “iron and ironing board” that was provided was probably the smallest iron you could find, and the miniature ironing board was extremely difficult to use while ironing clothes for an adult. When we entered the room the toilet was running like it had just been flushed, but when we went to actually flush the toilet it would not flush. We had to take the top off the toilet and finagle the internal contraption to get the toilet to flush....this happened not even 5 minutes of being in the room. The third con is the water pressure in the shower was atrocious and the tub didn’t drain well so if you showered for more then 2 minutes you were standing in a pool of water. Forth, the “air conditioner” was a joke. We would set it to have the fan blowing so we would have some circulation going through the room and it would turn off every 20 minutes. We weren’t able to sleep through the night because of this, we would wake up sweating and have to figure out how to get it to turn back on so we could cool down. 5th, the noise....on Friday and Monday at 7am the dumpsters directly behind the hotel would be emptied creating a ton of very loud noise very early. Idk about most people, but I like to sleep in while on vacation and not be woken up dripping with sweat because the air conditioner would turn off randomly and the dumpsters were being emptied before the sun was up. The other guests were just as noisy, slamming doors and yelling. 6th con (the fact that there are 6 is just insane to me) the parking situation. There is parking behind the building as well, and if your room is in the back obviously that’s were you would want to park. The only issue there is the entrance and exit to get behind the building was VERY small and easily blocked by another car. Driving in at night would NOT be recommended as it is narrow and you could easily miss it while tired after driving all day.

All in all the price you pay to stay at The Iris is not worth it. I would gladly spend the extra $100 a night to stay at an ACTUAL hotel where these issues don’t happen. 90% of these could have been solved by having a front desk, but if you don’t reach them before 5pm you are out of luck until the next morning. Again....the last thing I want to do while on vacation is use my day time hours to have an issue fixed in the room...

The Iris has been a wonderful surprise. We are in Nashville for a week, and originally only booked the first two nights at the Iris, intending to move to a "better" hotel later. Instead we extended our stay for the whole week. What a gem! Our room was spotless and well designed. The beds and linens were comfortable. There was a huge stack of towels. We had a small refrigerator. The shower was hot and had good pressure.( We never used the TV) Our room was on the ground floor in the back, We didn't hear much traffic noise. The parking was a little tight, but there was plenty and it was FREE!!!! The staff were around all day if we needed anything ( extra coffee and pillows for us) they were all so friendly and professional. The location is a pretty busy corner. There are 5 places to eat; less than 2 minutes walk and on the same corner. We highly suggest Common Ground. The food is spectacular. Everywhere we went was about 15-20 minutes....Broadway and downtown. Cheekwood Gardens, and the Grand Ole Opry building. ( Be prepared for the horrible Nashville roads... And insane parking fees...$20 an hour downtown😳) Anyway, we love The Iris ! A note about coffee. The Iris, like almost every where I stay these days has an in-room single cup Keurig. The worst coffee maker ever.. An insult to coffee. Iris provides a great local coffee.. However, you fill the pod, and turn the machine on and the water runs straight through the center. The result is tasteless, brownish water. The coffee in the pod is not even damp. .. Plan on going for a coffee run in the morning. We don't fault the Iris for this, as the same coffee maker has been in every hotel room I've stayed in for years. I come to Nashville pretty often and this will be where I stay every visit. Great job Iris staff!...